NUOC Orchard Central: Vietnamese Restaurant

March 1, 2010 | 19 Comments

Singapore Food Blog

I know it’s too early to ask, but what did you do for Christmas last year? I had an awesome impromptu party back in December with Monoxious, Dweam and Jayleif. When I say impromptu, I really mean impromptu since the whole party was planned in less than twenty-four hours.

It was a mad rush trying to find a nice restaurant for Christmas Eve dinner since most places were already packed. Rather than having traditional Christmas food like turkey, log-cake and ham, we decided to go for some exotic Vietnamese food instead.

Located at Orchard Central’s Sky Garden, NUOC is a relatively new Vietnamese restaurant in the Singapore food scene. It’s positioned as a semi-fine dining Vietnamese restaurant, and naturally prices are slightly steeper.

I always have problems when it comes to ordering. It was a hard decision trying to choose from the deep-fried and the Fresh Vietnamese Spring roll ($18 for 4 rolls), so we went for the easy way out and ordered both.

Fresh prawns, sliced pork, lettuce, Vietnamese herbs & vermicelli rolled with traditional Vietnamese rice paper. That’s what inside the spring roll. Or rather, that’s what the menu says. And there’s mint inside too. The mint was somewhat like the final touch to enhance the freshness of the rolls. Crisp, and sharp, every bite was delightful – unless you don’t like mint.

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Which is better? The Fresh Spring roll or the Deep-fried Vietnamese Spring Roll ($12 for 8 pieces)? I’m a sucker for deep-fried food. As much as I know that deep-fried food is unhealthy, but it always makes the food taste so much better.

We also ordered the Egg plant ($12) and Stir-fried lemon grass and ginger chicken ($16). The former was mashy, and it kinds of resembled fish rather than egg plant, while the latter was mediocre.

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When it comes to soup, I only like hot soup. Somehow I never like cold soup, I mean, soup should always be hot, otherwise it’s not soup right? At least, that’s my definition of soup. Even when it’s hot soup, I only like home-cooked Chinese soup. Which is why, you seldom see me ordering soup in restaurants. I’m not against soup, but I’d rather spend the money having another appetizer, or even better – an extra dessert. The intriguing name of Fresh Prawn in young coconut ($20 for 6 pieces) caught our attention, and the soup base was probably prepared for hours; it was rich, and intense and sweet.

* * *

NUOC is a very new restaurant, and they are still sorting out all the teething problems. When we went in December, the signature Vietnamese Pho (I remembered it as fur) was not even offered on the menu, I mean how can a Vietnamese restaurant not serve Pho right? Hopefully they should be serving Pho by now. Anyway, the view is gorgeous, if you want Vietnamese food in a nice ambience and do not mind paying more, NUOC might just be the place.

Now tell me, how did you celebrate Christmas last year?

Restaurant Review
NUOC Vietnamese Restaurant
181 Orchard Road
#12-01 Orchard Central
Tel: +65 6884 6808

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Category: # Restaurant Review, * Central Singapore, Dining Guide Singapore, Food Photography, Singapore Food Blog
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Comments

19 Responses to “NUOC Orchard Central: Vietnamese Restaurant”

  1. dawn
    March 1st, 2010 @ 2:08 am

    you have to bring lighting w/ you to the table your photos are perfect each and every time. we need to get you a book deal.

  2. Shirin
    March 1st, 2010 @ 5:54 am

    Brad, this is beautiful. Vietnamese food is soo good. I haven’t really seen Vietnamese food in SG so I think I’ll definitely give NUOC a try. (: (And I can’t see myself drinking cold soup either. Bleugh!) xx

  3. Sook @ My Fabulous Recipes
    March 1st, 2010 @ 1:57 pm

    Oh what beautiful photos! The eggrolls look fabulous! yum!

  4. jiaying
    March 1st, 2010 @ 2:43 pm

    how can eggplant resemble fish???

  5. Linda@eatshowandtell
    March 1st, 2010 @ 2:46 pm

    ahh the prawns in coconut sounds good. I’m a sucker for fried spring rolls too! the oilier the better.

  6. diva
    March 1st, 2010 @ 5:26 pm

    This looks nice. Every Christmas i’m in charge of the full works – turkey, ham, roast potatoes and root veg, brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, turkey gravy, yorkshire puddings, etc. We used to just get everything catered until I proved that I could do it all by myself (only I had to start cooking at 9am). Jealous of your meal. Beautiful cocktail prawns there! x

  7. cleartear
    March 1st, 2010 @ 5:44 pm

    look delicious, but expensive ar!! my last yr christmas… doing confinement -.-, sneak out to a fren hse for an hr tats all.. boring.

  8. ladyironchef
    March 1st, 2010 @ 9:56 pm

    dawn: Aww.. my dear you are too nice! hope you are eating well yeah? : )

    Shirin: haha this is also my first time eating Vietnamese food! now i feel like buying a ticket and fly over to try the real deal!

