Truly Scrumptious

Fun thing to do, Restaurant review

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DuoTone, East Perth

21 05 20

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Near Perth Mint, DuoTone is one of a group of small cafes, and this is the one that seems to draw the crowds. I popped in the other day for coffee and a snack to see what the fuss is about.
Everything in the cabinets looks nice and the cafe oozes care and consideration. Pastries, rolls, sandwiches – all look great.
I chose a coffee and a raspberry and coconut loaf. The coffee (soy cappuccino) was lovely, rich, but not too bold, and smooth. They certainly know their coffee.

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The raspberry loaf was delicious, maybe a little sweet, but it definitely tasted good, and the staff serving were lovely.

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Based on this visit, I will definitely come back to try more of the goodies on offer.

Last Visit – November 2019

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Duende, Leederville

21 05 20

It had been more than two years since my last visit to Duende – always a nice spot for tapas, a lively atmosphere and an extensive drinks menu. It is on the junction of Carr Place and Newcastle Street, just off the main Oxford Street strip, but still in a lively position.
Our waitress was very knowledgeable, and gave good advice on wine, drinks and the food and portion sizes.
Our first dish to arrive was a sharing plate of longaniza, chorizo, jamon Serrano, caperberries and pickled chillis with bread and olive oil. Everything on the plate was tasty and good quality – the caperberries added a wonderful savoury piquancy.

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Next we chose a ceviche of white fish with orange and grapefruit jelly with ribbons of cucumber, radish and aioli. Again very good quality and a plate of nice fresh flavours.

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Then we had a salad of baby cos lettuce with roasted cauliflower, manchego and chorizo crumb. An unusual dish but a nice combination of flavours that went well together.

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Finally we chose whitebait and patatas bravas. Both simple plates but extremely well executed. The whitebait were plentiful, crispy and served with a chipotle aioli.

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The patatas were cooked traditionally with paprika and smoked tomato aioli. Absolutely delicious, perfectly crispy with just the right amount of spice.

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This visit to Duende proved that the standard has got better and better. Always a favourite, it is now one of Perth’s finest tapas eateries, producing quality food cooked with thought and precision. I can’t wait for the next visit.

Last Visit Date – June 2018

Here are some pictures from previous visits:

Sloe Gin Fizz:
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Anchovies and Tapenade (pureed olives, capers and anchovies):
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Mushrooms, walnuts, and gorgonzola:
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Roast pork belly, grapes, pine nuts, pomegranate:
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Jamon Serrano:
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Duck Duck Bruce, Fremantle

21 05 20

Tucked away in Collie Street, Fremantle, this is one of the best cafes in Perth. It’s quirky, the food is amazingly good, the staff are lovely, and everything is prepared with love and care.

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When we arrived slightly early, our table wasn’t quite ready, but the staff were really friendly and helpful and did their best to get us seated as soon as possible. The menu is funny – dishes have very amusing names like Orange is the New Stack – a pancake stack with burnt orange curd and toasted almonds or The Dating Game – a cauliflower dish with dates, cavolo nero, kale, maple miso dressing, pomegranate, pine nut and parsley crumble.
I chose a hot chocolate to drink, made with coconut milk. It tasted superb, and came with marshmallows and a little duck shaped white chocolate speckle.

The coffee being served on the day was Five Senses Crompton Road blend – it’s always a winner when Five Senses coffee is in the grinder.
I chose a kind of eggs benny style dish with beetroot cured smoked salmon and potato bhajee hash browns – called We’re all Going on a Summer Hollandaise. It tasted divine – perfectly cooked eggs, crispy hash browns, carefully prepared salmon, spinach, cress and greens.

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My companion chose Beans Beans Good for the Heart – smoky beans, poached eggs, plenty of toast, a lovely cheesy bechamel sauce, a touch of sweetness from the bacon jam and a nice crunch to the cheese crisp. All in all a wonderful dish.

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Every mouthful was a joy and I can’t wait to return to Duck Duck Bruce. They do lots of good work in the local community and help to support stray animal homes. You can tell that the staff really enjoy working there. I’ll be back very soon and I might just try the pancakes next time.

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Last Visit Date – January 2019

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Malaysia Airlines Business Class

20 05 20

This is a bit of an unusual post. I decided to review my experience of Malaysia Airlines Business Class, after all any business class travel is quite pricey, so the food should be a feature rather than something ordinary.
Firstly a note on the seating – you get masses of space. The seat was much wider than me, I felt very comfortable – there was more space on the long haul A380 from Kuala Lumpur to London, and the Perth to Kuala Lumpur flight was still quite roomy – the seat reclined to an ‘almost’ flat bed at a bit of an angle. On the long haul the seat went completely flat and was very comfortable, I had room to lay on my side as well as my back and I got more than 6 hours sleep on a 12 hour flight, which was very good.

