Vaima Restaurant & Bar

Rating: 1

We ate dinner here in May 2023.

Roast pork belly with honey glazed carrots and dauphinoise potato
Pepperoni pizza

With our hired bikes, and clear weather, we thought we’d strike out and free ourselves from the clutches of Captain Andy. But it turns out that the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. Nothing good was waiting for us here.

Right off the bat, we got on their bad side by parking our bikes out front. That’s a no-no, things only got worse when we had to admit to the imperious and disappointed front of house staff that we hadn’t made a reservation. Never mind that the place was less than 20% full.

Worst. Pork belly. Ever. The crackling layer was wafer thin yet somehow also extremely hard. Pair this with rubbery meat and a blunt knife and you’re generating some real concern that we’re going to accidentally break a plate here. The apple sauce was bland and not warm. It was also not a “rich pork gravy”, which was the sauce listed on the menu. They had arrogantly, and inaccurately, labelled their bland, undercooked sliced potato dish ‘potato dauphinoise’. The only identifiable cheese in the dish was mozzarella which was thick and sludgy on top. Gross. The honey glazed carrots were the best thing on the plate. They weren’t actually good and were in fact just boiled carrots covered in a sauce that featured honey. But they were edible, which is more than could be said for the pork or potato.

We had to order a children’s sized pizza as they were out of regular size bases. We thought it was weird that they didn’t mention this to us when we came in, given that they did think it was important to mention that they were out of Lion Red. The pizza was forgettable - okay meat, okay sauce, base a bit thick, Overpriced for what it was.