    Sook: Hee glad it’s making you hungry!

    jiaying: of course it can, the eggplant even kind of taste like fish! :p

    Linda: You couldn’t put it better, “the oilier the better..” But so sinful yeah

    diva: whoa you did everything on your own? And started at 9am until dinner time? can i attend your Christmas party next time!

    cleartear: yeah prices are steeper than the other Vietnamese restaurants. But you pay for the ambience, and the superb view on the 12th floor! Never mind, this Christmas will be better : )

  9. Ju (The Little Teochew)
    March 1st, 2010 @ 10:19 pm

    Love those spring rolls!! “Impromptu” is a great theme. It’s better than “Nothing”, which is what I did for Christmas. LOL!!

  10. hahazZ
    March 2nd, 2010 @ 1:09 am

    Ooohhh the Fresh Vietnamese Spring roll looks really good! i first tried it at nus biz canteen. =.= my friends love the one so much they force me to try it. AHAHA.

  11. ciki
    March 2nd, 2010 @ 10:20 am

    thats why they say “i’m in HOT SOUP!” i too like mine scalding hot. but when it comes to the Vietnamese rolls, i love the translucent skinned ones so much better than the fried ones. no contest;)

  12. stefanie
    March 2nd, 2010 @ 9:25 pm

    nice place, shall bring my boy there.

  13. ladyironchef
    March 3rd, 2010 @ 12:58 am

    Ju: I’m sure you had a great time with your kids and hubby at home too! : )

    hahazZ: Nice, i want to go to more vietnamese places and try Pho

    Ciki: is that really the reason? HAHAHA i always preferred fried ones, i know right, so sinful! you are the healthy goody type right? :p

    stefanie: have fun there! let me know what u tried! i didn’t take a photo of the place, but it’s lovely at night : )

  14. amy
    March 4th, 2010 @ 8:33 pm

    oooh!! vietnamnese! i tried some at the business canteen in NUS the other time and i hated their fresh Vietnamnese spring roll! i think it was the basil leaf or something that was in the roll that had a very distinct taste and i was all eyuccckk. hahah. christmas eve was my favourite wagyu steak at angus house and christmas i had ham,log cake and the usual christmas works and nightime was lots of lots of alcohol. ahhaha.

  15. Roza Abdullah
    March 4th, 2010 @ 8:59 pm

    Brad, thank you so much for the review and nice pictures you took. A great pleasure having you, Dweam, Jaylief, Arissa and Fabian dine @ nuoc. Sorry bout the delay. We now serve Pho for set lunch (comes with appetizer and dessert, a choice of beef or chicken). Alfresco area set-up too. Let me know if I could take you up for a meal??! Our butter deep-fried chicken wings are, a must try too (great with beer and chill out at the terrace)! Cheers to ladyironchef :)

  16. Gigi Santiago
    March 28th, 2010 @ 10:28 pm

    Orchard Central is a sad sad mall. It’s big and mindless and reminds me of a wrestler on his way into the retirement door. Useless mammoth piece of real estate. I love your blog but seriously question that mall so I guess I’ll pass and take your word for it! Thank God for your blog! :)

  17. Tinny
    June 21st, 2010 @ 10:22 pm

    “pho” is a very famous dish in our (vietnamese) culture. But it requires a very long time to have a delicious bowl. For a bowl of “pho” at 8am for breakfast, the cook have to wake up at 4am to prepare. All Vietnamese food served in restaurants in Singapore are the ones that required less of preparation and I myself never went to a Vietnamese restaurant that can satisfy us Vietnamese.
    To really see the true value of our food culture, i recommend you go the the country, and to try food of different cities, i recommend you go the each cities for each famous dish =) and the best food are on the streets, not in restaurants !

  18. ladyironchef - Singapore Food Blog
    June 22nd, 2010 @ 10:07 am

    tinny: yeah i know, that’s why i have been trying to find a good bowl of pho in Singapore. But i guess you are right, we must go to Vietname for the best Vietnamese food!

    I hope to visit the country for all the delicious food and beautiful scenery! have you tried any Vietnamese restaurant in Singapore that’s quite close to the authentic Vietnamese food?

  19. Tinny
    June 23rd, 2010 @ 2:28 pm

    All the vietnamese restaurant i know, so far, majority serve Southern Vietnamese cuisine. I’m from the North, and that’s a whole difference in the food culture.
    Food from the north are usually takes more time to prepare, and the ingredients are sometimes only available in North Vietnam only.
    Really, so far none of the Vietnamese restaurant here can make me feel close to home enough.

    There’s a Pho24 in HollandV that you may want to try. It’s very popular in Vietnam, not for the taste, but for the convenience, though. But i still think it’s acceptable here.

    Come to Vietnam, but I highly recommend you come with a local who also knows about food =D

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