Vietnamese Cuisine - Miss Saigon
Written on 10:46 AM by Penang Tua Pui
In one of the feng shui talks we attended at the E-gate Starbucks some time last year, the speaker mentioned of the auspicious place E-gate was going to be, being able to attract businesses and making the place prosperous.
We were not sure if his claim was true because every time we went to E-gate, there will be one new tenant replacing the old one.
In this case, the Vietnamese restaurant Miss Saigon. The previous tenant was an Italian cuisine, Bequadro Restaurant & Café.
This place was also reviewed by Lingzie before just a couple weeks back. The environment was quite simple and inclined to the restaurant theme with tables and chairs in dark brown, made of wood instead of plastic or metal.
Miss Saigon also has a lot of mirrors hung along the wall, to create a larger space and more people effect.
We opted for set lunch which consists of one main meal and a beverage. We ordered Traditional Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup, Duck Breast Skewer Wrapped in Pomelo Leaf and Special Fragrant Paste Wrapped in “La Lot” Leaf.
As for the beverage I ordered for Instant Vietnamese Coffee while Tam Ciak and Huat Koay ordered Traditional Lemongrass Tea.
Little did they realize they had ordered the wrong drinks thinking it was Ice Lemon Tea instead! It was hilarious watching them taking a sip of the lemongrass tea and their facial expressions changed instantly… hahahaha
The noodle was more like local koay teow th’ng, much to our disappointment of craving for the real Vietnamese noodle soup.
The noodle came in a bowl of soup and the chicken meat while the vegetables and bean sprouts were put on another separate plate. You will need to add them into the soup before eating.
The beans sprouts we had were not that fresh as they started to oxidize, turning to brown and losing freshness as seen on the photos.
We were divided taste wise on the duck breast skewer as Fei Fei said they tasted good but Huat Koay’s view was there was strong ducky scent. Special Fragrant Paste was good as the herbs were not too strong and just nice to our taste buds.
We did order a side dish called Miss Saigon Platter consists of 4 different types of Vietnamese popiah (rolls).
It is quite unique to have four different flavors of Vietnamese rolls we could try out but was curious us was that this side dish is more expensive than the set lunch we had. A high class Miss Saigon, perhaps? ?
While we were busy snapping photos for our review, the supervisor (maybe it’s the owner too) came near us and observed us. He was quite a "busybody" as well, keep looking into our LCD display every time we try to take the shots. And he was quite chatty too, keep talking to us all the time while we were snapping pictures.
Trying to publicize the restaurant, he promoted us to try their Vietnamese apple pie dessert. After some persuasion, we ordered one (was hoping he would give us free of charge!). The apple pie was an apple filling on top of croissant and shaped almost like shredded apple. It was delicious!
Our experience with the set lunch was not to our expectations though the dessert was quite a consolation. The ambience is quite relaxing which is preferable if you intend to have less noise environment.
Still we do hope for something better from this restaurant during our next patron. Perhaps it could be a different story if we were to come for dinner. Yea, we shall make a trip here for dinner next time ?
Miss Saigon is opened daily including weekends, from 11am to 3pm and from 6pm till 11pm.
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Sorry to say that the quality is not special and very expensive. The worst is slow serving time.
I won't give them a 2nd chance at all.
Wonder if the restaurant still there after my trip back from US.
errr... not sure the supervisor is She or He. But overall the good is so so nia. May be we not sure what to eat so may call the wrong food.
Interesting shots. Beautifully taken. May I know the price you paid for everything?
http://crizfood.blogspot.com/
Good blog + Good photos + Good foods and You've provided a very detail information^^
i will vist your blog frequently to "curi guru"
Hi Criz, The total is ~RM80 (included the tax adn serv.)
Duck Breast is RM12.80, Chicken Noodle Soup is RM10.80, Spec. Frag"La-Lot" is RM14.80, Miss Saigon Platter is RM24.80 and Apple Pie is RM5.80..
the photo u shot i nice and make the food look delicious, i am thinking to give them a try tonight....
Sorry to say that I'm a bit disappointed looking at the food.
:(
Looks so so nia.
Hi, Little inbox,
I am sorry to make u disspointed and we are trying to tell the truth, the food is so so and the vege is not fresh.
We are thinking if we wanted to give them a 2nd chance see if any improvement.
