What's better than the satisfaction of find a new place to eat that's good? Well, that it's wallet-friendly. I paid a visit to Nam Nam Noodle Bar after much coaxing from my friend who said that she absolutely loved it. Hence I decided to meet one of my schoolmates for lunch here. There was a steady stream of people queuing up for the food, and the probable reason is that good-quality Vietnamese food is being sold at reasonable prices. I spent about 15 minutes in the queue which personally I deem to be negligible. Seating is allocated when you reach the counter, and you are given seat numbers. The bar tables also come with little hooks beneath the marble table for ladies to hang their handbags which I found to be thoughtful. Throughout the visit, a video documenting food in the streets of Vietnam was shown, but sadly people were too engrossed in their own conversations or busy eating to pay much heed to the video. Still, the ambiance here is decent especially after lunch hours when it starts to quiten down a bit. The lanterns certainly add to the charm of the restaurant, and there is a variety of sauces at each table (I didn't photograph this as I was sharing a common table) which you can add to your choice of lunch.
So I mentioned earlier that the food here was cheap. This can be attributed to 2 reasons - there is no service charge! and GST is already included in the price they charge so you can pretty much say that it's nett. Their ala carte prices are generally $8 for pho (noodles), and even cheaper for their Banh Mi (sandwiches). What made my visit better was that they had this lunch set which costs $9.90. Called the Saigon Street Favourite set, it has Fresh southern rolls with sweet shrimps, egg and fresh herbs. You can choose either chicken or beef pho, and the meal is completed with either a classic iced coffee with condensed milk or an iced lotus tea. For this outing, I also ordered their daily special, the Sweet Potato Net Rolls.
Sliced Beef Pho
Vietnamese Noodle Soup with beef slices. As you can see, they added chilli and lime to the broth, which gave it an oriental flavour. The beef slices were also tasty and not too chewy, and I enjoyed the noodles as I personally have a soft spot for kway teow. Overall, the soup was not really spicy, making it suitable for those who don't really like to eat/are unable to take too much spicy food. Furthermore, you can take out the lime if you don't want the soup too taste too sour. However, this is definitely more mild as compared to Thai food.
Fresh southern rolls with sweet shrimps, egg and fresh herbs
For me, the best things about the rolls was the peanut sauce that came with it. The sauce isn't spicy and is sweet, making this dish suitable even as a dessert. This is because the rolls themselves are not exactly flavourful, and the dish would have been underwhelming if not for the sauce. There were also fried shallots in the sauce which varied the textures in the rolls by adding crispiness to it.
Daily Special: Sweet Potato Net Roll (2 pcs for $2.90)
I'll be honest and say that I didn't even check how many pieces of sweet potato roll I would get for one serving, but although the portions were slightly smaller than what I would have liked, I would have to say the rolls were good. I felt that the icing was unnecessary as the sweet potato was already quite sweet on its own, but the sweet potato tasted average otherwise in general. I might want to try some other dessert on a future visit.
Iced Coffee with Condensed Milk
Your typical kopitam kopi, I wasn't expecting much from this drink. However, the coffee flavour was stronger than I was preparing myself for, and even when the ice melted a little over time it did not become too diluted for enjoyment.
It certainly has been fulfilling for me to try out Nam Nam so long after they have opened, as I usually have my Vietnamese food at Food Republic. Even then, I usually stick to having rice over noodles. For those people who haven't tried it before, I would strongly suggest you make a trip down to one of their 3 outlets (especially before they increase their prices). If you're looking into having an Asian or Oriental alternative to Western food in Singapore, it's certainly a plausible option as compared to other Thai joints such as ThaiExpress. They also have a breakfast set which promotes their Banh Mi.
Expect to pay: $10-15
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