It was getting late at night, and I was tired and hungry. Of course that led to an unwise dining decision. Choosing a Vietnamese restaurant in Indonesia is akin to choosing an Indonesian restaurant in Paris. Sure, there might be a decent to good option, but chances are you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
NamNam Noodle Bar is a chain with locations in Manila, Singapore, and Jakarta.
I decided to go with the Spicy Hue Australian Beef Noodle Soup, which is their take on Bun bo Hue. Bun bo Hue normally contains rice noodles, beef, may contain pigs blood, and vegetables/herbs can include lime, cilantro, onions, green onions, bean sprouts, banana blossoms, mint, basil, and saw tooth among others.
When the dish arrived, it had a reddish hue with two globs of chili. There were a couple of meatballs, along with thickly sliced beef. The dish looked fairly appealing on first glance.
Upon mixing up the soup is when disappointment really set in. Instead of rice noodles, what appeared was spaghetti noodles. On the positive side, there were also a couple of shrimp.
The soup itself was not spicy, but was also lacking and depth of beef flavor.
The amount of protein in the dish was actually pretty generous.
The soup was average at best, and is not something I would crave for on any return visit.
The restaurant is also slightly overpriced for what it is.