TRAVEL | Is VizEat the future of authentic local dining experiences in people's homes?

Camille's Delicious Sunday Brunch, one of the London experiences on VizEat
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It will be no surprise to regular readers of this blog, and followers of my social accounts, that my biggest motivation to travel is getting a good feed. I select my next destination based mostly on what exotic delicacies I can scoff once I get there. Closely followed by natural beauty and wildlife, enthralling cities, and how friendly the natives are. 

When I am eating on my travels, my main agenda is to experience food as authentic and local as I can find. Restaurants with tourists are generally avoided, whereas bustling tin shacks with not an English word spoken often equate to fantastic feasting. Especially if they have strip lighting. I do a lot of research beforehand, and will often try to get in touch with someone who lives there and is willing to show me round one evening, in exchange for a few beers and good chat. This worked supremely well in Mumbai, where I met up with a few people from Food Bloggers Association India. We ate well together.

The ultimate travel dining experience for me, is being invited into someone's home to eat. I've alas, never quite managed this. I was probably closest quite recently in Catania in Sicily. The host of the apartment we were staying in told us of an artist friend she had, who was currently running an exhibition in Catania, and who we should get in touch with if we fancied visiting it. The artist ended up inviting us to join her for Sunday lunch in her home, cooked by her mother (real Italian mama's pasta), which we were all damn excited about. But schedules didn't quite work out, and it alas never came to be.

the different stages of making host Camille's suggested mega brunch tower stack
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Well, I've now recently discovered VizEat, thanks to them finding me online and getting in touch. These guys connect travellers looking to share a meal or food experience with locals. Anything from cooking classes and market tours, to supper clubs and wine tastings, in over 250 cities, in a whopping 110 countries. These locals make up around 20,000 hosts around the world, who are a combination of home cooks and trained chefs, all from different backgrounds. But what everyone has in common is the love for cooking, eating, and meeting new people. My kind of crew.

I'm not entirely sure how I hadn't heard of VizEat before; I think they're well known across the continent, but less so in the UK. But now I have, I think it's such a great idea. They're all about allowing people visiting a new part of the world to make meaningful connections with those who live there. Whilst so many transactions and encounters take place online these days, maintaining the human element of travelling is mighty attractive. And I think many would agree that some of the strongest connections made between people are forged over the breaking of bread. These guys use technology to connect travellers with locals, to facilitate the simple desire of enjoying a meal with others.

brunch scenes with Sally and host Camille
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VizEat got in touch, told me about what they do, and asked if I'd like to try out an experience in my home town of London. And so, a couple of Sundays ago, myself and my good friend Sally (aka The Cafe Cat), popped over to Camille's house in West London to enjoy her 'Delicious Sunday Brunch'. Buttermilk pancakes, creamed spinach, smashed avo, mushrooms, crispy maple bacon, baked beans, wonderful Jing tea, coffee, sausages, fried eggs, homemade jams, black pudding, roasted cherry tomatoes, freshly made juices, cheese, and fruit salad - phew! It was a serious feast, and a pleasure to meet and chat with Camille, and attempt to make friends with her cat (who was less keen).

They also allowed me to run an Instagram competition for one of my readers to win a VizEat experience, in the city of their choice, for two people worth up to 150 Euros or equivalent. Which was very generous of them. Congrats again to the winner, Roxii!

It turns out that VizEat is now the world’s most popular meal sharing platform, and has been called the future of dining by travel and tech commentators (Apple CEO Tim Cook recently joining an event on his latest trip to Paris). Now that I know it exists, I will, without question, be checking out what's on offer next time I'm in a new city. Which is in fact next week.. Best get on it.

the finished mega brunch tower stack - buttermilk pancakes topped with truffle pesto, avocado, creamed spinach, mushrooms, cheese, bacon; topped with a fried egg; furnished with sausage, black pudding, roasted tomatoes and baked beans 

Note: This is a sponsored post in partnership with VizEat. I'm thrilled they found me and that I now know about them. It's been great fun and a pleasure to collaborate on. All views remain my own, as always.

house of hồ sunday brunch, soho - review

Any restaurant with a sound system greeting me with Lenny Kravitz that isn’t Are you Gonna go My Way and Bon Jovi that isn’t Livin’ on a Prayer, has already got at least a couple of ticks on my Sunday brunching check-list. Because I love both those artists, but hate both those songs. I’d expect nothing less from a feasting titled Bobby’s Rock n’ Roll Brunch. So well done House of Hồ, for that.

The Bobby in question is Bobby Chinn, the man behind the enterprise. Along with restaurants in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City back in his home country of Vietnam, he also has cookery books under his belt and a CV that saw him cut his teeth as a chef in the States. 

