Dry sauteed

lemongrass pork noodle.

By Li Yen Epoch Times Staff

Food is one of the most enjoyable ways to expe-rience a culture, and if you want to get

a glimpse into Vietnamese street food culture, Nam-Nam Noodle Bar is the ulti-mate choice.

Well-loved by Singapo-reans as well as Vietnam-ese, NamNam Noodle Bar is a fast-paced, casual bis-tro that’s easy on the wal-let. Brought to Singapore by the Les Amis Group in 2012, NamNam Noodle Bar aims to bring Vietnamese street food to the world stage.

The man at the helm of Nam-Nam is Chef Nam Quoc Nguyen who hails from Vietnam, but grew up and lived in Denmark for most of his life. NamNam is the Dan-ish word for ‘yummy’, and also takes after the name of Chef Nam. NamNam Noodle Bar currently has four outlets islandwide, with two more outlets to be added to the list later this year.

We visited the newly-opened NamNam outlet at Plaza Sin-gapura, which is an open concept eatery lined with wooden tables and stools. The green coloured tiles, giant

pil-lar with old Vietnamese newspaper prints, and the iconic red lan-terns are reminiscent of Vietnam with an urban feel.

The seating arrangement in NamNam is geared towards cre-ating the cosiest setting: small tables for groups of four, high tables for groups of five or six, or single tables for the lone diner

who is visiting the eatery for a quick bite.

The menu offers a

selection of popular Viet-namese street food, with a strong emphasis on qual-ity. Chef Nam meticu-lously curates his menu to offer street food from all regions of Vietnam, to cater to his various diners’ tastes. NamNam believes that ‘Good food should be enjoyed by everyone’, and seeks to make Vietnamese

street food accessible—and affordable. The chain does not use monosodium

glutamate (MSG) or preserv-atives in its cooking, allaying the concerns of diners who get par-ticularly thirsty or bloated with MSG consumption.

New items on the menu include Sauteed Lemongrass Pork and

Cream Cheese Banh Mi (S$6.90), Sardines in Tomato Sauce Banh Mi (S$5.90), Dry Sauteed Lemongrass Pork Noodle (S$9.90), Seafood Noodle Soup (S$9.90) and Pho Pork Balls (S$8.90). For vegetarians, Nam-

Nam offers Banh Mi stuffed with lemongrass tofu, egg

omelette and fresh herbs (S$5.90) and other dishes

as well. Amongst the des-

serts, the crispy fresh banana with sesame seeds and smoked coconut sauce (warm) (S$3.90) garners the highest reviews from Viet-namese diners who pat-ronise

NamNam. But if you prefer a sweet and

cooling dessert, the Chilled 3-colour dessert (S$3.90) fits the bill. This toothsome dessert gets its colours from the mixture of jelly, red beans and coconut milk, resembling a Vietnamese version of the local dessert—Chendol!

We also loved the dry sauteed lemongrass pork noodles (S$9.90) that we ordered. A popular dish in Vietnam as well as in NamNam, it came in a big bowl of chewy rice vermicelli topped with crispy spring roll, shrimp paste, bean sprouts, and peanuts in a perfect harmony of savoury goodness.

FOOD & TRAVEL TheEpochTimes44 junE 20 – juLY 3, 2014

fred fan/epoch times

Dry Spicy Minced Meat Pork Balls Noodles.

courtesy

of nam

nam

noodle

Bar

NamNamNoodle Bar:

Tasty Vietnamese Street Food, the Fast

and Casual Way

Continued on the next page

Fresh southern rolls with prawn, fresh herbs, and peanut sauce.

fred fan/epoch times