Vietnamese food at Miss Saigon

By Foong, on March 31st, 2009

I’ve never eaten Vietnamese food before and had no idea what it’s like at all. All I could think of was that it probably has rice and noodles and that’s as far as I could think. I didn’t know if it was spicy like Thai food or pickled like Korean or raw like Japanese. So, I didn’t really suddenly decide to try it out.

It was all those insidous ‘marketing’ by people I know. Every once in a while, I’d hear someone rave on and on about how great the food at Miss Saigon is. So, in the end, we gave in and went there to try for ourselves.

The ambience is good enough, considering it is one of a row of restaurants at E-Gate.

I ordered tea and I like it that they serve it in a mini tea pot and in a thin heart-shaped china cup. Cute.

We took the lazy way out and ordered one of the huge sets for four which practically contained everything from fish to chicken to egg to vegetables to spring rolls. I’ll have to say one thing though, the waiters aren’t local and their English aren’t very good either SO there is plenty of room for misunderstanding. We specifically said we don’t eat beef (due to religious reasons) and told them to replace the beef on this set with something else. Well, it came without the beef although I had suspiciously sniffed at every dark-coloured meat just to be sure.

BUT.

We also ordered a bowl of rice noodles soup.

It came with beef in it. That is despite our repeated reminders that we don’t eat beef! Fortunately, the waiter was kind enough to change it for us after we explained it to him for several painful minutes of gestures and broken English mixed with Bahasa.

We also ordered a plate of rice with grilled chicken for Mr Picky:

Well, I have to say, Vietnamese food is not as strange as I thought it would be although it too has quite a number of beef dishes. Surprisingly, I liked the food there and though not exceptionally good, it passed muster. However, I’d prefer that their waiters learn more English.

Not exactly cheap, mind you, but still, quite reasonably priced.

Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$