I tried a restaurant commuters drive past every single day

Savoury pancakes at Le Viet Social in Liverpool
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


We can all be creatures of habit sometimes and I often find myself returning to the same favourite restaurants over and over again when I'm dining out. So I recently decided to step outside my comfort zone and try a new venue that I'd noticed on my daily commute.

Le Viet Social is located on Parliament Square, and I pass it every day when I'm driving into the Liverpool ECHO's city centre offices. It only opened recently, and I've always thought it looks really sleek and well designed, especially when it's all lit up at night.

The restaurant serves Vietnamese food, which is one of my favourite types of cuisine - and with Liverpool's Lunar New Year celebrations ramping up across the city, I thought it was a good opportunity to try a new restaurant in the spirit of the season. I made a booking to visit with my husband and my baby, and the staff sat us in a huge booth by the window, so we could watch the world go by while we ate our meal.

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At first the menu felt almost overwhelming because there was so much choice - with everything from steaming bowls of pho to street food dishes and sizzling hot plates. We decided to start with two small plates - I chose the xiaolongbao dumplings (£6) and my husband ordered the banh khot - mini savoury pancakes (£9).

I've seen xiaolongbao all over my TikTok For You page and always wanted to try them. They are soup-filled dumplings that contain a mixture of meat and spices, served inside a bamboo steaming basket. The dumplings arrived piping hot, and I had to wait a while to bite into them so I didn't burn my mouth on the soup filling and ruin my entire meal. The dumpling wrappers were perfectly soft and chewy, with a generous filling of soup and meat, which was expertly seasoned.

I received four of the dumplings in my bamboo basket, and despite initially offering to share one with my husband, I ended up eating them all myself. Which was fair, because I didn't get a look in when it came to his savoury pancakes. I hadn't seen a dish like the pancakes on a menu before - they came filled with squidgy tofu and a fresh crunchy salad, and I'm told they were delicious (not that I could offer my own verdict, due to the lack of food sharing going on at our table).

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For our mains, we both decided to opts for one of the sizzling platters as we were seated next to the kitchen and kept seeing impressive plates of fish and meat coming out, which made the decision for us. My husband ordered the shaking beef (£18), which consisted of cubes of prime ribeye marinated in a special 'lok lak' sauce and sautéed with vegetables. He had his with fragrant jasmine rice, which helped soak up all the juices from the meat.

I opted for the 'cha cha la vong' (£15), which is grilled sea bass served with turmeric and dill. Described on the menu as an 'iconic dish of Hanoi', it arrived with vermicelli noodles and peanuts. The sea bass was really nicely cooked, with a crispy exterior that didn't leave the fish tasting overcooked or tough. I found the dill to be a slightly overpowering flavour in the dish, but when I combined all the elements along with the noodles on my fork it worked well together.

Our booking was during a quieter period in the restaurant, and there were only a few other tables occupied in the restaurant. The staff were really friendly and attentive, even taking it in turns to help us entertain our little boy while we ate - and never complaining when he threw item after item of cutlery on the floor around us.

While our quiet dining experience may not have given us the best insight into the atmosphere the restaurant has to offer when it's full of customers, we really enjoyed the meal and it might even establish itself on our rotation of regular haunts.