Vietnamese Restaurant: Long Phung
I never ate Vietnamese food in the first 22 years of my life until i visited San Francisco. S and i chanced upon an authentic Viet eatery while waiting for our laundry to be done and that's where i fell in love with Pho. You'd think that with Singapore being so close to Vietnam and all, we would have better Viet food, but it's really quite sub par compared to many Western countries.
We were recently introduced to Long Phung by a friend who swears that this is probably the best Viet food in Singapore. The Joo Chiat location is kinda seedy, with plenty of KTV bars (aka lup sup bars) but that hasn't stopped the horde of Singaporean and Vietnamese families alike from patronising the place. The latter is certainly an endorsement of the authentic flavors served here.
The set up is very simple and no frills. Join the queue outside the store and wait for a table to be available. The wait could be long on weekends but you could occupy yourself with pictures of the dishes on the wall while you make a mental note of your order. Once seated, do not hesitate and start ordering.
The Viet Prawn Roll, Goi Cuon, (4 for S$6, 6 for S$9) was served with a sweet sauce with peanut, garlic puree and chili. This went well with the fresh minty rice rolls filled with rice vermicelli, sliced pork and prawn. This is good for sharing because the roll are huge. I would have ordered the spring rolls but S stopped me from over ordering.
I've never seen or ordered shellfish in Vietnam but i heard this is quite a local snack so we ordered 2 dishes to try anyway. The Huyet Xao Toi, Stir Fry Cockles with Garlic (S$6) is a good beer snack for sure. Eat this while it is hot and make sure you mop up the garlic pepper sauce and then dip it into the salt, pepper, chili mix that accompanies the dish.
Oc Len Xao Ot Sate, Stir Fry Zuzu with Satay (S$6) was a little on the bland side. I kinda thought it would be similar to the local satay sauce but this was just a chili garlic sauce that did little to add flavor to the green entrails in the shell.
I had the Pho Dac Biet (S$6.50), a Special Noodle Soup with beef balls, beef slices and beef brisket. This generous bowl of smooth rice noodles is topped lots of tender meat and juicy chewy balls. I was surprised by a raw egg when i was poking around my bowl. This has to be the most flavorful pho i've had in Singapore. The sweet rich broth is fragrant and flavorful and it had me hooked. Extremely addictive soup i say!
S had the rare beef steak noodle soup (S$5.50) which he happily devoured. If rice is more your thing, they have braised fish, cutlet, stewed pork or beef to go with that.
We have nothing but praise for this authentic Viet eatery in the east. The food is hearty, home cooked and unpretentious. What's more the price is extremely affordable. This is what Viet food is about really and this is what i miss about Saigon. If you want to experience Saigon but don't have the time to travel, get your tummy right over to Long Phung now. You bet this is where i'll be every time i have a Viet craving.
159 Joo Chiat Road
Tel: +65 9105 8519
Daily: 1pm - 2am
Tel: +65 9105 8519
Daily: 1pm - 2am
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The post is talking about Vietnamese restaurant long Phung. Great review
ReplyDeletei went to this eatery after seeing your entry, and indeed it was pretty good!
ReplyDeleteand when i saw, "I never ate Vietnamese food in the first 22 years of my life until i visited San Francisco", it totally struck a chord! i ate vietnamese food for the first time when i visited a place in san fran called pho 2000!
I think the Viet community is quite big in SFO, or at least the food culture is. :) is it the same pho2000 in Ho Chi Minh? I've seen tt chain around.
Deleteyou should try also recently opened Wrap & Roll at Buona Vista! they make the best banh xeo which is my favourite viet dish in HCMC!
ReplyDeleteHaha it's actually opened by my friend's sister. Will visit it sometime. Still exploring the gems in Joo Chiat.
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