Thando Ndabezitha

Food

A constantly refreshed street food menu ensures you’re always in for a surprise – and each dish hits the nail on the head. The set menu is straightforward: Dim sum, noodles and rice bowls, steamed buns and rice cakes.

The dumplings come in threes. Highly recommended are the siu mai with mustard and hoisin sauce – steamed open-face wheat dumplings with pork belly and shitake mushrooms. Perfect on a chilly winter night.

For a tasty vegetable option, try the vegetable pot stickers with nuoc cham sweet chilli sauce. The wheat dumplings are pan-fried and served with caramelised onions, mushrooms, cabbage, carrots and garlic chives. There are also lamb and beef pot stickers, as well as chicken wontons.

The portions aren’t large, so you could have a couple of rice or noodle dishes without feeling like you’ve overindulged. A good first option, which you can pair with another dish, is the cold sesame noodle salad. The fresh egg wheat noodles are tossed in a soy dressing together with bean sprouts, carrot cucumber, bell pepper, spring onion, sesame seeds and peanuts. The salad is topped with shredded free-range chicken. For vegetarians, the hawker noodles – tossed with ginger, spring onion, oyster sauce and topped with bean sprouts, Asian greens and spicy sauce – are punchy in flavour and aroma.

Check the daily specials for exciting sweets such as Vietnamese affogato and artisanal ice cream options such as halva and hazelnut.

Drinks

A brief wine list featuring mainly local wines is accompanied by a specials menu for drinks, with wines such as Arendsig Shiraz and Foundry Grenache Blanc. Do try the Hokusetsu Nigori sake.

Service

Making a reservation is a must as the place fills up pretty quickly. The service is friendly, efficient and professional.

Ambience

The open kitchen lends a cosiness and intimacy to an otherwise unpretentious, pared-back space, with flat scatter cushions the only form of comfort for sitting on plain wooden seats.

Best for…

Eco-friendly eating thanks to recyclable dinnerware.

(August 2019)

Eat Out critics dine unannounced and pay for their meals in full. Read our full editorial policy here.