Uncle Ho Tuckshop

C says:

The photo of Anthony Bourdain dining with President Obama in Hanoi has sparked worldwide interest in Bun Cha, the dish that they were having. In Singapore, a recent article featured the few places you can try authentic Hanoi Bun Cha.

One is Uncle Ho Tuckshop, conveniently (for us) located at 100 Pasir Panjang. It's a year old, and specializes in Hanoi dishes. 

The Bun Cha is served with a bowl of dipping broth containing pork balls, grilled pork belly, carrots and pickles. Adding minced garlic and sliced chilli adds depth and flavour to the sweet-sour broth. It's meant to be eaten like soba, with the vermicelli dipped into the broth and slurped.

Hanoi style Pho is also different from the more common southern style from Saigon. The latter is sweeter, whereas the Hanoi style has no sugar, and is cleaner and meatier. I definitely prefer Hanoi style; A prefers the sweeter Saigon style.

It may have taken us a year, and a viral photo of the American president, to even be aware of let alone try Uncle Ho Tuckshop, but we're definitely planning to make up for lost time.

A says:

Having tried the Hanoi style Pho, I think I prefer the southern style, but the Bun Cha rocks. Will definitely be back for it.

Saigon Lotus

C says:

Among the new restaurants at The Dining Edition at Marina Square is Saigon Lotus. We ended up here one evening when everything else didn't really call to us. We wanted something fairly simple so we didn't have very high expectations.

As it turns out, the pho here was surprisingly good. It's increasingly hard to get good pho in Singapore these days, with a good beefy broth that's synthetically sweet. The one here tasted like it was a proper beef broth, and the sliced beef and beef brisket was tender and deliciously fatty.

Their crispy chicken wings were a bit disappointing - too overfried and crispy for my liking, but I guess that is how they're billed...

We don't have pho cravings very often, but when we do, it's good to know that we can come here for a pretty decent bowl.

A says:

Very good pho. I hope this place survives despite the poor traffic in the area.

Saigon Lotus
6 Raffles Boulevard,
Marina Square, #02-100A/B
Tel: 6337-4648
Mon - Sun: 11.00am - 10.00pm

Pho Hoa

C says:

It’s all my dad’s fault for making me crave pho. My parents went to Vietnam a couple of weeks ago for a very short trip, and my dad came back raving about the pho that he had one morning for breakfast – quite an achievement given that my dad (a) doesn’t like travelling and (b) isn’t a foodie.

We didn’t have any dinner plans tonight, so I decided to head over to Pho Hoa at Holland Village. Yes, I know that Pho Hoa is probably as close to authentic pho as, well, Singapore is to Vietnam, but it was nearby and convenient.


Given that I haven’t really had authentic Vietnamese food in Singapore, I don’t really have much basis for comparison, so this pho was pretty decent. A ordered the bog-standard steak pho, and I had mine with steak and flank (slightly fattier). I’ve had way better pho in Sydney though, in an authentic Vietnamese-run joint called Pasteur in Sydney. Does anyone have any recommendations for non-chain restaurant, authentic pho and other Vietnamese dishes in Singapore? Do tell!

A says:

Unless I’m mistaken, pho is pronounced like “fur”.

Anyway, the stock here is pretty good and I’m not very picky as long as there’s the sweet sauce.

Anyway, this place is okay for a quick meal. There tend to always be a few flies around though.

Pho Hoa
Holland Village
18 Lorong Mambong
Tel: 6467-3662
Open daily: 11.00am - 10.00pm