Legroom Perth to KL:

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Legroom KL to London:

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Before the flight we were invited to select our meals via the ‘chef on call’ service. Unfortunately, this wasn’t easy to do – the email gave me a link to the website where I selected all of my dishes for each flight, but then I was unable to select Pete’s dishes or get back into the booking to amend it in any way. He had to go through the menu and choose all of his selections by reference number and then call Malaysia Airlines to book the meals.
If I were to book this again, I probably wouldn’t have booked via chef on call anyway because you do forget what you have ordered, and when it comes to it, you may not fancy that dish at that particular time, so it’s better to choose from the in-flight menu in my opinion.
Having said that, most of the dishes that I ordered were delicious – some better than others, but compared with general airline food they were very good quality.
This process could have been made easier.

Ruby Passion:
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Included in the drinks on board was a Ruby Passion, the Malaysia Airlines signature mocktail of calamansi, tea and spices. The airline lounges were quite variable. Perth Golden lounge was fairly small, clean and functional with comfy chairs. There wasn’t a huge choice of food available, but there was plenty to drink. The lounge at Kuala Lumpur was as expected, really busy but quite large
and a little tired looking. I think it is in need of some renovation. Having said that there were a multitude of food choices and I tried the Nasi Lemak which was divine. The Heathrow Terminal 4 lounge was lovely, really clean, fresh and stylish, excellent selection of food and drink and lovely helpful staff.

KL Lounge nasi lemak:
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Here is a selection of some of the dishes we had on board the aircraft:

Hot cakes with orange ragout, lemon curd and vanilla sauce:
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The pancakes were absolutely delicious – a huge portion of loveliness. The flavours complemented each other perfectly.

Braised chicken curry:
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The chicken curry was tasty and tender with a nice selection of vegetables.

Signature Satay:
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Satay is served as an appetiser on the long haul flights – you get a choice of beef or chicken or a mixture. It is very authentic, with a lovely sauce and accompanying onion and rice cubes.

Starter of fish sashimi and salad:
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The first time I have ever had sashimi on board a plane – it was tasty and good quality.

Nasi Lemak:
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The Nasi Lemak is served with a very spicy prawn sambal. It was quite delicious and very filling, although I did prefer the Nasi Lemak in the KL lounge.

Chocolate torte:
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Yum – chocolate torte with berry compote – this cake was as good as any dessert that you would get in a top class restaurant.

Prawn and gnocchi starter:
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This starter was okay but not as tasty as promised.

Garoupa fish curry:
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A lovely fish curry with a thick authentic sauce. The portion was huge and I couldn’t eat it all. I would like to have seen a more traditional Malay vegetable accompaniment.

Champagne:
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The champagne was nice – quite dry and biscuit coloured. It certainly helped me to sleep.

Salmon starter:
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A nice sized portion of smoked salmon and roe.

Beef Wellington:
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This was the one dish that I found really disappointing. The beef was very tough and the pink beetroot sauce did not look very appetising although it tasted okay. I left most of this dish.

Banoffee Pie:
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Excellent – nice balance of sweetness without being overly sickly or too strongly bananaish (is that a word?). Yes I thoroughly enjoyed this.

French toast with pear and berry compote:
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This was very pleasant – a lovely choice for breakfast.

Pan fried seabass and salmon:
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I am not quite sure how they managed to cook the fish so perfectly in an aeroplane, but they did. The accompanying vinaigrette salad was a little acidic and I would have preferred some vegetables or ratatouille. The fish was very tasty, and again – huge portions.

As well as the standard meals, snacks and drinks were available throughout the flights. The service was impeccable, all of the cabin crew knew my name and they stopped to chat and make sure that we were okay. I have flown business class before on other airlines – Thai, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and also previously on Malaysia but many years ago.
Malaysia Airlines business class is among the top ten in Asia and the catering as among the top ten in the world. I would definitely fly with Malaysia again, I would probably not preorder the dishes, but the majority of the food was lovely, the facilities were all that you could need and the service was excellent.

