Super Saigon @ Persiaran Ampang

When we last dined at The Daily Grind in mid-July, we noticed a new restaurant next door that had taken over the space vacated by Flint Bar & Restaurant.

So, we made a trip here wanting to try Flipp, a new Japanese fusion restaurant, but was politely informed that they were fully booked when I walked through the door.  Oh well, another time then...and that's how we ended up at Super Saigon @ Persiaran Ampang since we were already in the area.

The only decor that caught my eye were the beautiful blue ceramic plates (that I adore) adorning their feature wall.  Hey, I wouldn't mind owning some of these. ^_~

Since we were at an eatery specialising in Vietnamese food, obviously Pho would be top on the list of things to order.  I was pretty excited when I saw my bowl of Beef Pho @ RM18.90 arriving with medium rare Aussie sliced beef (as the ones I've had before usually comes with cooked through beef) together with some white onions, scallions and cilantro.

It's also common to see pho served with garnishes of bean sprouts, Thai basil (sometimes Vietnamese mint might be included), a wedge of lime and fresh Thai chilli peppers.

Vietnamese dishes are also usually accompanied by condiments of sweet, salty, spicy and sour flavours for you to tweak to your liking, so expect to find chili oil and hot chili sauce (like sriracha), fish sauce, hoisin sauce and their special sate sauce (or what we'd call sambal) on the table.

Well, just in case you don't know how to go about eating pho, there's even a guide (at the back of the menu) to show you how you can eat pho like a pro! ;)  But there's no hard and fast rule, you can eat it anyway you deem fit.

I dunk the bean sprouts in, squeezed in the lime and added a drizzle of fish sauce...that's how I like mine.  I'd leave the stinky Thai basil leaves alone coz I just hate those.  I usually leave out the fresh chilli peppers too but this time I added them in (and I'll tell you why in a jiffy).

My first mouthful of the rice noodles (much like kuay tiao), I immediately detected something unpleasant.  I took a second bite and confirmed that the unpalatable taste was still there...and that's why I added all the bird's eye chillies in the hope that it'll help mask the taste.  But, unfortunately, it didn't.  The medium rare beef was perfectly fine though, nice and tender (and if you need your beef cooked a bit more, just dip them into the broth though the broth that came wasn't all that hot, not even hot enough to cook the bean sprouts which retained its raw taste).  In the end, I just ate up the beef slices and left the rest of my pho untouched (the noodles even tainted the broth).

I've come across this offensive taste (and smell) of kway teow before but it's always from our local noodle stalls, never from a Vietnamese eatery.  I've rejected quite a few kway teow based on this but if the noodle shop is still good, I just make sure I don't choose kway teow as my noodle of choice.  I don't know how best to describe this unpleasant taste but it's almost like cockroach smell to me (sorry if the comparison sounds offensive to you).  I don't know if any one of you has ever experienced this before but I have many times...and it only seems to happen with kway teow! >.<  I don't know if the noodles weren't fresh (that day) or if it's due to the choice of their noodle supplier (as in chemicals used in the manufacture of the noodles) or that the handling and storage of the noodles was compromised or merely that my tastebuds are just overly sensitive.  That's why I usually stay clear of kway teow in soup noodles unless it passes my taste test after trying.

In the end, I had to order something else and went with the Crispy Spring Rolls @ RM13.90 (for 6 pcs) wrapped in minced chicken and prawns, served with a sweetish-sourish dip containing pickled vegetables of carrot and jicama.  The rolls were freshly fried, came piping hot, were super crispy and had a good ratio of filling...so, no complaints on this.

Our other order of Broken Rice with Grilled Lemongrass Chicken @ RM18.90 was served with lemongrass chicken, fried omega egg, pickled vegetables, cucumber shreds and a slice of chicken meatloaf together with a dipping sauce.  Nothing stood out, it was just edible.

For drinks, we had Pandan Lemongrass @ RM4.90 (a tall glass but diluted in taste) and La Juiceria's (bottled) Fresh Orange Juice @ RM5.90 (that turned out to be pretty sour).

When the server came to clear our plates, he was at least alert enough to notice that my bowl of pho was hardly eaten and asked if there was something wrong with it.  So I told him.  He just acknowledged what I said and walked away without offering any gesture to mitigate the situation.  Well, kudos to him for noticing...but he might as well not have! >:(

My Personal Opinion

The fact that the server didn't offer to mitigate (or resolve) the issue clearly demonstrates the level of service here. Maybe it was for the best as it made it that much easier for me to decide not to return.

Looks like this was an un-PHO-gettable experience for me...and I don't mean that in a good way.  Un-pho-tunately for them, I'm not so pho-giving, so this bowl of pho would be my first.....and last! >_<

Super Saigon Pho Cafe
No 34 Persiaran Ampang
55000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2856 9998