Short for modern bakery, the cool boulangerie MoBa, is the colonial marriage of French and Vietnamese cuisine, tucked away nicely between Goodge Street and Charlotte Street.
On arriving at the boulangerie, we were greeted warmly by the co-founders and plied with lots of red wine (French of course) while we made ourselves comfortable. The passion and drive of both chaps was visible and as the evening progressed, we could see that this had maybe culminated in a great idea, bridging the gap between breakfast, lunch, and dinner with fast, nutritious and reasonably priced quality fare.
Surprisingly though, chef Thibauts out of the box culinary creations fusing traditional French baking with asian inspired fillings works, despite your brain telling you that surely salmon tartare with coconut milk and basil should never be put together, no siree! The tandoori chicken and slow-cooked beef pies were undeniably tasty and the Mo-Banh Mi (sandwiches to you and me) come named after french cities and you can take your pick of thai beef bourguignon with crispy onions and pickled veg, or coriander duck confit, spicy mango sauce and seasonal veg wok (I tried this and believe me, you will not be disappointed.)
For those a bit more health conscious, you can tuck into the naked mo-banh mi replacing the baguette with noodles and salad- I’m sure we would have attempted to squeeze this in had we not already devoured enough of the sizeable portions of pie and baguette.
The decor is understated; a collection of french and vietnamese black and white photographs put together by Theodores younger sister, leather chairs, and a beautiful seasonal window display complete with hanging plant pots- the alfresco dining may be a bit optimistic for us brits but be determined to use it if there is no space inside, your taste buds will thank you for it.
Credit to the two young Parisian co-founders, Theodore Charoy and Thibaut Voury, who had the confidence to bring to London such delights as green tea croissants and matcha green tea brownies- echoes of non monsieur!! must have reverberated in their heads that the idea would not work. Our verdict? If you are in the area, be sure to go and check out MoBa.
