Madam Saigon, Liang Seah Street

My confidence in Vietnamese food has been reinforced by this trip to Madam Saigon (30 Liang Seah Street, tel: 6333 9798). Was rather happy with what we've tried so far and a re-visit is definitely in order since I didn't get to try out their pho after being distracted by the rest of the menu.


We started off with some light and crunchy summer rolls which were accompanied by a sweet dip with crushed peanuts. Never realized that there were fried versions which were on the menu.


These are known as bolalot skewers; basically sticks of beef in betel leaves. I couldn't detect any flavour from those betel leaves. They came across like tasteless seaweed. Does anyone know how these are supposed to taste like?


This chicken and sweet potato curry was something that I didn't expect to see and never knew was Vietnamese. I've never associated chicken curry with Vietnamese food. This turned out to be interesting. In fact, I wouldn't mind eating them again since they were kinda nice. The sweet potatoes imparted a mild sweetness into the mildly spicy coconut laden curry. I wasn't sure but I thought some of that sweetness crept into the chicken as well. This dish made short work of the rice.


Their Vietnamese pancake was light and pretty crunchy beneath the slightly crisp skin, loaded with stuff like beans sprouts, spring onions, chicken and some shrimps. I could eat this again. It reminded me of a kind of poh piah. The accompanying dips were good with them.

If anyone's wondering about the coffee, I've tried it and I thought their brew was pretty thick (not Turkish coffee thick though), but lacked fragrance that might have made it great. I'll be back for the pho another day.