Food Picks: Vietnam Kitchen lost and found
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Banh Mi Thit Nuong (top) and Banh Mi Truyen Thong from Vietnam Kitchen.
ST PHOTO: TAN HSUEH YUN
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SINGAPORE – In Singapore’s brutal food and beverage scene, restaurants come and go so fast, I get whiplash. And so it was that this little Vietnamese restaurant I used to go to at Great World City just disappeared one day.
Recently, I found Vietnam Kitchen again, in a Bishan coffee shop where I’d gone to eat something different.
The menu is a little bigger than before and prices are lower. You are, after all, eating in a non-air-conditioned coffee shop.
What I liked at the old place was the Bun Cha, pork patties and slices of pork belly with rice vermicelli, herbs and a killer dipping sauce. I’m glad it’s still on the menu, priced at $10.90, $1 less than before.
But the weather is brutal and I can get my bun cha without melting down – in Banh Mi Thit Nuong ($7.90). The baguette is filled with those juicy pork patties it uses for the bun cha, together with daikon and carrot pickles, and cucumber ribbons.
What I usually order from any banh mi place is Banh Mi Truyen Thong, which is filled with Vietnamese charcuterie. Vietnam Kitchen’s version, priced at $7.90, gets a thumbs up too. I just wish the pickles were a little more sharp.
The bread retains its crispness for about 30 minutes, during which time the flavours meld. Order, collect and find a cooler spot to tuck in. Make haste, clock’s ticking.
Where: Vietnam Kitchen, 01-444, 504 Bishan Street 11
MRT: Bishan
Open: 10.30am to 9.30pm daily
Info: @vietnamkitchensg (Instagram)
