BEING on a health kick does mean some sacrifices – but it didn’t stand in the way of an overdue catch-up with the girls.
That said, we needed something tasty and healthy.
According to my pals, Aino and Cath, Vietnamese would fit the bill and Sai-Gon was the place to go for my introduction to this fabulous cuisine.
The restaurant’s simple doorway opened up on to a world of opulent decoration, green vegetation and a range of mouth-watering aromas.
After settling in to our seats and ordering some beer, the unthinkable happened – I was so mesmerised by the extensive menu that I stopped gabbing.
To start with we chose to split the two-person imperial hors d’oeuvres (£6.90 per person) between the three of us.
This delight included crab claws, Vietnamese spring rolls, barbecued spare ribs, skewers of chicken satay and seaweed.
A tray of beautifully-presented food duly arrived and we were delighted to find each mouthful bursting with flavour. The one drawback was how filling it was ... and we had another banquet on the way.
How were we going to work our way through vegetable wraps, (£7.80) cari ga coconut chicken curry (£9.20) and – Cath’s special request – salt and pepper squid (£9.20)? Oh, and did I mention the stir-fried broccoli (£7.50) and egg-fried rice (£4.80)?
The answer was simple ... it was all so fine we wanted to finish every scrap.
We agreed that the rice wraps, along with the wide range of stir-fried veg and hoisin sauce was by far the healthiest dish and also incredibly moreish.
The huge bowl of chicken curry had a warm, spicy kick and the crunch of the veg along with the broth-like sauce made for an interesting combination. My only gripe was the coconut flavour was non-existent.
The star performer in the main course line-up was the salt and pepper squid. Served with sliced spring onion and chilli, the large portion had melt in the mouth batter and soft, tender meat inside. Heaven.
We spent a long time deciding whether or not to tempt ourselves with the pudding menu, then we caved in, with a tartulo classico (£3.90) – chocolate ice cream with zabaglione centre coated with crushed hazelnuts – a three scoop ice cream selection (£3.60) and a New York cheesecake (£3.90).
At which point the conversation turned from being health eating to whose fault it was that we’d eaten our entire calorie count for the month.