Hope they will improve before our 2nd visit for a review.
what we do here is to try telling the experiences we have while dining at these places. We'll highlight what's good, what's bad, what's needed to improve, what's the selling point etc...
Some mentioned the food looks nice while some said ok nia... So we try to give as much coverage as possible so that readers can decide on their own.
After all, Penang Tua Pui like the rest of Penangites are very particular about food.. if it's not nice, we don't call it nice.. if it's good, we give it thumb's up.
You are welcomed to share your experience too so that others can make better judgment when patronizing these places in future...
Thanks all for the inputs given :):)
Sad to hear some bad review from you guys. But some say they are good. But, the pictures from you guys are excellent. Am more referring to the skills. :)
NKOTB:
Sometime is depend what is your expectation. I think we had expect too much, as we used to the viet food we had before at US.
But it is not worth for $$ you spend on them. And the picture did tell the story... the vege look...yaks.... dare not put them into the soup at all...
haha.... for the shooting skill... i think I need to thank some one... my SIFU... Jason (Ipoh Mali Talak Sombong)
Aiks! How can they serve with those beansprouts!
But lovely lamps, really.
I won't even stay at the restaurant looking at those beansprouts. Yaks.....
I plan to go there tonight, but now I start wondering, shud I go? can someone tell me?
HOOI
SI Tua Pui, dun pretend to be expert in food tasting OK?!!!
you know nothing, people invest so much $$$ in but with some words and pic from you all (that hiding urself from the back of this) will get the business KILLED..
Get LOST!!!!
Audrey,
There have been mixed comments from what we shared with other food bloggers on this place. Some did give good comments as well. So we can't really tell if it's that good or bad. Different people have different feedback, maybe the choice of food we ordered were different.
Our suggestion is to carry on with your plan and you can probably ask the owner to recommend their specialty which are nice and highly sought after, something that customers keep ordering, it won't go wrong there...
Hope you'll enjoy the meals there :)
Hello Hien,
Are u the shop owner ah? If yes, pls lah u need to take this as feedback and go back to do it better and all this comments are not only came from one person said bad or WHICH is so so "BAD". I think is good that to point out which one is good or bad. Bad may not end of story, if u willing to improve it, people will try it again one.
Hi Hien,
Rest assured, our purpose here is not to get this place closed down. We never have such intention. Our intention is only to share with reader places to recommend and places that need improvement while promoting food paradise in Penang...
Based on the tone you used, we would presumed you're one of the owners or you are a shareholder in Miss Saigon restaurant.
We comment based on how we feel towards the food, in terms of presentation, taste and its worth for money as CONSUMERS. We want the money paid is worth the food served. Running food business in Penang, you should be already aware this is one of the standards the consumers look for.
Like what you have mentioned, there are resources and money poured in to run this business. Isn't your ultimate aim is to make money? If this is the case, have you actually got the feedback from consumers on the level of your food, service and presentation as a whole? Do you have any feedback mechanism to improve and attend to customers' concern so that your business will prosper? Does your business model actually do the right market analysis to judge the market perception and expectations of consumers in Penang?
We're only PenangTuaPui, we're not big shots whatsoever. If you're analysis on Penang food market has been right, will our comment and pictures really get your business killed? Wow, look at the power we have then~!
The comments we wrote were accompanied with pictures, and pictures do tell stories. Look again especially on the bean sprout, is that really what you guys serve the customers? If you're telling me that is how Vietnamese food should be, pardon our shallow mind then for not knowing the culture.
If what we've written here are nothing but lies, we're obliged to bring down this articles but if you do agree with us on this. Why not do something about it and invite us for a review? (We don't mind to pay for it)
That's what we wrote as well, didn't we?
TuaPuis,
Thanks for the your valuable inputs, clarification and comments are always welcome. We're always doing our best to serve customers and continuous improvement is what we always hunting for. Our existence is not to compete in the food market. Rather, we provide foods to meet the appetite of our customers and delicacy that is unique to our culture. This is the reason why when you taste different foods at different place, it will not hundred percent fitting your stomach. If were're to fit everyone stomach and taste by modification of our foods, it will lost the culture uniqueness. Taking a simple example, perhaps if you can genetically modify durian smell to orange smell just to fit the appetite of foreigners, what will that be? If will don't modify it, it remains good for you isn't it? This is what we should be considering from different perspective,learn to accept the unique and beauty of something.
