Viet Cafe

Fail. I walked out after 2 – 3 mouthfuls. Maybe it’s being an amateur /​avid home cook, but I have little patience for mediocrity at this level.
I ordered the phở. There were two other occupied tables in the restaurant. The soup took 15-​minutes to come… timed it. And when it did come it was just lame.
No plate of sprouts of herbs. Tough over cooked meat. Four token basil leaves in the soup. No chili or hoisin. And worst of all the soup tasted like MSG water.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the msg, cook with it all the time, but this was just weak watery broth.
Initially I was excited a new Vietnamese place opened by my apartment, but now I’m just bummed. Maybe the other dishes are better, but if you can’t get a staple like phở right I have little hope.
My advice for a noodle fix for the same amount of money, check out the new ramen places in novena (not Ajisan though) or try the Thai place across the street in Goldhill plaza. The chicken rice place across from the church also does surprisingly good noodles as well.

This café is a bit hidden and you can easily confuse it with Pasta De Waraku, the Japanese pasta restaurant that’s located near the escalators that lead down to Harvey Norman. They seem to share the same staff or something, because their locations are adjacent to each other and the servers seemed to stand at the corner where both restaurants meet, catering to patrons of both places. Confusing much?!
Anyway, it seems Viet Café is pretty new, as I do recall the space undergoing construction near the end of 2012. Walking in, it’s very modern, with brick walls that are painted white and nicely styled photographs of their main dishes decorating the walls.
For starters, the husband and I ordered the fresh prawn rolls, always a favorite Viet appetizer in our book. Although they had the right ingredients, I think the rolls would’ve been better with more lemongrass.
Since we weren’t too hungry, we decided to share an order of the Imperial Char Siew and the Samba prawn. The char siew was a huge FAIL, as it was dry and flavorless. The Samba prawn was better, as the sauce had the right amount of spice and was pretty flavorful.
The price points were pretty good, with the main courses costing around $ 10 – 15. Perhaps if we ordered more familiar dishes like phở, our meal would have had a better turn out. My husband wasn’t a fan of this place, but I’d be willing to give it another shot should a craving of Vietnamese strike.