Rickety ride for Xich-lo

I am now officially of the opinion that there is nothing more unnerving than being watched by the chef while you eat.

The Norwegian owner of the new Xich-lo (after the Vietnamese rickshaws), Odd Arne Braute, arrived with our starters and watched our ingestions like a hawk. And back he came, again and again.

Braute owns a restaurant of the same name in Oslo and has come over here to make a go of the Smoke.

He told us that the restaurant - a surprisingly huge, three-storey, orange space - is financed out of his own pocket.

I wish him well, really - but worry that he hasn't quite tapped into the zeitgeist.

He dismisses pho as 'street food' and factors on the French influence on Vietnam, so we get dishes such as slabs of fillet steak on a bed of mushrooms flavoured with star anise; or a papillote of seafood - 'gifts from the sea' at an ambitious £17.50 - starring salmon, monkfish and prawns with a really good chilli dressing.

Food is pleasant but neither accomplished enough for lovers of technique nor authentic enough for Vietnamese fans.

As we left, Braute gave us a gift of an elaborately carved angel fish. It was made of swede.

Xich-lo
103 St John's Street, EC1