Travel Date – May 2014

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Pan Pacific Club, Singapore SG

19 05 20

This post is not really a recipe or a restaurant recommendation – it’s a suggestion of something brilliant to do.
If like me, you want to do something different for Christmas, or something special for a birthday, go to Singapore – don’t just stay in any hotel, stay in a nice hotel like the Pan Pacific, and then don’t just stay in a regular room, stay in a Pacific Room. Now before you gasp and say ‘too extravagant’, here are some reasons of how it can turn out to be both special and affordable.
1. Book in advance – you get the best flight deals this way, and join the airline loyalty scheme so that you can get some free flights or benefits later (even if you fly only once with a particular airline, you can sometimes reap the benefits – I flew once with Emirates and ended up with a $50 gift voucher). Join every free airline loyalty scheme going.
2. Join the hotel loyalty scheme too – in this case GHA Discovery. I joined the hotel scheme before booking – it was free – and then managed to get a special deal of 4 nights for the price of 3 – an immediate saving of hundreds of dollars.
3. With the money that you save by getting a free night – upgrade to a Pacific room. It’s well worth it. You get champagne breakfast included every day, either in the main restaurant, your room, or on the Pacific Club Floor. The Pacific Club Floor is circular – you get 360 degree views of Singapore, the staff know your name, and they can not do enough to help you. You can choose from the breakfast buffet or order anything you like. The breakfast buffet includes breads, pastries, dumplings, Japanese fish and noodles, hams, cheeses,
yoghurts, cereals, freshly squeezed juices, and you can order cooked breakfast to your liking. The club rooms also include afternoon tea with sandwiches and cakes between 3pm and 5pm, and canapes and cocktails between 6pm and 8pm. Basically, you can fill up on the 3 complementary Pacific Club sessions, and then you don’t need to spend much on eating out – just some hawker food will usually suffice. The evening canapes are particularly nice and very cheffy, and usually include 4-6 different savouries with another 4 dessert options.
The wait staff keep your glass topped up too, and it is quite easy to drink a whole bottle of champagne (Mumm Cordon Rouge) and a few Singapore Slings.
4. In addition to the complementary Pacific Floor dining options, all soft drinks in your room are included, as well as 2 laundry items per day, you get a Nespresso machine in the room, free wi-fi internet access, secretarial services, and a depending on your deal, a 24 hour butler service. Like me, you may be a little embarrassed to call on the butler, but they are perfectly happy to make
restaurant reservations, unpack your case, run you a bath etc. The room will be serviced several times per day – so after your morning shower, you will be given fresh towels for the evening. The bath toiletries are Elemis, and the shower has a ‘side shower’ option as well as the normal ‘shower from above’ version. It really is very luxurious.
5. So by upgrading to a Pacific Room, you save lots of money on food and drinks. Marina Bay is fairly central to a lot of attractions like the Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, Esplanade, The Flyer, Orchard Road, and is walking distance to an MRT station.
6. If you like to travel around and do lots of sightseeing on Singapore public transport, but a Singapore Tourist Pass. It is such great value and saves you having to queue for the machines at the MRT. Click here to find out about the pass.

Coffee machine in the room:
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View from the Pacific club lounge:
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Orchard Road Christmas lights:
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Pacific Club champagne:
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Singapore Sling:
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Pacific club canapes:
Chicken tikka balls with mint yoghurt:
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Spring rolls and spicy Indian potato patty:
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Oreo cheesecake, raspberry meringue, chocolate orange cake, blueberry tart:
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Papaya salad in shooter glass, spring rolls and crispy pork:
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Panko prawn:
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Soft shell crab:
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Pear and caramel tart, strawberry macaron, strawberry cheesecake, apricot tart:
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Salmon quiche, prawn with mango salsa, tuna on pumpernickel, scallop:
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Prawn with mayo, tuna on pumpernickel, fish ball with wasabi:
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Raspberry danish, chocolate danish, pain au chocolat:
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Trout with wasabi, pork, tuna and sweetcorn tart:
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Kaya and fruit danish:
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Chocolate and peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly, and peach raspberry cakes from Twelve Cupcakes (Millennia Walk):
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Satay from Boon Tat Street (Lau Pa Sat) – Best Satay stalls 7 and 8:
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Satay from Gluttons bay hawker market:
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Fabulous char kway teow hawker food:
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Famous chicken rice at Hawker Chan:
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Ngoh Hiang – Yong Tau Foo – Food Republic Vivocity:
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Curry on a banana leaf at Muthu curry:
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Fun thing to do

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Pan Pacific Marketplace, Singapore SG

