Over the last couple of years, Vietnam’s light and fresh cuisine has gained a huge following in Singapore. However, Vietnamese food is more than the commonly found Pho (or sliced beef noodles) and Vietnamese spring rolls. Just two days ago, the Les Amis Group opened its latest Vietnamese joint, Comnam, following the huge success of its earlier Vietnamese noodle bar, Namnam.

Comnam is made up of two Vietnamese words and it generally refers to cooked rice from Southern Vietnam. Comnam serves mainly small Vietnamese appetisers, broken rice dishes and desserts.

Last Friday, its first day of opening, the place was packed during lunch. Most diners are probably like me are attracted to the affordable and good value set lunches. At $9.90 nett, the Set Lunch A consists of a soup of the day, a rice bowl and a drink.

The soup of the day was a simple but comforting fish balls soup. The soup reminds me of what my mother used to do – a simple soup base with vegetables, fish balls and some light seasoning. The soup is light and the delicious fish balls are chewy.

For the rice bowl, there are two options. One of which is fried chicken balls with tomato-turmeric sauce, fried egg and pickles, and the other is pork simmered with caramelised shrimp paste sauce, Viet steamed egg with pork and fungus, and pickles. Regardless of what you choose, both rice bowls are excellent choices.

The chicken balls are juicy and tender. The simmered pork is equally succulent and tasty. You have the options to choose from either steamed broken rice or Kimchi fried brown rice. My lunch companion and I both had the Kimchi fried brown rice. I strongly recommend the Kimchi fried brown rice which has more flavour and aroma.

For the drink option, you can choose from a selection of hot or iced Vietnamese black or milk coffee, and lotus tea.

Although it was Comnam’s first day of operation, the service was generally fast with some minor hiccups. For example, my soup came first and my companion’s soup came much later together with the rice bowl. However, there is one thing that really irks me. The broad round table base makes seating at the individual tables very uncomfortable. You really have to sit with your ‘ka kui kui’, which means legs wide open in Hokkien. I strongly recommend ladies who are wearing skirts to be seated at the bar table instead of the individual square tables.

Other than bad table design, Comnam is definitely worth more visits.

Comnam
252 North Bridge Road
B1-46/47, Raffles Shopping Centre
Tel: 6334-7377