Lâp Vietnamese Restaurant

We bought this as a snack. It was quite good, but maybe because we were hungry.

I ordered Beef Pho soup with beef-ball, brisket and shin shank.
The soup was robust, served with quite generous ingredients, the beef can be more tender.
💰$8.5
📍Lap Vietnamese Restaurant.
169 Joo Chiat.

#shootoniphone

Pho was okay. The grilled cockles, however, were another story.

They tried to convince me that the 18/25 of the cockles that weren't open could be opened with a toothpick. I'm like... No.

Then they offered to re-grill the crap out of them & now I have blackened cockles. Which I poked & out of the 18 grilled, 9 still weren't opened. The ones that did open are opened ever so slightly that the width of a toothpick can't even fit in.

Just..... No. You may be comfortable with prying these open, but I'm not. I'm good, thank you very much

Despite working at Joo Chiat, which is effectively Singapore’s Little Saigon, I rarely have Vietnamese food. However, I’m glad I decided to sample the Bún Thit Nuong Chá Giò, which is a Spring Roll, Grilled Pork combo on a bed of vermicelli noodles at Lap Vietnamese Restaurant.
⠀
Yeah, I know, I actually had to dig to find the noodles too. Yes, the bowl is actually a large bowl. That’s right, the pork chop & vegetables were so awesomely abundant that it obscured the prodigious portion of noodles. The vegetables & vermicelli noodles were unseasoned, but there’s a bowl of sweet chili sauce provided that you mix into it all to power it up with sweetness, spiciness and just a little twinge of tanginess.⠀
⠀
The pork chop was incredibly intriguing, as it was a little on the tough side, yet it was most definitely not dry. It’s been sensationally seasoned with a herb & spice rub that I can’t place for the life of me, and it’s acquired a delicious smokiness from the grill. Better yet, it’s served with the bone, and as expected, the meat got felicitously fatty & divinely juicy the closer you get to the bone.⠀
⠀
The surprise star in the bowl definitely has to be the deep fried spring rolls. It’s charismatically crunchy, and Lap is incredibly generous with the minced pork in the filling. The minced pork is sensationally seasoned, and the crunch of water chestnuts is endlessly endearing. The perfect blend of savoury, soft meatiness juxtaposed with the indecent crunchiness of the chestnuts & the thin rice paper wrap? Sold, sold and SOLD.⠀
⠀
Yessir, Lap serves up Viet food so good I’d gladly lap it all up all day any day. GOOOOOOD MORNIN’, SAIGON!

We are excited to have dinner here, enjoy some really authentic Vietnamese food at Singapore! We like the banh mi too! 😋

The boss is very generous in the portions and ingredients! Staff are friendly and observant, handed us extra plates and bowls for sharing ☺️

Will definitely come back again the next time!

Most people only think of “Long Phuong” when it comes to Vietnamese eateries in Joo Chiat. However, I feel their standard of food and service isn’t the same as before.
On a recent visit during off-peak hours, I found that it paled in comparison to “Lâp Vietnamese”, a place located alongside, separated by the small road leading into a public carpark.
Pictured above is the green papaya salad I had at this lesser well-known venue. I can vouch that it tasted a lot better in terms of freshness and seasoning than Long Phuong’s. Service was also a lot more prompt, warm and welcoming.