Super Saigon Ampang Review: Vietnamese Pho, Spring Rolls And Custard Flans

In conjunction with Super Saigon Pho Café’s first anniversary on August 2, we were invited to celebrate the opening of their 3rd restaurant in Ampang. If you have never tried Vietnamese cuisine before, we reckon that Super Saigon is worth a shot.

When we arrived at Super Saigon, the place was filled with people and whilst awaiting for our meal, some took the opportunity to take shots at the 2 feature walls, one of Greece-inspired plates and another with a neon sign stating “unPHOgettable”.

We had the chance to meet Annabelle, one of Super Saigon’s co-founders, who also happens to be the founder of La Juiceria. According to Annabelle, the inspiration behind the concept of the whole restaurant was from her trips and experiences in Mykonos and Santorini, Greece – hence, the blue and white theme.

She specifically wanted to establish the place as one which is instagram-worthy. Kudos to the team for achieving a minimalist aesthetic whilst showcasing their passion for Greece.

Annabelle shared with DiscoverKL that after La Juiceria, the team wanted to start another brand, and that is when Super Saigon was born. She didn’t know how it was going to be for the first year, but with ample support, the team managed to open 3 outlets in just a year’s time. They are looking forward towards the future of Super Saigon, and are anticipating the opening of 3 more outlets by the end of the year.

The best way to describe Super Saigon is a modern restaurant that serves traditional Vietnamese cuisine with an Australian twist (Super Saigon’s beefs are imported from Melbourne).

We tried two of Super Saigon’s famous pho noodle soups. The first is the Sliced Chicken with Chicken Balls and Egg. Personally, for us, this dish was amazing. Pho tends to pair better with beef, but this dish would have you stand corrected. Each bite of that piece of chicken or chicken ball provides a strong taste of herbs, and the addition of the lime and beansprouts on the side provides the dish with the perfect balance of acidity. Not to mention, the tenderness of the chicken meat: absolutely delightful.

Next on the menu was the Medium Rare Sliced Beef with Beef Balls and Beef Brisket. The dish itself was packed with flavours, and the aroma from it would definitely make you take another bite. Super Saigon is generous with their beef, which was a plus point.

However, the only setback we experienced with the dish was inconsistency in the texture of the beef. My personal preference would be that the fatty layers from the meat be removed, but I do understand that there are those out there who would enjoy fatty beef with their pho.

Although the beef was sliced thinly, the texture was chewy and required quite a bit of effort. Overall, we would still give this dish a thumbs up. We really enjoyed the broth and everything else, but with just a bit of finesse on the execution of the beef, it would definitely do wonders for this dish.

The Crispy Spring Roll was wrapped with minced chicken, and this was actually one of our favourite dishes of the night. It had the perfect crisp on the outside and even without dipping into the sauce, it tasted absolutely scrumptious. The minced chicken was juicy and was well-seasoned. It’s also not too greasy. Deep fried spring rolls tend to be overly greasy and tastes like oil but I didn’t have that problem with Super Saigon’s.

Lastly, who couldn’t say no to dessert, am I right? We went for the Flan with Palm Sugar Caramel. Seeing this dish on the menu was exciting for me, as I’m half-Filipino myself. The dish is Annabelle’s own recipe and is derived from her Filipino roots. Flan is actually a custard dessert with a clear caramel sauce.

The custard was a tad bit sweet for our liking. The caramel flavours on the sauce was already really sweet. With the addition of the custard, it was overpowering. Again, perhaps if they cut down slightly on the sweetness on the custard, it would have been perfect.

Altogether, the night was an amazing experience with high notes from the spring roll and chicken pho. Congratulations to the Super Saigon team for their third branch – we would certainly be dropping by for some pho in the near future!