Looking for authentic Vietnamese food around Kota Damansara can be quite challenging. We recently chance upon GUESS WHAT Vietnamese Restaurant located at 7, Jalan PJU 5/6, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor which offers popular Vietnamese Street Food at a value for money prices.
Started about five months ago GUESS WHAT Kota Damansara offers a variety of famous Vietnamese street food like Pho, Banh Mi and others. It has a modern setup that diners can enjoy their dishes in a colourful and lively environment.
We started with an order from the appetizer menu which the first is the popular Vietnamese Rolls called the Summer Rolls (RM6.90). The Chef which hails from Vietnam has concocted a special spicy peanut sauce as the dipping sauce for the rolls.
Next on is the Deep Fried Summer Roll (RM6.90) which has yam, Taugeh and carrot as its filling. Nice crisp on the outside with a juicy filling.
For me, the next appetizer is my favourite which is the Fish Sauce Chicken Wings (RM6.90). Marinated with premium quality Vietnamese fish sauce, it has a very savoury salty taste and has a fragrant aroma. You can taste the flavour down to the bones. Needless to day a second helping was on the card.
For the Pho, We ordered the Australian Beef Pho. This is a premium serving; as the meat is 100% Australian Beef. Sliced to a wafer-thin layer, it will curl up when mix with the hot broth. Nice springy texture. According to the Chef, each bowl will get 100 gram of meat slices. You can either order the normal Beef Slice RM13.90 while the premium Ribeye Beef Slice is at RM17.90. A real value for money considering the meat portion and the Australian Beef that is used. another point to note is that at GUESS WHAT, if you are not a fan of the Pho, you can request to replace it with Eggs Noodles or Rice Noodles for all its Pho dishes.
Next, we had the Beef Internal Organ (RM12.90). This Pho comes with Beef Tendon (my favourite), Honey Comb Beef Stomach, Sponge Stomach and Heart although you can opt for Beef Shin instead. The broth was flavourful as the chef uses the Beef Neck Bone as the main base ingredients with 5 to 6 different spices that are added to it. The slightly darker coloured broth is boiled overnight for more than 8 to 10 hours.
For those that love beef balls, you can also the Beef Ball Pho (RM13.90) you can try this as the Beef Balls are 100% in-house made. It has a nice bite and firm texture. In order not to have wastage, you can order your Basil Leaves, Bean Sprout as a side order (RM1.50).
If you are not the beefy type, GUESS WHAT also offers Pork Noodles (RM8.90)which is topped with fried lard (Chu Yau Char) to gives you that finer porky taste.
The Chicken Noodles (RM8.90) is served with cut meat slices and a poached Half Boiled Kampung Eggs.
The fish that GUESS WHAT uses for its Fish noodles (RM12.90) are the Toman Fish which has a nice bouncy and flaky texture. While the broth used to cook these noodles which include the pork and chicken are cooked with chicken bones which has a much lighter taste.
Another not to be missed Noodle dish is the Clams Noodles (RM8.90). At this price and based on the number of clams that came in the bowl; it is a real value for money. Even a bowl of Pork Noodles from the neighbourhood coffee shop already cost RM6.50. What's more, you can taste the quality of the clams which has a juicy and firm fresh texture that is used to cook this noodle.
According to the owner, they would like to offers a variety of food at GUESS WHAT as some people are Rice people. To cater for this group of customers; there are a few varieties of Rice dish; the first of which is the Pork Chop Rice (RM12.90). According to the Chef, the Pork and Chicken meat are marinated in garlic, honey, condensed milk and pan-fried to a nice crisp.
and the Chicken Chop Rice (RM12.90). Each rice dish is served with a sunny side up. If you notice the colour of the yolk; it has a deep orange colour which is the character of the Kampung Eggs.
Another Rice Dish is the Heritage Coconut Rice (RM16.50) which comes with a soup base made from the coconut water and cooked with fresh coconut flesh. We like the taste of the broth as it has a naturally sweet flavour of the coconut together with Beef Broth. It comes with the in-house made Beef Ball.
Banh Mi is also offered at GUESS WHAT. There are altogether 4 difference flavours that you can choose from which is Beef, Pork, Tuna and Chicken for RM7.90 each. The bread is custom made specifically for GUESS WHAT which still maintains the nice soft crunch and soft texture of the bread even after a while.
Currently, at GUESS WHAT they only serve one dessert and it is not a Vietnamese Dessert but a Malaysian dessert which is Durian Cendol (RM11.50). According to the owner, the Durian Puree is sourced from the Betong (not Bentong), South Thailand. For me; I still prefer my Musang King Cendol which has a much more pungent bitter taste as compared to Thai Durian which tends to have a sweeter taste.
For Vietnamese Coffee fans, you really have to order the Vietnamese Coffee served at GUESS WHAT. There are 2 variant of coffee that is served here; the first of which is Sang Tao 1 (RM5.90 Hot - RM6.90 Iced)
while the second variant is the Phat Hai (RM5.50 Hot - RM6.50 Iced) which has a chocolatey aftertaste. I like this. One of the characteristics of a real Vietnamese coffee is the strong taste of the coffee and even though you order the Ice Coffee, somehow even after the ice is melted, it does not really dilute the colour of the coffee.
