Le Cafe Vie5: Tai Seng’s quaint Vietnamese restaurant serving egg coffee & bo ne
Lately, we’ve been missing Ho Chi Minh City and its tasty street food. In particular, our mind has been conjuring up visions of a sizzling plate of bo ne (Vietnamese steak & eggs) — and it’s torture.
Naturally, we decided to hunt it down and, unsurprisingly, bo ne isn’t the most common in Singapore. Luckily, we chanced upon Le Cafe Vie5 at Tai Seng.
Le Cafe Vie5 is located in a row of shophouses in Tai Seng, just a few minutes walk from the MRT station.
The decor is simple and quaint, reminding us a lil bit of the nicer cafes in Saigon — just what we were looking for!
Bo ne & other specials
The biggest draw of Le Cafe Vie5, though, is undoubtedly the menu.
It’s not just the aforementioned bo ne: Le Cafe Vie5 also serves up other Vietnamese dishes that are less common in Singapore, such as prawn noodles and fish soup.
But still, our attention was all on the banh mi bo ne (S$20.99).
What is bo ne? It’s basically a sizzling beef dish served on the hotplate, usually featuring ingredients such as steak, pate, eggs, and onions.
Bo ne is also most commonly accompanied by baguette on the side to soak up the abundance of juices.
Le Cafe Vie5 does a pretty solid rendition, filling up the hotplate with slices of rich, succulent beef, then completing the ensemble with sausage, meatball, and slab of potently umami pate.
The beef and pate are good as-is, but are equally gratifying when spooned onto torn-up pieces of the baguette.
Remember to dunk the baguette into the juices — it is so sinfully tasty.
Besides the bo ne, we were also quite intrigued by the selection of noodle dishes at Le Cafe Vie5.
Most Vietnamese spots in Singapore would just focus on pho as their signature noodle dish, but Le Cafe Vie5 recommends two noodle specialities from the coastal city of Haiphong.
The first is Haiphong prawn noodles, ban tom Hai Phong (S$14.50), a prawn-broth noodle dish usually served with thick vermicelli.
By contrast with the prawn noodles found in Singapore or Malaysia, the broth is a lot lighter and cleaner, and is perfumed with a gentle herbaceousness.
It’s great for those times when you’re still craving soup on warmer days.
On the other hand, the ban ca cay Hai Phong (S$14.50) was a bit more novel in profile, as far as fish soup is concerned.
Unlike our local style, Le Cafe Vie5’s take on this Vietnamese fish soup dish boasts a lightly tangy and herbaceous flavour.
We also recommend trying some of the Vietnamese-style coffee and beverage options on Le Cafe Vie5’s menu.
If you ask us, the egg coffee (from S$6.59) stacks up against some of the chains we visited in Saigon — the egg foam is plush and custardy.
In fact, trying it with chocolate instead of the usual coffee surprised us, as the rich chocolate and egg foam blend so harmoniously together.
Otherwise, consider the coco Snow coffee (from S$6.59), with nice and fragrant coconut slush a solid pairing with the punchy coffee.
Honestly, Singapore has no shortage of pho or banh mi restaurants, but if you ask us, we are happy to find Vietnamese restaurants such as Le Cafe Vie5 — so we can have a taste of Vietnam without flying back there!
For more ideas on what to eat, read our stories on our Star Vista guide for foodies and the new McDonald’s McCrispy burger drop!
Wed 10.30am - 10pm
Thu 10.30am - 10pm
Fri 10.30am - 10pm
Sat 9.30am - 10pm
Sun 9.30am - 10pm
- Tai Seng
Evan started off writing about food on Instagram, before joining outlets such as Buro and Confirm Good to pursue his passion. His best work usually comes after his first whisky shot in the morning.
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