‘If a meal can be described as ‘refreshing’, that is what this was’
Sometimes it feels like there are endless new places to try when eating out in Hull, and Trinity Market in Old Town is always bustling at the weekend. Newly arrived this summer, Vietnamese street food vendor Flying Lotus has added their exciting offering to the mix.
It is a sister outlet to East Asian eatery Cheng and Chen which we tried last year. Just around the corner, Flying Lotus is in a smaller unit and solely focused on Vietnamese cuisine.
Curious to try something a bit different for lunch one Saturday, I checked out the simple yet enticing menu. I also noticed it offers a takeaway service on JustEat.
There are two main options, the noodle salad and the baguette. Both have a choice of three proteins: BBQ pork, ginger poached chicken, or crispy tofu.
Banh mi, the name for a Vietnamese baguette, is served with chilli, cucumber, and pickle. I chose this for myself, with tofu. I also ordered the iced matcha.
I also ordered a noodle salad, choosing the peanut sauce rather than nuoc cham dressing. The staff member tending the unit advised me the peanut sauce contained fish, which was thoughtful because many people have dietary requirements and allergies.
The salad came with rice noodles, lettuce, red and white onion, cucumber, crispy shallots, sesame seeds, finished with coriander and mint. I was given a buzzer and left to find a table in Trinity Market’s main dining area.
Barely five minutes later, the buzzer went off. From the start, the food looked absolutely beautiful and I hurriedly tried to get the faff of photographs over and done with so I could dive straight in.
The baguette was superior quality; it was not warm but flavour-wise it could have come straight out the oven. It was simply splendid – I did not expect it at all.
If a meal can be described as “refreshing”, that is what this was. The salad in the baguette tasted lightly dressed, perhaps from the pickles, and had such a lovely, zingy flavour.
There was a clean spicy taste, with distinct notes of ginger as well as chilli. The crispy tofu in my baguette was chewy and very moreish, yet completely sated my appetite.
As pretty as it was, the noodle salad was also delicious and pleasantly spicy. The rice noodles were nicely cooked and very light, a perfect base for the flavoursome peanut sauce which was very nutty and savoury, reminiscent of a satay.
There was enough of everything – a perfectly balanced combination of salad, vegetables, protein, and noodles. The iced matcha was a nice accompaniment, supremely creamy, with a vaguely grassy flavour.
Flying Lotus definitely offered the perfect light lunch. If you enjoy clean Vietnamese flavours and medium-level spiciness, I wholeheartedly recommend giving it a go.
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