thien long vietnamese, orchard towers.

confession: i've never ventured into orchard towers prior to this visit, so i didn't really know what to expect (aside that it was full of dodgy things). and yes, we did see quite a few dubious characters, but it wasn't that bad, since it was early afternoon, anyway.

the vietnamese restaurant was tucked into a corner near the toilet. X claimed that she could smell the toilet from where we were sitting and commended me for my bravery when i said i was going to the toilet; but the toilet was, surprisingly, actually quite clean.



i deliberated over the menu for a while before deciding on the dry vietnamese beef noodles ($5), since i've never tried that, always opting for the grilled pork/chicken version each time i'm at a vietnamese place. X got the vietnamese pork chop noodles ($5) with an additional fried spring roll ($1).



our food came after a brief wait. looked promising- a riot of colours, what with the vietnamese pickles, julienned cucumbers, roasted peanuts and beef over vermicelli noodles. didn't come with the vietnamese fish sauce, but after poking around the table, we realised that it was in one of the containers.

it was clean and fresh, which is exactly what i love about vietnamese food, but i found portions to be on the small side. makes for a good light lunch though. not one of the best vietnamese noodles i've had; in fact, i much preferred the one at pho stop, but that's at almost twice the price. i also found thien long at bugis much better- for $6, it came with a juicy slab of pork chop. so no, i doubt i'll be back in a hurry.

thien long vietnamese
orchard towers
#04-08