Lastly, I've another input relating to your posting. Perhaps a disclaimer at the end of the posting is necessary to clarify that the comments posted are soly the opinions from penangtuapui.com, any words or phrases that use to describe the foods do not intend to joepardise the image, brand or quality for the restaurant that being evaluated. This should be safe to protect against any lawsuit if any legal action to be taken due to slandering. Looking forwards for your next review. Have a good day. Thanks.
Best Regards,
Foods that fit both your stomach & thought
I'm totally agreed with above comments.
wow... Tua Pui... seems like more and more ppl is talking about u all and lok at those comments, the owner of restaurant is reading your writing and our comments..
But taste of food is very subjective, so it is very difficult to judge if it is good or bad from someone or even the tua puisss. So reader like me will only take consideration by ourselves.
To me, look at the picture taken above, all look so tempting and delicious, and of course when come to the beansprouts, this is definitely something need to improve.
We pay for wat we being served for, not only taste, but food presentation, freshness and the service provided.
I would rather happy to see the outlet owner to apologize on the beansprouts case and ensure it won't happen again.
We had our dinner not long ago, honestly say the food is not up to our expectation.
It was my fault, as I had try to google about Ms Saigon and saw some good recomendation on this restaurant, but my bf told me the Tua Puiss over here didn't seem to recommend on it.
After long arguement, Of course I am the one WIN the battle.
But at last :( its pay back with bad dating for both of us. :(
Lastly we are happy with the desert. I love it.
If the owner happen to read my comment, here is wat I try to say.
I am totally agree with Kimbery, happy to see the owner to talk more on the beansprouts rather on whether we know how to appreciate viet food.
I tried to google about the place too, lots of bad comments for this restaurant. here is some of the links if anyone plan to have a read..
SILaiPeng Blog
Ed and Cher's Blog
Love You Forever's Blog
hey ... thumbs up to you all for pointed out all the bad thing about the restaurant, they shud look for ways to improve it.
Hi Tua Pui,
I believed the food is the art work from the cook. Isn’t it? So, sometimes it suits you sometimes not; personally I will repeat my visit for some food there.- D-sha
hi D-sha,
Glad you'll continue to visit this place. The owners must be happy to know that. The topic all this while is not about artwork or food presentation. In fact, we're pleased with the presentation they have...
The point we want to bring out is the freshness of the ingredients served as well as the taste. We hope we can tell the owners that they can make some improvements and be more stringent when it comes to quality control..
TO be honest, what ever written up there is very objective, the tua puis didn't write bad about the restaurant and only pointed out that the food doesn't suit them and the freshness of the food shown in the photo did reflect the actual situation (i dun think Photoshop can make it).
And the review written here is solely for our own reference, you may choose to believe or give the shop a try. The tua puis also mention they will went back for another time of review to see if improvement seen.
So constructive feedback is always good for us as customer and the owner. To me we pay for what we deserved for. SO we need to spend wisely also. To pay extra for a great food is always worth.
I am happy to see the Tua Puis dare to speak out and capture what is the good and bad about a restaurant without any bias. It is good review for us.
After read other review on the shop given by Teck Aun, I may think there is area of improvement for the shop.
hey.. fatties.. we back u up.. speak out the truth is what the blogger shud do.
keep it up
what a long comment and feedback, i had tried this restaurant too, with the food experience at US, Folsom this is definitely can't compete. Look at the vege will tell.
but keep it up Ms Saigon, let the viet food stand at Penang Island for more healthy life style.
Hi Tua Pui, you have done nothing wrong to point out the weakness of the restaurant so they can perform better.
fatty... your side is amazing, comments and inputs always best for us to improve.
you got great shot on those food, looks tempting and misleading if we didn't read what hadd been written.
Penang is famous for hawker food. I bet the normal 'choo char' taste better than this place. Save your $ and plan for a vacation in Vietnam to enjoy the true vietnamese food.
hi hien, tq 4d support. i believe tat PenangTuaPui's feedback will onli do good for d restaurant as i'm actually new in f&b n definitely need lots & lots of feedback for areas of improvement.
d pix are fantastic, have also highlighted d bean sprout mishap to our kitchen staff, won't happen again. thanx again Tua Pui.
later im going for farewell there..hope the food turn out good..n_n"
Poor food