This unassuming store in the basement coffeeshop of Sim Lim Square is where we would head to on a cool day. Quan Co Ba serves familiar Vietnamese dishes like their signature Mixed Beef Kway Teow ($6) — a true belly-warmer chock full of thinly sliced beef, meatballs and slippery rice noodles. For Burpple Tastemaker Jason Wong, it's the Stewed Beef ($6) that hit the sweet spot. There's an option to get noodles, rice or bread with it, and he recommends ordering the noodle soup version. Slippery rice vermicelli noodles soaked in a sweet and fragrant beef broth "whose spice gradually creeps up on you, culminating in a tongue tingingly pleasant fireness in the mouth". If rice rolls are your jam, Tastemaker Jason implores you to try the Vietnamese Ham Rice Roll ($6) — a variant of the usual rice spring rolls that features thin, delicate rice sheets topped with bouncy Vietnamese sausage and fried shallots. He explains while the dish is typically eaten for breakfast, he could have it at any time of the day!
Avg Price: $10 per person
Photo by Burpple Tastemaker Jason Wong