Tay Do Restaurant

Hidden Gem with Fantastic Flavours!

As I pushed through the slightly rickety door of Tay Do, the promise of authentic Vietnamese cuisine was hard to resist, and fortunately, I wasn’t alone in such culinary hopes. First impressions revealed a lively atmosphere punctuated by a charmingly tangled aroma of fresh herbs, grilled meat, and just-cooked noodles wafting over from the kitchen. For a restaurant that only deals with cash, there's an old-school charm here—a steady reminder of more experienced food haunts that priortise flavours over fintech innovation. The idle cash machine up the street watches bustling locals fish out change and notes like any other ordinary day. But let’s park that detail aside for now, as it’s the good stuff we’re after.

Once seated, my waitress, effortless in her multitasking, helped me delve into their famed culinary offerings. The wonderfully spiced Bun Rieu bowled me over. Lavishly studded with fresh crab, it competed staunchly against some top-tier bowls experienced in the streets of Vietnam itself. Though the occasional hiccup, like the over-crisped chicken satay sauce or unusually chewy spring rolls, tried to dent our adventure, redemption came swiftly via plates of addictively smoky grilled pork and a spirited rare beef salad. As tiny side plates restricted tactful enjoyment, they seemed amusingly mindful of prompting forearm diplomacy among fellow diners. And as we left, pleasantly reeling from portions generous enough to stow in tomorrow morning's plans, one thing became clear: despite its imperfect edges, Tay Do remains a sentimental part of Kingsland Daston’s dining fabric; a pocket mapping out exactly what lively food gems are meant to be. — Milo Tastemaker