KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — Whenever I place a food order with someone new, I'm often anxious about the outcome.

If it's a bad food experience, it can totally ruin my day. With Vivie's Kitchen, a discovery from Instagram, her food totally brightened my day. You can tell how much care and love Vivie Nguyen pours into her food.

Vivie, a former model turned cook, cooks everything in her home kitchen. She takes the utmost care to ensure only the best ingredients are used in her food.

If you scroll through her Instagram feed, she advocates using good bones to make her pho or even fresh meat for her banh mi. She also does not recycle her oil nor use any MSG in her food.

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Her kitchen works on a weekly menu from Tuesday to Friday; you have to place your orders at least two days in advance.

As everything is cooked from her home kitchen, she only makes limited quantities. For the weekly menu, you have lemongrass chicken dried vermicelli, steamed flat rice roll, Vietnamese baguette and beef noodle soup or pho. Prices range from RM9 to RM16 which is the beef pho.

Squeeze the lime over the noodles to give it a refreshing taste while the crunchy bean sprouts will give it texture and more freshness.
Squeeze the lime over the noodles to give it a refreshing taste while the crunchy bean sprouts will give it texture and more freshness.

She also offers chicken pate, frozen spring rolls and Vietnamese dipping sauce. You can place an order for these items two days in advance anytime.

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Once a month, she makes a special dish, which is the one I tried. I was extremely lucky to try it as I missed the two days pre-order deadline but Vivie managed to accommodate my request.

The pork and prawns noodle soup or Hu Tieu Nam Vang (RM22.50 per bowl) was really something. What impressed me was how her clear broth was almost devoid of oil. That's a sign of good ingredients used and much care taken when cooking.

It may be clear but it had all the natural sweetness from the pork bones and radish used. My bowl was empty at the end of the meal as every drop of that awesome soup was finished.

The rice noodles were perfectly cooked and even the toppings of minced pork, sliced pork and prawns were well cooked. My favourite bit was the meaty pork bone that came with it. It's cooked until the meat is soft and tender. Another delicious item was the sweet tasting white radish.

The whole meal was satisfying and refreshing with the lettuce and crunchy bean sprouts.

One telling aspect on how detailed Vivie is was how she packed the food. The soup was packed separately in a double bag. I think it was my first time seeing anyone packing it this way to ensure no spillage.

Your food will come meticulously packed with double bags for the broth and separate packets for the chillies and lime, and vegetables.
Your food will come meticulously packed with double bags for the broth and separate packets for the chillies and lime, and vegetables.

Even the way she packed the vegetables was meticulous. She had placed the lime wedge and chopped chillies in a separate small bag so they didn't touch the bean sprouts and lettuce leaves.

For February 5, she will be cooking her Bun Cha special or a fish noodle soup served with fish and tofu meatballs. The light, delicate soup is made from simmering fish scraps, white fleshed fish and chicken bones. She adds tomatoes to give the soup a slight sweet and sour taste. If you wish to order this, please place your order two days in advance.

Vivie also cooks for the Seputeh community so sometimes you can collect your food there. For instance, the Bun Cha special is to be collected from there. If not, you can just arrange to pick up from Publika or she can arrange for a third party delivery company to send it to you provided you pay for the charges.

Vivie's Kitchen, Kuala Lumpur. You can WhatsApp Vivie your pre-orders at 011-3137 6380. Instagram: @vivieskitchen_