09/09/2026
A look back at Pho Cue x Tartuffe for Open Fire Dining Club , as one of Chinatown’s most-loved restaurants headed out to Torr Vale Mill for one of the most distinctive menus we’ve done so far.
After the success of the Porta dinner, Tartuffe wanted to keep pushing these collaborations further and let the guest kitchen really shape the direction of the menu. Here that meant giving Cue and his team space to bring proper Vietnamese reference points into the setting, from coastal ingredients and cured fish to pho, rice, grilled meats, table condiments, Vietnamese coffee and even wok-fried rice cooked hard and fast over the Big Green Egg.
The opening courses showed exactly where the collaboration got interesting. Carlingford oysters were dressed with fermented mango, mint and smoked soy, before cá tái chanh - a Vietnamese-style cured fish dish - was made with chalk stream trout, sea grapes, Korean mustard and fermented onion syrup. Sea grapes, or rong nho, brought their natural salinity and tiny caviar-like texture to sustainable UK fish.
Pho appeared in a different form too, with lobster congee made using lobster stock, aged beef fat and XO, served with a small pour of lobster and beef pho alongside it. Later, bò lúc lắc - or shakin’ beef - saw Cheshire ribeye smoked, grilled and basted over the grills until deeply caramelised.
For the table, there were sesame crackers with nước chấm, whipped pâté, scallion and ginger oil, followed by grilled seafood and whole Cumbrian chickens hung over the coals for Tartuffe’s take on gà kho gừng, glazed with caramelised ginger, onion and beer.
Campari looked after the drinks across the weekend, starting with Campari Spritzes on arrival, classic Negronis from the bar, and a French Negroni served with Pho Cue’s Vietnamese coffee-inspired dessert of dulce de leche, chocolate namalake and espresso jelly.
Next up on the grills, the boys from A-Kin join Tartuffe alongside Julian Pizer of Portfolio for our final dinner of the season.
