I went to Mekong not long after it opened. I thought it was very impressive indeed. Then friends booked for a staff Christmas party and weren’t as impressed, so it’s taken me a while to get back. A friend, who’s moved overseas to Spain, hasn’t seen this new street of restaurants and I thought it would be fun to show him, and I thought Mekong would be a good choice, and offer food that he wouldn’t be able to easily find in Madrid.
And it’s a nice buzzy atmosphere. Empty when we arrived, it filled up quickly. We had a table where we overlooked down into the Spice Alley food court, which was fun.
Even though the banquet menu was tempting, we found it was pretty much the same cost to order the plates individually, which gave us more choice, and we still in fact ended up ordering too much. They must cut down the portions for the banquet menu.
Absolutely loved the starter with the crispy crackers and finely chopped catfish (photo at the top). This eggplant with pork floss was also a highlight. It was all sort of good.
But all the other dishes were really delicious too. The cabbage looks deceptively simple but had a beautiful flavour.
The soft-shelled crab, in a generous portion, was pretty incredible.
The crispy pork hock put us over the edge. We were too full for dessert! Even though I’d been to Mekong before, it was fun to be surprised: that the food is still so good and that the dishes were slightly unusual and very tasty. And I always love a win when I choose a restaurant to go to with a friend and it’s a good or even better than hoped for.
