A taste of Vietnam at Viet Lang (closed)
PUBLISHED September 20th, 2012 09:42 am | UPDATED March 29th, 2016 02:21 pm
I have to say, I’m a sucker for Vietnamese street food – give me a Summer Roll or steaming bowl of Pho anytime and I’ll be one happy camper. But there are times when you want to go for the…well how should I say…the finer things in life. And if that time happens to marry with when you want to eat Vietnamese cuisine, your options can be quite limited.
But thankfully then, Viet Lang comes to the rescue!
Now you might be thinking, how do you take Vietnamese cuisine to that next level, when in essence it tends to be quite a simple cuisine? The answer is by using fresh, quality ingredients which let their flavours speak for themselves and which are showcased to their best through good presentation. This is most certainly something Viet Lang know a great deal about, seeing as most of their ingredients, sauces and condiments are imported directly from Vietnam, and they are rather handy on the presentation front.
Having recently moved from Chjimes to its new place of residence at The Arts House, Viet Lang, is a rather elegant spot to savour Vietnamese cuisine from across the different regions.
Wanting to try as best spread as possible, being only two of us for a quick working lunch, we opted for the Vietnamese set lunch at $30++ which is rather good value for what you get.
We started off with the Starter Sampler which came with a Tangy Glass Noodle Salad, Signature House Dip, and House Grilled Lemongrass Chicken Skewers.
Fresh and light, with prawns and bean sprouts, the noodle salad had just the right amount of bite to it and was a good start. But it was the skewers here which really did it for me – succulent, ever-so-tender chicken, and perfectly aromatic, these were a lovely surprise.
Moving on to the mains, for those who love seafood, the Sauteed Prawns in Coconut juice are rather delicious. Think fat, juicy prawns, served almost dry-style in a savoury coconut sauce reduction and just perfect in number, served up with a side of jasmine rice and morning glory. Very tasty indeed.
The Saigon-Style Minced Beef Bowl was a light, simple and homely dish with shredded beef sitting atop a bowl of rice noodles and veggies – definitely the perfect option for a healthy lunch.
While I am not a huge fan of South East Asian desserts, my dining partner The City Nomad seemed to be quite content with his Dessert Platter of Sweet Rice Dumpling with Ginger Syrup & Jungle Fruit.
For me, the set lunch was a nice taster of what else Viet Lang has to offer and I’m definitely keen to return to try some more – in particular there are some delicious looking options on the main menu I have my eye on, especially some of the seafood dishes like Traditional Viet Style Crab steamed with beer and ginger ($36), as well as the meats like Grilled Boneless Duck marinated with salted beancurd ($22). I look forward to enjoying those over a more languorous dinner one day.
So if you’re in and around the arts district, and fancy some flavours of the Nam in stylish surrounds, then take a short hop from City Hall MRT, and find yourself at Viet Lang to savour some cuisine from the land of Independence, Freedom & Happiness. You will probably leave feeling much the same.
Written by Ms Demeanour
