Vietnamese Food at Saigon Cafe in Taman Gaya, Johor Bahru

 

I was foodspotting around the new shoplots at Taman Gaya and stumbled upon this simple Vietnamese cafe. Saigon Cafe just opened for business about a month ago. The boss who is a Johorean manages the cafe while the lady boss who is from Vietnam, runs the kitchen.

One of the first things that caught my eye when I was at Saigon Cafe was a simple notice printed on normal white A4 size letter paper that says "Civet Cat Coffee RM29.90". I did a quick mental calculation and realised that this was much more affordable than in Singapore or Bali where I had civet cat coffee before.

Without much ado, I set down at Saigon Cafe and ordered a Vietnamese civet cat coffee (known as kopi luwak in Indonesia).



The coffee was served in this simple double decker filtering device which is signature of Vietnamese coffee.

My experience with civet cat coffee is very limited but I must say that this was the best that I have had so far.



The deep black coffee was robust, full bodied, smooth and has that unique flavour that only civet cat coffee can have. I felt this was worth every sen of the RM29.90 (especially, for coffee addicts like me :P).

Along with the civet cat coffee, I also had Vietnamese style crispy French loaf, which was a great pair - the coffee and French loaf.



The bread was very crispy on the outside. As I bit into the bread, the outer crispy skin started to break up and the bits fell all over the table and on my trousers. I instinctively tried to sweep the crumbs away, feeling a little embarrassed for being so untidy. The boss stopped me and told me that good crispy French loaf are eaten with crumbs falling all over :P

Between the crispy shell, there were thin slices of braised belly pork, scrambled eggs, margarine, and slivers of greens and carrots. Each mouthful was a blend of soft smokey, savoury meat, crunchy vegetables and crackly bread crust. There were also interesting tangy notes from the sauce. This Vietnamese style French loaf at RM7 went very well with the civet cat coffee (kopi luwak).


 

We also had Saigon Cafe's Vietnamese bee hoon salad with spring roll.



The bee hoon is buried under a blanket of crispy fried spring roll skin, thin strips of pork, chopped peanuts, taugeh (bean sprouts), greens and - now hear this - lard crackles.



These toppings were all nice but when we swept them aside for a while and try the Vietnamese bee hoon, we were delighted. The mouth feel of the bee hoon was refreshingly springy. When we bit into the bee hoon strands, they popped apart lightly with a gentle spring. The bee hoon was like tender rubber bands made of rice. Don't know what is the trade secret to make bee hoon taste this way but it's just so fun! And, when we ate the bee hoon together with the sides and condiments, it was a thoroughly enjoyable light meal. I love this Vietnamese treat at RM5.50.

 

 

A mug of Vietnamese ice coffee for RM5.90.

 

 

Saigon Cafe serves a wide range of fruit ice blends. This one is sour sop ice blend for RM5.30.

 

I shall be back for the delicious treats that I had today and try out other items on Saigon Cafe's menu.

Restaurant name: Saigon Cafe
Address: Jalan Gaya 1, Taman Gaya, Ulu Tiram, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/AT1ya
GPS: 1.562439,103.799943
Hours: 8:30am to 5:00pm (Closed on Monday)
Non Halal

Date visited: 24 Jan 2013

Return to Johor Kaki home page.