Hat Gao, Nicosia

By Marko Ljubicic

If you’re from Nicosia, chances are you have a strong opinion about the city’s old town. You’re either drawn to its serpentine streets, its hidden culinary gems and its melting pot character – or you avoid it entirely.

If you fall into the latter camp, you’ll be pleased to know that snug Vietnamese eatery Hat Gao sits right at the entrance, sparing you the need to navigate Ledra and its surrounding maze.

If you’re in the former, then you already know – the charm, the chaos, the pull of the place – and no introduction is necessary.

Much like the narrow, one-way street it calls home, Hat Gao is tight, compact and makes the most of the limited space.

Out front, three wooden tables and six chairs are packed so closely together they resemble a communal picnic setup. Inside, there are just two tables, spaced an elbow’s length apart.

We are cheerfully greeted and handed a well-worn menu as we sit.

A portion of summer rolls (with duck) and a portion of steamed buns (with vegetables) to start. A garlic beef pho and bulgogi chicken for mains.

As we idle, the majordomo informs us there are more tables upstairs – and that “there is a nice view.”

I’ll be brief about the upstairs room.

Equal parts garish, tawdry and slapdash, it looks like some discarded novelty that once felt like a good idea to a demented interior decorator. I am sure that if these walls could talk they’d likely be as surprised to see us as we were to see them.

The “nice view,” unsurprisingly, turns out to be a direct line of sight into someone’s balcony across the street. That’s old town living.

Downstairs, however, the kitchen is alive. Someone has cranked the music volume to 11 as laughter, singing and the sharp hiss of searing meat all drift upstairs.

Soon enough, so does our food, announced by the groaning spiral staircase.

The summer rolls arrive looking more like summer logs – plump to the point of bursting, the translucent rice paper offering a glimpse of the chef’s handiwork inside. A bite confirms that comforting mix of softness and crunch: vermicelli noodles, crisp matchstick vegetables and duck.

Tasty and vibrant, though slightly let down by a thin, somewhat indistinct dipping sauce.

The steamed vegetable buns follow, oversized and a touch dough-heavy, but still fluffy, slightly chewy and filled with something hearty and satisfying.

The bulgogi chicken is next – though what arrives is not, strictly speaking, bulgogi.

The real thing, in its Korean original form, involves thinly sliced meat, marinated, barbecued or broiled in a way that caramelises the exterior, leaving behind a charred, sweet-savoury complexity.

What we were eating was closer to a sauced and vegetabled Chinese-style stir-fry. Serviceable and tasty in its own right – but not bulgogi.

The pho, however – a specifically Vietnamese dish, which is probably not a coincidence – was everything it should be: a gargantuan bowl, steaming with simmered stock. The broth savoury, profound, restorative and fulfilling.

Coupled with the thinly sliced lean cuts of beef along with fresh mint, coriander and spring onions, it is a dish to which you could return time and again. It is an entire meal by itself, and even with a concerted effort, we leave behind a tangle of rice noodles at the bottom of the bowl.

All at the price of €9, too.

The crowded streets of the old town – with their 968 restaurants and eateries – can make it tough to choose where to spend your money and your time.

Hat Gao, for all its quirks, is certainly worth a bit of both.

VITAL STATISTICS

SPECIALTY Asian cuisine

WHERE Hat Gao, Vasiliou Voulgaroktonou 58, Nicosia

WHEN Daily, 11am – 10.30pm

CONTACT 22 002235

HOW MUCH €5-8.5 for starters, €9-12 for mains