Joo Chiat is fast becoming a haven for Vietnamese food - throwback to the days where the police were clamping down on unruly night life involving Vietnamese call girls. Not much has changed except they engage in more toned down activities.
Nested in a row of Vietnamese eats is Long Phung, a wildly popular outlet with queues forming at dinner time and the crowds did not stop throughout dinner. Both locals and Vietnamese seem to favour this over the other Vietnamese restaurants in the vicinity.
Vietnamese Rice Rolls ($6)
The sticky sauce with peanut was an odd sweet sauce for this. Fresh herbs aplenty in this roll, memories of Vietnam came flooding back, and the same reasons why I am on the fence about Vietnamese cuisine too. Too raw for comfort, if anything, the rice wrapper was chewy enough.
Chicken Salad ($9)
Enamoured by Namnam's, this was by far the roughest salad eaten, haphazardly tossed together and dunked onto the plate for consumption. While the rough edges could be uniquely Vietnamese, it disappointed me somehow with the stale chicken.
Fried Spring Rolls ($6)
Anything fried worked and in their case, nary for the greasy aftertaste was quite decent afterall. Do ask for the tangy sauce that comes with it, ours was missing.
Fried Chicken ($8)
Riding on the high of fried foods, this was deliciously juicy.
Beef Pho ($4)
Huge portion for 4 buckeroos and mildy sweet. The noodles soaked too long and ended up a tad soggy.
Less is more sometimes and the beef slices though tender could hardly make up for the lacklustreness of the dish.
An experience meant only for those who truly love Vietnamese food in its rawness and roughness. Nam nam is here to stay and for locals like me who crave localization.
Long Phung Vietnamese
159 Joo Chiat Road
Nested in a row of Vietnamese eats is Long Phung, a wildly popular outlet with queues forming at dinner time and the crowds did not stop throughout dinner. Both locals and Vietnamese seem to favour this over the other Vietnamese restaurants in the vicinity.
Vietnamese Rice Rolls ($6)
The sticky sauce with peanut was an odd sweet sauce for this. Fresh herbs aplenty in this roll, memories of Vietnam came flooding back, and the same reasons why I am on the fence about Vietnamese cuisine too. Too raw for comfort, if anything, the rice wrapper was chewy enough.
Chicken Salad ($9)
Enamoured by Namnam's, this was by far the roughest salad eaten, haphazardly tossed together and dunked onto the plate for consumption. While the rough edges could be uniquely Vietnamese, it disappointed me somehow with the stale chicken.
Fried Spring Rolls ($6)
Anything fried worked and in their case, nary for the greasy aftertaste was quite decent afterall. Do ask for the tangy sauce that comes with it, ours was missing.
Fried Chicken ($8)
Riding on the high of fried foods, this was deliciously juicy.
Beef Pho ($4)
Huge portion for 4 buckeroos and mildy sweet. The noodles soaked too long and ended up a tad soggy.
Less is more sometimes and the beef slices though tender could hardly make up for the lacklustreness of the dish.
An experience meant only for those who truly love Vietnamese food in its rawness and roughness. Nam nam is here to stay and for locals like me who crave localization.
Long Phung Vietnamese
159 Joo Chiat Road
I have been to Joo Chiat so many times and tried so many eateries there but never Vietnamese. I should make it a mission to do so in my next visit. Thanks for sharing this place.
ReplyDelete@SG Food on Foot: heh, go try! It's got quite alot of undiscovered food!
ReplyDeleteLong Phung pho cannot make it. The soup is too sweet. Their chicken pho taste better, different soup base. The pork chop rice also worth a try.
ReplyDelete