Restaurant review: Commm Vietnamese Cuisine, Kowloon Bay joins Viet wave

A fresh wave of Vietnamese venues have opened up. Bep, the hip spot on Staunton Street, recently unveiled a branch on Wellington Street, and Maxim has launched Vietnamese-Thai bistro Minh & Kok in Causeway Bay.

Another newbie of note is Commm Vietnamese Cuisine in Kowloon Bay. The interior has a vintage feel, with muted lighting and a shelf of pre-loved tin toys. The menu has some Vietnamese staples and other dishes with an obvious Thai influence, thanks to a Thai chef with a Vietnamese wife. It's a good dining option if you happen to be in the neighbourhood.

The coconut clam soup (HK$76) was sweet and delicious, the fresh clams were plump, juicy and barely cooked. The lemon grass went very well with the light broth, adding a subtle fragrance.

Another popular dish we tried was the minced pork served with crisp lettuce and ravioli pastry (HK$60). Served attractively on a wooden board, the lettuce and steamed rice paper made tasty wraps which we assembled ourselves. The minced pork had more sauce than usual, but that was fine. The spicy, minty dip was refreshing and balanced the generous cubes of fat in the mince.

Vietnamese-style fried chicken wings with butter and garlic (HK$48 for two; HK$68 for three) had a thick crunchy, albeit oily, batter, but the wok-fried mini cabbage lacked the spicy kick promised in the menu description. In the dish of grilled lemon grass pork chop with vermicelli in soup (HK$48), the meat was nicely charred and flavourful, but the broth was bland.

My guest was happy it served Vietnamese beers (HK$26) such as Saigon and 333. There were also desserts including mango sticky rice (HK$42) and coconut sago (HK$32 for six).