Chè Viêt Nam Vietnam Dessert (Selegie)

Those whom know us personally would probably know how easily we are attracted to the Vietnamese food culture — one of the dishes that sees us going around the entire island would be that of Banh Mi; something which we are especially willing to just travel around to give the Banh Mi of a specific establishment a go. We stumbled across the existence of Chè Viêt Nam whilst scrolling around social media one day; Chè Viêt Nam being a Vietnamese dessert stall that had recently opened its doors at Gao Feng Food Court located at the basement of Parklane Shopping Mall — the food court also houses Absolutely Pho-bulous! which is possibly its most notable tenant there. For those familiar with Parklane Shopping Centre, the food court is located right across from the McDonald’s that occupies the basement space in the centre of the mall. Operating out of the food court’s beverage kiosk, Chè Viêt Nam does not only serve up Vietnamese desserts; in particular, Vietnamese sweet soups, but also a whole lineup of drinks inclusive of Vietnamese-style coffee, fruit teas, milk teas and smoothies — just to name a few.

For those whom are unaware, Chè refers to Vietnamese desserts in liquid form; it does seem that Chè Viêt Nam’s Chè offerings does surround around a variety of what they term “sweet soup”. Looking at the range of desserts which they have to offer, Chè Viêt Nam’s selection does comprise of items that seemed to be either close to that of local Chinese-style desserts (think the Rice Ball Sweet Soup, Mango Sweet Soup and Pomelo Sweet Soup), Taiwanese-style desserts (like the Caramel Sweet Potato, which comes with sweet potato balls typically found in Taiwanese-style desserts) or those that seemed a little bit more Thai-style such as the Coconut and Jackfruit. We initially wanted to settle for the Avocado Sweet Soup considering how the Vietnamese often serves up very well-executed Avocado-based desserts; that being said we were informed that none of the Avocado desserts are available for the day. Considering so, we went for the Tofu Creme Brulee Roasted Coconut which is also another recommended item with a “thumbs up” image on the menu. Chè Viêt Nam does not describe in the elements included in their Tofu Creme Brulee Roasted Coconut, though it is noted that the item comes with Tofu Creme Brulee (more on that later), roasted desiccated coconut, various types of jelly in a few colours (similar to Agar-Agar), tapioca pearls, caramel flan, coconut milk and crushed ice.

The lady at the counter did provide us with an additional bowl of crushed ice on the side that we can actually add into the bowl if we so desire. Digging into the Tofu Creme Brulee Roasted Coconut, it does hit our tastebuds well considering how the item comes sweet enough as a dessert without being overly so — the coconut milk already carries a distinctive fragrance for the dessert, but the Tofu Creme Brulee adds this dimension of sweetness to the dessert. The texture of the Tofu Creme Brulee is almost akin to that of the cream foams that they will add to some variants of Vietnamese Coffee — think their Salted Coffee or their Egg Coffee, and carried a smooth and slightly dense texture with custard-y note that goes especially well with the smooth and creamy Caramel Flan that is already in the dessert. The sago balls do add a little bit of a bite to the Tofu Creme Brulee Roasted Coconut, though the tapioca pearls provides a slight chewiness; a little pity that the tapioca pearls were kinda stuck to each other, but the earthy, syrupy sweetness from the molasses of the brown sugar does add on to the dessert as well. The roasted desiccated coconut adds a hint of roastiness and a crisp texture to the dessert, while the multi-coloured jelly provides a soft bite that gave more texture to the Tofu Creme Brulee Roasted Coconut.

Meanwhile, the Hanoi’s Famous Egg Coffee comes sitting in a bowl of warm water that helps prevent the egg foam from congregating; the variant here also still comes with condensed milk sitting at the bottom as well. Mixing everything up, the Hanoi’s Famous Egg Coffee carries that caffeinated punch that also comes with a slightly chocolate-y note which one would expect out of Vietnamese coffee; we have been often told to mix the egg foam into the coffee at other establishments, though we have always liked to experience the slight eggy and custard-y note that adds on to the coffee when had as a “macchiato” layer of sorts. Chè Viêt Nam does seem like a pretty daring attempt by a group of Vietnamese ladies to serve up Vietnamese-style sweet soups in Singapore — there are many dessert stalls in Singapore serving cold dessert bowls featuring chilled elements or shaved ice, though one that offers strictly Vietnamese Chè is rather rare; the only one that comes to mind being the now-defunct Cong Ngot Vietnamese Dessert that used to operate from a small shop space at Wisma Alsagoff along North Bridge Road. Whilst we were expecting their desserts to be rather sweet, we were surprised by the Tofu Creme Brulee Roasted Coconut being only reasonably so; not sure if it would go along well with most Singaporean tastebuds, but it does seem to gel well with ours at least. Considering the novelty of Chè Viêt Nam’s offerings, they are most certainly worth giving a try if one doesn’t mind too much about the environment that they are sitting in (a food court in dingy building filled with nightclubs isn’t the most desirable spot to sit in) — offerings are rather affordable at Chè Viêt Nam with all its items priced at $5.50 and below; the priciest item at $5 being the Hanoi’s Famous Egg Coffee. Definitely a spot that is quite worth the visit for those curious about Vietnamese Chè to check out!