I say home country. He was in Vietnam for 18 years. But being born in New Zealand, raised between England, Egypt and San Franciso by his Egyptian father and Chinese mother, I suspect his home is wherever he happens to lay his hat. 

It was in December 2013 when Chinn decided to make his mark on the London dining scene and opened House of Hồ on Old Compton Street.

Despite the name and location in a part of town that’s never been short on after dark activities, House of Hồ is not the local Madam’s business address but in fact a low-lit self-assured Vietnamese restaurant in Soho. The flick and little hat atop the ‘o’ makes all the difference, you see. 

Chinn himself is a showman, awarded no less than Best Entertainment Presenter at the Asian Television Awards for his work presenting five series of World Cafe Asia. And this part of his personality is reflected in the design - confident, sexyily-lit, it’s a space that wants you to flirt with it, and it will flirt back.

They’ve joined a few others in the quite recent trend of boozy Sunday brunch deals that involve the words ‘limitless’ or ‘bottomless’ somewhere in the marketing spiel (also Flesh & Buns, Roka, Bunga Bunga, One Canada Square). Which, for lazy, slow-paced Sundays with requirements to feed sorry souls out of hangovers and into the cold light of day with vibrant, zippy dishes - or, just more alcohol - is more than appealing. 

Not that anyone with a hangover wants to see the cold light of day. Maybe that’s why it’s so dark in there - clever.

The main difference between the £36 and £29 menus is that the former offers a greater choice of both starters and mains (the more expensive one includes the shaking beef - the best thing I ate), the option of dessert, and cocktail pitchers. The format of both menus include one choice of main and unlimited starters, sides, prosecco and wine. But before you think about pitching up tent for the full 12pm - 5pm duration, visits are subject to a two hour turnaround.

Soft smoked aubergine topped with a sweetened fish sauce and crispy shallots, with astringency from lemon, slipped down with ease. Duch pho cuon were sprightly meat salads with mint and shiso leaf, packed into wide rings of flat noodle, with a hot dipping sauce like a runnier Sriracha. Summer rolls were fat and fresh, stuffed with noodles, carrot matchsticks, lettuce, more mint, the presence of aniseed, and a dark and glossy peanut sauce for lubrication. 

Seven-spiced marinated squid had the air of Nice ‘n’ Spicy Nik Naks about them - no bad thing, let me assure you. Cubes of lemongrass chicken furry with the fibre from ginger, packed a good citrus punch, while the “shaking beef” with oyster sauce, soy and whole peppercorns came in exquisite, expertly cooked, quivering chunks.

For sides, a pile of little juicy buds of a flower I caught as ‘thin-li’, but I no doubt heard it wrong or have spelt it wrong as I can find no presence of it online. Regardless, briefly cooked and doused in lime, they were glorious and different, and so they ran out of them by 13.15. I’m certain they just weren’t ready for it’s popularity. To replace it, a bowl of fleshy jackfruit cooked with good flavours. It all finished with a splendid crème brûlée which you might think has no place in a Vietnamese restaurant, but don't forget the country was under French rule for some time.

The bloody mary I ordered never arrived, and I had to put in a second request for the summer rolls before they appeared. Other than that, the staff and kitchen seemed to be on top of what was a full-house, never ending top-ups and constant orders. 

Did I mention on Sundays they have a live band playing grown-up versions of rock pop classics like Oasis and Nirvana? Well, that was cool too.

House of Hồ isn’t trying to replicate the simple ten-seater road-side pho shacks you might find down a back street in Hanoi, where they cook meat over a little barbecue fire on the pavement and you eat it straight off the stick. When you want that sort of no-frills authenticity with vibrant dishes to match - and those times are more frequent than not - head towards Kingsland Road for the likes of Mien Tay (also in Battersea), Sông Quê and Viet Grill. 

But when you want a sexy, fast-paced, buzzing, centrally located Vietnamese with a modern twist and most likely a smattering of Chinn’s eclectic upbringing on the rest of the menu, this is a solid shout.  

Liked lots: shaking beef - a shame that isn't bottomless, flower buds, choice of music, value for money
Liked less: you do feel like you’re clock watching a bit, trying to catch a waiter to get a final order or two in before your two hours are up. But that could just have been me imposing that feeling on myself - I’m not sure who was actually watching the clock in there
Good for: feeding a hangover, hair of the dog, drinking too much, eating too much, not having to eat again that day

My rating: 3.5/5

Afiyet olsun.

Note: I was invited as a guest to this restaurant.