The corner space on Odengatan and Västmannagatan has long faced what seemed to be a curse, with restaurants opening up and closing down faster than the speed of light. But judging from the lunch line at Eatnam, the spell has been broken once and for all.

Taking queues from her grandmother’s old family recipes in Vietnam, Cecilia Ly has devised a menu consisting of noodle bouillons, noodle salads and spring rolls flavoured using lots of fresh herbs and fish sauce, yet with quite a few vegan options.
The vegetarian ‘gỏi cuốn’ fresh spring roll (40 kronor per roll) is a great start to the meal while we wait for our hot meals. The rice paper-wrapped veggies give that sought-after crunch while the peanut dipping sauce smoothers the bite with a sweetness and saltiness.

One of the few rice dishes on the menu, the ‘com chay’ (135 kronor), consisting of steamed rice and a stir-fry made of pak choi, ‘chayote’ vegetable pear, baby corn and tofu is a lacklustre let-down and can only be saved through the profuse of the bottles of sriracha, fish sauce, hoisin sauce and soy sauce that sit on the counter. The ‘bun cha gio’ (145 kronor) is however another story entirely. The rise noodle salad bowl is sprinkled with a generous amount of Thai basil and fresh red peppers, and topped with large chunks of deep-fried spring rolls. The textures and flavours complement each other very well, and make for a lunch to look forward to.

Although somewhat uneven on the food side, we feel the place. Eatnam is cute with its colourful décor, friendly staff and laid back atmosphere. When the initial lunch time rush dies down, it turns into the place where we could see ourselves having a long, relaxed lunch with friends.

Odengatan 85
08 30 51 30
eatnam.se