Purple Taste: Orange Lantern @ Harbourfront

Located at Level 1 of Harbourfront, it's at the other end away from customer service. The whole restaurant is orange in color, with a very big paper umbrella at its entrance. This is a halal restaurant serving Vietnamese cuisine.

wall decor

cutlery

special menu

On the day of our visit, they have only 2 service staff. The restaurant itself is not very big, so not much of a problem. They have set meals for individual priced at $21+ or for 2 pax priced at $39+. The set meal for 2 consist of 1 appetiser (choose either mango/pomelo/beef salad or assorted rolls), 2 main course (except combo meals) and 2 drinks. Main course are priced around $10+ and above. Combo meals are like bento sets.

We decided to go ala-carte and ordered imperial rolls, pho bo, stewed beef noodles, orange juice and plum juice.

imperial rolls

dipping sauce for the appetiser

Imperial Rolls has a very dim sum like crunchy outer layer that crumbles with every bite. It has similar fillings as spring rolls, and makes an enjoyable snack when dipped into the sauce.

closer view

fillings

The plum juice drink is quite nice. But I am biased towards plums in general :P. The saltiness and sourness of the plum used was just right.

plum juice

The stewed beef noodles looked decidedly western! Tasted somewhat like beef goulash, but with noodles. The noodles used here looked like the yellow noodles.

stewed beef noodles

yellow noodles

chunks of stewed beef

salt for dipping?

That was my first time eating coarse flavored salt with beef. Strangely, it did enhanced the taste of the meat! But not too much though, as the salt was very salty! The soup was thick in tomato taste but my friend seemed to enjoy it.

I had the pho bo, which is the beef flat noodles soup. It has beef slices, beef brisket slices as well as beef balls. The soup was clear and light, but tasty nonetheless. It is served with a plate of garnishes (thai basil and beansprouts). Eat it all together, and thai basil worked wonders to the meal!