19 05 20

The Pacific Marketplace is an eatery on the ground floor of the Pan Pacific Hotel, Marina Bay. Hotels are notoriously expensive for dining, but the Pacific Marketplace is a way to dine at a more reasonable price without breaking the bank.
Offering a variety of local and international dishes, the cafe also serves high tea and has a wonderful patisserie. During our stay we tried the patisserie on a few occasions and were very happy with the standard and presentation of cakes.
Chocolate fudge cake, carrot cake, banana cheesecake, black forest gateau, key lime tart:

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Salted caramel eclair, manjari cafe(coffee) gateau, matcha lychee gateau, gula melaka:

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Fruit danish:

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Pralines:

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Strawberry cake and blueberry cheesecake:

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Ivory raspberry:

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These are the cakes that we tried:
Salted caramel eclair – wonderfully smooth caramel filling where the salt flavour came through, beautifully tempered chocolate and dreamy ganache. Very very nice.

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Chocolate fudge cake. A really lovely chocolate hit without being too sickly sweet.

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Key lime tart. Beautifully presented and delicate. It could have taken a bit more lime flavour, but was still very good.

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Carrot cake. Pleasant and good carrot flavour, but could have had a better cake to carrot ratio in the mix.

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All in all, this is a beautiful top end patisserie, and I recommend Pacific marketplace for a stunning afternoon tea.

Last Visit Date – April 2019

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TWG tea on the Bridge, Marina Bay, Singapore SG

19 05 20

TWG certainly know their teas, and this elegant establishment in the heart of the Shoppes Mall adjacent to Marina Bay Sands is a delightful way to while away a few hours sipping tea or having lunch. We have eaten dessert here before, but this time we just needed to rest our weary legs from shopping. As we sat and watched the dishes come out for other diners, every meal looked sublime, especially the crispy skinned fish.
It’s a place to be seen, locals dress up to dine here or have afternoon tea, and the wait staff look immaculate. We were offered a range of menus – food, specials, and tea, as well as a tea catalogue to describe each tea on perfect detail. There are hundreds of teas on offer, and I chose an iced Apricot tea, where my partner chose a hot Kenilworth orange pekoe.

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We also chose some macarons to nibble on – the dark one was a Napoleon tea and caramel, and the red one was a black tea and blackcurrant.

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As you would expect, everything was perfectly presented and delicious. My apricot iced tea was served with a sugar syrup in a jug so that I could add as much as needed. The apricot flavour was lovely and made for a really refreshing drink. The Kenilworth was clean and flavoursome. Macarons were made with care and the flavours really shone through.
TWG is synonymous with style and elegance, this is the perfect place for afternoon tea.

Last Visit – April 2019

Picture of apple pancake from a previous visit:
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Iced hibiscus tea:
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Sweet Spot, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore SG

19 05 20

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If you’re looking for a fine patisserie in Singapore, head for Sweet Spot located in the hotel lobby of tower 3 at the Marina Bay Sands hotel. You can’t miss the hotel – it’s in Marina Bay and dominates the skyline with its three towers and boat like structure at the top. It’s quite a nice idea to walk across the Helix Bridge and then visit the patisserie for some coffee and cake at the end of the walk.

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A vast array of breads, pastries, cakes, macarons and chocolates is on display in the neverending chilled cabinet and it is really hard to make a choice. The cakes are perfectly presented, and the Danish selection is innovative and tempting.

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The cafe serves coffee and tea, and the charismatic staff take care to ensure that your drink order is executed exactly as requested.
I chose a raspberry danish which was beautifully made, fresh and delicious.

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My partner chose an apple cinnamon bun – again very nicely spiced with great
dough/pastry.

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Sweet Spot is well worth a visit, well several visits, because it’s so very difficult to choose just one cake, and the quality of the goods is outstanding.

Last Visit Date – April 2019

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Saigon Shack, New York, USA

19 05 20

Saigon Shack is a small bustling cafe in Greenwich Village just off Bleecker Street. It is a cash only establishment and regularly has a queue outside.
We popped in for lunch and were lucky enough to be seated pretty quickly.
Our starter was summer rice paper rolls with prawns – they were very nicely filled with veggies, noodles and prawns and served with a tasty sauce.

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I chose rice with shrimp. The shrimp were a little on the sweet side but nicely char grilled and came with a sweet chilli dipping sauce and plenty of salad.

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My companion chose the Saigon spicy beef brisket pho. This was full of flavour and nicely spiced with herbs, vegetables and noodles making for a heartwarming meal. Very welcome in the sub zero temperatures of winter.

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Saigon Shack is definitely a neighbourhood gem with a nicely varied menu and good service. The food is good quality authentic vietnamese, just remember to take cash because they do not accept cards.

Visit Date – February 2015

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Restaurant review