I have mentioned this on Twitter, but this is a week of pigging out and enjoying good food. An unreal life that is bound to crash any time now, but let me relish it while it lasts. Angela and I went for Vietnamese food in Chinatown in a small homey restaurant called Yummy Viet. It’s on Smith Street, along the heritage food street (something like that). We saw good reviews on HungryGoWhere and thought we might give it a try.

Pomelo salad, $6.90

I insisted on ordering a pomelo salad. It’s generously built with ripe pomelo, prawns (there are two more hidden under the salad), peanuts, shredded carrot, cucumber, radish, and fried onion. The dressing is a sweet tangy clear dressing that is very appetizing. There are a few salads available; I wanted to try to the lotus root salad, but I was afraid that the lotus root might be raw and that seems bizarre.

Springroll, $3.90

The deep-fried spring rolls are crunchy but the texture of the fillings is foreign.

Springroll interior

There appears to be copious amounts of rice noodles (beehoon) in there, along with vegetable. I didn’t really enjoy this. The summer rolls (see below) were better in my opinion.

Summer roll, $3.50

Summer rolls as such are quintessential of Vietnamese cuisine. Prawns and vegetables wrapped in translucent rice paper served with a dip – simple fare than resonates what we want to believe about the Vietnamese people and lifestyle; non-frills yet complex.

Summer roll interior

In the summer roll there is beehoon, scallions and vegetable, alongside prawns. The scallion can be a little daunting especially for people who eat too much fast food. I bit the bullet and ate the scallion. My infantile tastebud was a little traumatized but my spirit came out victorious.

Crab soup, $3.50

The crab soup looks like thickened Chinese sharks’ fin soup. It tastes potent, and there are bits of crab meat in the soup. After I drank one mouth, a question came up – where is the dark vinegar? Vinegar would have made this soup complete, not that it is not tasty enough, but vinegar would add a much-appreciated tang to the soup.

Beef pho, $6.90

Angela had the beef pho. I stole some of the broth, and boy it’s good. I commented that the soup base is real good, provided it is real. I would like to believe the soup is made from hours of boiling beef bones, but sometimes restaurants may cheat by adding commercial additives and factory products. I am not claiming that Yummy Viet does that. I really like the broth and I want more of it, so it’s best if it’s natural.

Chicken pho, $6.20

I took the chicken pho. I squeezed a fresh lime into my soup which made it surprisingly refreshing and appetizing. The vermicilli, as you can see, was like skinny kway teow without the oil film. I didn’t quite like it. I would have enjoyed the pho much more if it were made of glass noodles. I love glass noodles.

Vietnamese coffee, $3.50

Also on the menu is traditional Vietnamese drip coffee, which I recommend for coffee addicts ONLY. It is very strong and potent and one sip nearly made me gag. I believe it’s because it’s unsweetened and black that made me go green in the face. I am not a coffee connoisseur, I’m afraid.

Overall, I enjoyed the food at Yummy Viet and will certainly return for the pho! I like this place because they do not add on service charge and GST at the end of the bill; what you see is what you pay.

Visit their official website, which really is a page to showcase their address, at http://www.yummyviet.com.sg

Yummy Viet
28 Smith Street, Chinatown
Tel: 6222 5191