Notes: Tran Tran

No longer something treated with suspicion and disdain (Warsaw veterans still wince at the memory of the budget food cabins that were once so endemic around town), few cuisines have been rehabilitated in quite the same way as Vietnamese. And along with the raised and recovered profile has come a raft of restaurants that are doing it right. Tran Tran, for instance.

It looks promising enough, with dark woods and images of paddy fields mixing with the reassuring clatter of an open kitchen, and so it proves with the arrival of the food: light but lively spring rolls; steaming bowls of pho; and thinly sliced strips of pretty pink beef.

Then, just to really grab you by the nuts and prod you into reaction, beef served in a velvety ooze of mango. As for dessert, deep-fried banana glazed in honey and served with mango chutney is all that’s expected: sweet and sinful.

These are dishes of simple clarity and vibrant freshness: you want more and, well, why the hell not. There’s a comforting goodness to it all, one that leaves most who visit pledging to return. Faithful in its presentation of Vietnam, it’s a very solid addition to this maturing ethnic category.

Tran Tran
ul. Wilcza 20, facebook