Food Review: Nam Nam Noodle Bar at Raffles City SC
Ok, I’ve decided to start this post with the best picture of the lot. Beware! All pictures after this (and the next) are crap. It was an impromptu lunch with my two beloved crazy kick-ass brothers on a Monday afternoon, and Slimer (the second crazy ass) suggested Nam Nam. We were going to my wedding rehearsal and were somewhere in Raffles City Shopping Centre. Slimer was jumping around like a teenager (he’s 34) when he spotted Nam Nam, and dictated at once that we should dine there. There is no democracy in my family.
We didn’t regret it! I have had Nam Nam once before at Wheelock, but because I was on a diet (as usual. it’s kinda hard to keep track), I don’t even remember what I ate.
The best baguette I’ve ever had was from a makeshift stall in Ho Chi Minh City. I remember having omelette and cream cheese, and onions on warm, crusty, crispy baguette.. it was simply delicious. To relive the experience (that’s a lie. we had no other choice), we ordered the Caramalised 5-Spice Pork Belly baguette ($5.90) on Slimer’s (highest) recommendations. He shared a story of the time when he was truly broke, and with a few dollars in his pocket, he went for this $5.90 baguette, and it tasted like the next best thing to heaven. My first thought was, with a few dollars why you so stupid didn’t eat chap cai png? But I held that comment back because he was going to pay for my lunch.
My second brother’s right. This pork belly baguette was one of the best baguettes I’ve ever tasted. The portion of meat might look little in the pictures, but they’re really quite substantial. The carrots, peppers, parsley, (not-so-fatty) pork and sauces were a perfect combi with the crusty (please, no chewy!) baguette and I can’t wait to try the rest of the baguette choices. Max thumbs up.
The next best thing we had that day was the Dry Stewed Beef Noodles ($8.90). I didn’t even feel like water-marking the pictures because they were so bad. The lighting was terrible and I took it with the IPHONE 5 YOU HAVE FAILED ME. I really should start bringing my real camera around. This was Alex’s main dish. These noodles came with a rich, savoury braised beef sauce, and lots of meaty beef chunks. You really do quite get your money’s worth. There were at least 5 large pieces of beef in our bowl which was extremely good value.
I liked the stewed beef, but not so much of its combination with pho. The pho was not substantial enough to soak up all the glorious sauce.. a bit wasted. I was wishing for a bowl of rice! Not bad though, it was my second favourite dish.
The Pho Beef Steak Slices was part of a lunch set with rice rolls and iced coffee for $9.90. If you order it ala-carte, it would have been $8.90. Which idiot would order ala-carte like that right? I was not a fan of this.. the beef slices were a bit tough but the broth was good. Light but beefy with a slight sweetness.. the soup would be good for sick-days, and I mean it in a good way.
Before you guys start getting confused, (“eh, I thought she said she had lunch with her two brothers which makes it three of them?!”), yes, there were three of us but we ordered for 5. These two fatties are insane. When they got the bill, they were like, “See, still cheap what.” $46 is cheap if it is for 5 people. $46 is not cheap for 3 people. We could have just paid $8 each! Never mind, not that I mind, really. I didn’t pay anything. Thanks bros! You guys rock.
The yellow curry duck noodles was really bee hoon, and it was also tasteless. Disappointing to say the least, I was most looking forward to this. I’d like to believe they left out some salt or soy sauce, because it takes skill to cook tasteless curry and Nam Nam has ingeniously mastered it in this dish.
There were hits and misses to this meal but I would still go back again to try the rest of the baguettes. You would never have guessed it but this reasonably priced eatery is managed by the Da Paolo group. Very successful foray I would say, judging by the endless stream of office workers waiting in line for a seat. The food gets served quickly, is pretty delicious with an interesting menu, and its selection is very much pocket-friendly. Check out their menu below and let me know if you have something to recommend for my next visit!
Nam Nam Noodle Bar
http://namnamnoodlebar.com.sg/
Raffles City
252 North Bridge Road, #B1-46/47,
Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore 179103
Tel: 6336 0500
Wheelock Place
501 Orchard Road #B2-02,
Wheelock Place, Singapore 238880
Tel: 6735 1488
Suntec City
#B1-131, Lot 510 TS 11
At Temasek Boulevard
Singapore 038983
Tel: 6884 5677
2 Comments
Joey Tay
My sister and myself were in Singapore somewhere in middle of January. The set lunch of slice beef looked really enticing on the menu,so we ordered that together with Cny meal if I’m not mistaken prosperity noodles and iced coffee. Both noodles were very tasty loaded with lots of meats and vegetables. The iced coffee drink was refreshingly good,not too sweet. The staff were friendly, very fast and attentive. I still remember one your staff, not sure whether she is One of manager there, recommended us to try prosperity meal,she was humorous and witty.
That’s delicious meal left me yearning for more two month later. Now, my husband along with 2 kids is here. We ordered the same noodles but sadly this time no prosperity, so we decided to change our menu to pork ball noodles. We also had fresh spring roll, fried roll and together with chicken wings. I was shocked when they bought out both noodles, not only had the portion shrunk to half a bowl, but instead of the nicely presented dish of meats and vegetables, the top of bowl was just scattered with a few of fresh onion. The condiments that came with the noodles were simply pathetic, a few strands of onion,2-3 rings of chili and thinny of lime, so thin you’ve have trouble to squeeze it to get some juice out. The iced coffee came out packed with ice cube,so at the end you get just about a few tablespoons of actual drink. The staff have change and while the restaurant wasn’t half full, we were waiting for staff the clears our table, I guess the next step would be to go the kitchen and get you own food yourself. Sad that lots of businesses start out excellent, then they try to get rich quick and find ways to cut cost at the expense of quality and quantity of their food. Will not be going back to this one! Suntec city!
Chrissy@budgetpantry.com
Wow what an unpleasant experience. Did you feedback to the restaurant? They have a feedback page here: http://namnamnoodlebar.com.sg/#contact
I haven’t been to Nam Nam in a while. Thanks for sharing this with us!