Popped by Northshore Plaza again as I had to pick up some stuff at Decathlon. Love the 2-storey Decathlon outlet here as it’s huge. If you’re ever here to shop on a weekday, there’s hardly anyone around and you can just take your own sweet time. Absolutely no queue at the fitting room too, haha.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Punggol or have never been to Northshore Plaza, just check out my earlier post on Creamier for directions.
We decided to have lunch at VS Cafe. Can never resist Vietnamese cuisine ever since our trip to Hanoi. By the way, this restaurant doesn’t have GST and service charge.
The Menu
They had a good variety of Vietnamese dishes on the menu which included rolls, salads, sandwiches (banh mi), rice noodles (pho), rice cakes (banh cuon/banh beo) and rice dishes (com).
Was surprised to find bun rieu and cha ca la vong too! We tried these two dishes in Hanoi previously and quite liked them but couldn’t really find them here in Singapore.
OMG! Egg coffee! Had to order it as we really missed the one from Cafe Giang in Hanoi.
Once you’ve decided what to get, you’d have to go to the counter to order and make payment. The food will then be served to your table.
The Food
Started our meal with Goi Cuon Tom (Shrimp Summer Rolls). The rolls were nicely wrapped with a good amount of fillings. Loved the texture when we bit into them. However, the skins were a little hard. Dipping sauce didn’t do justice to the rolls either as it didn’t have much of a kick.
Next, we had the Cha Gio Re (Fried Yam & Pork Rolls). Wanted the seafood rolls initially but they weren’t available. These were pretty tasty – definitely recommended.
$18.80 Bun Cha – worth it?
For mains, we were really spoilt for choices but decided to settle for their Bun Cha (Grilled Pork Patties with Vermicelli) set which was meant for 2 pax. However, when this dish came, we were shocked by how small portion the set was. It clearly didn’t look like it was for 2 pax to share, lol.
Though the price was considered expensive for such a small portion, this Bun Cha was still decent. There wasn’t any smoky flavour in the minced meat patties as they weren’t charcoal-grilled like the authentic ones in Hanoi but they were well seasoned and moist on the inside.
The fish sauce dip with green papaya slices was also wonderfully balanced and it made a good sauce for the otherwise plain rice vermicelli.
The Ca Phe Phin (Dripping Viet Coffee) came in this manner and we were told to wait for a few minutes for the liquid to drip. Wasn’t even half cup when done so that coffee was really a potent one.
Requested for it to be less sweet but it was still too sweet because there was too much condensed milk on the bottom for such a small cup of coffee. Didn’t want to mix up the concoction as it would be impossible to drink so we merely stirred a little of the condensed milk to give it ample sweetness to balance the bitterness of the robust coffee.
And this was the Ca Phe Phin Trung (Egg Coffee).
The creamy foam on top was supposed to be some egg mixture. Somehow I found this a bit weird tasting. There was also an aftertaste of honey. Totally different from what I expected.
Overall opinion
I wouldn’t say this meal at VS Cafe was spectacular but I am still open to try out the other dishes here next time. Perhaps because we had eaten our way around Hanoi and had tasted some of the best Vietnamese food there so that had already formed some kind of benchmark. So far, I still think the bun cha from the Vietnamese stall at Great World City’s Food Junction and Co Chung at Plaza Singapura are the best in Singapore. And for summer rolls, go for the ones at Quan Co Ba and Pho Street. ?
(Closed on Mondays)