If you’ve never been to Hai Au Lang Nuong, nothing can prepare you for the sensory overload. Lights pulse. Garlands of flowers, thatched umbrellas and greenery decorate the entrance. A Vietnamese guitarist croons. The interiors are just as visually cacophonous, but owner-chef Ben Nguyen’s restaurant is so personal that it lands as refreshing rather than sensory overload.

That comes with the food, like crunchy and bright lotus stem salad, or a bowl of ngheu hap sa, featuring pipis steamed and flavoured with lemongrass, lime and chilli. Sauces are fresh and full of spice, whether it’s the sweet chilli or herby lime-leaf numbers with pull-apart grilled chicken, or a more guttural dipping sauce with beef grilled in betel leaves, set to wrap into rice paper rolls. While families order live perch for hotpot, the mood is up, the tables are crowded. Special, and unmissable.

Good to know: Walking in? Put your name on the waitlist when you arrive, then go for a wander.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.