“I want to eat bun cha!” And that was how my friend brought me to Uncle Ho Tuckshop, lol. Ever since visiting Hanoi and eating possibly the best bun cha in the world at Bun Cha Huong Lien (Obama made this place famous :-P), I have been constantly craving for it. Until one day, I decided to try making bun cha at home. Check out my Bun Cha Recipe. 😀 It’s actually pretty good but still not the same because it lacks that smoky flavour as I don’t have a charcoal grill to cook my meats. So if you do have a BBQ grill at home, you really gotta make some bun cha. 😀
For the love of bun cha, I was determined to hunt down a good one in Singapore. Got really excited when I heard that Uncle Ho Tuckshop serves up pretty authentic Vietnamese food and a delicious bun cha.
Uncle Ho Tuckshop is a casual, self-service eatery at the ground level of an industrial building (Old Behn Meyer Building) with air-conditioned indoor seating and free wifi.
Simply place your order at the counter, pay and get a buzzer to collect your food when ready.
Need A Potent Brew?
This Iced Vietnamese Coffee ($4.80) was an excellent perk-me-up. I requested for it to be less sweet and it came perfect. It was strong, aromatic and robust-tasting but not acidic at all.
The Four Seasons Spring Rolls ($9.50) consisted of two kinds of spring rolls. The fresh ones had lettuce, pineapple, coriander, rice vermicelli, carrot, prawn and chicken meat in them. On the other hand, the fried ones were made of minced meat, black fungus and jicama. Between the two, I preferred the fried spring roll that was more flavoursome. The fresh one had a lot of textures and crunch but tasted a little underwhelming. At $9.50 for this dish, I thought it was pretty expensive for just two small fried rolls and one fresh spring roll that was halved.
This Banana Flower Salad Is Amazing
My first time having a Banana Flower Salad ($12.90). I really loved how all the different elements in this dish could come together as one as there were so much crunch and varying textures. Everything married perfectly and just tasted refreshing. Dressing was wonderfully balanced. And the banana flower was so fragrant and aromatic.
The broth of this homely Pho Beef Combo ($10.90) tasted similar to the one my mother-in-law often makes. Flavoursome but not overly salty or laden with MSG. Still wasn’t the best pho I had though. The meatballs were disappointing as they tasted like those overly processed meatballs sold in packets. And the beef slices were on the chewy side. No provision of bean sprouts and mint leaves too. 😐
Finally, my most awaited Hanoi Bun Cha ($13.90). 
Came with both minced meat patties and sliced pork belly dunked in a pool of fish sauce and accompanied with sliced carrots and green papaya. The sauce was on the saltier side. Meat was quite tender and nicely marinated.
Honestly, this bun cha didn’t sweep me off my feet. I couldn’t taste any smoky or caramelised flavour on the meat. I even thought my homemade bun cha was better because I could tweak the flavour of the fish sauce to my preference. Overall, this was still not bad considering it was the closest to what you get in Hanoi. Or perhaps I had too high hopes for this bun cha but at the same time, I had also set a high benchmark for it, lol. Nothing beats the authentic one from Hanoi. 😛
Prices indicated are inclusive of GST. There is no service charge.
Now, back to making my own bun cha, lol.
11.00am to 3.00pm (Sat)
Closed on Sundays