Coda is a trendy restaurant in a industrial-chic basement in Melbourne CBD, serving self-proclaimed Vietnamese fusion dishes. To be honest, there was barely a trace of Vietnamese – other than fish sauce. It was more on a modern Asian fusion cuisine.
Food
The food started off strong. These Semolina puff, duck liver parfait, umeshu and sumac for $9 each was decadent and flavorful. One bite revealed a delicious paste of cold and creamy duck liver with a scoop of refreshing and sweet umeshu jelly. The outside was a crisp shell, sprinkled with sumac spice.
Unfortunately it started going downhill from here. The tempura bugs, Roy Choi’s kimchi, chili salt and garlic soy dipping sauce was $18 each. The price was disappointing and over valued; with us getting one bug each, split in two.
The batter was thick, hiding the sweet taste of the bug. It was almost like a fish-and-chips batter. When we got past to the flesh, it was indeed fresh seafood. The shell was added for decoration. The combination of sauces elevated the taste a little but was still overpowered by the batter. There was nothing Vietnamese about this dish.
The batter was thick, hiding the sweet taste of the bug. It was almost like a fish-and-chips batter. When we got past to the flesh, it was indeed fresh seafood. The shell was added for decoration. The combination of sauces elevated the taste a little but was still overpowered by the batter. There was nothing Vietnamese about this dish.
This was steak tartare, quail egg, mustard cress and caper Melba toasts for $32. It was average. The beef was diced but didn’t have a firm shape – it was sloppy. The flavour was moderate, elevated by the creaminess of the egg yolk. The choices of cress added a minor earthiness to the bite, but did not cut the fat. In Vietnamese cuisine, we do not use mustard cress so this was an odd “fusion”. The crispy toast were a little too hard and crunchy.
We ordered the hot and numbing crispy lamb, whipped chickpeas and sansho for $28 with a recommended add-on of roti for $10. We made the mistake of trusting an Australian server on an Asian palate….
The roti was not a traditional fluffy and buttery roti. It was a flat bread; a hardened piece of dough with no butter, salt, garlic at all. It was very disappointing. The lamb was moderately gamey with a mild spice, mellowed out by the smooth neutral hummus. This dish was more Thai than Vietnamese.
The roti was not a traditional fluffy and buttery roti. It was a flat bread; a hardened piece of dough with no butter, salt, garlic at all. It was very disappointing. The lamb was moderately gamey with a mild spice, mellowed out by the smooth neutral hummus. This dish was more Thai than Vietnamese.
This Wok fried snow peas, wood ear mushroom and preserved turnip for $15 was good. It was a balance of savouriness and umami, with crunchy textures. There was nothing Vietnamese about this too.
Finally the Barongarook pork cutlet, parilla, betel leaf and pineapple Mắm nêm was the only thing closest to Vietnamese cuisine. It cost $54. The pork was juicy and tender, with a lot of fat striations giving it a greasy mouthfeel. The layer of parilla was finely shredded and added more to the mouthfeel than the flavour.
We could barely taste the pineapple mam nem. Maybe the restaurant only added a little because mam nem is a funky and strong flavour not often enjoyed by the Western customer. This was disappointing because we felt like this dish had potential to showcase Vietnamese-French cuisine but instead had to please the white man (who only know basic seasoning like salt and pepper) 🙄🙄🙄.
We could barely taste the pineapple mam nem. Maybe the restaurant only added a little because mam nem is a funky and strong flavour not often enjoyed by the Western customer. This was disappointing because we felt like this dish had potential to showcase Vietnamese-French cuisine but instead had to please the white man (who only know basic seasoning like salt and pepper) 🙄🙄🙄.
Service
The service was standard – average at best. There was nothing outstanding or terrible that we noticed.
Review
We may have had higher expectations because of all the news articles and recommendations by other well-known food websites. Alas, it was a decent meal – one that would have been forgotten in our history if I did not blog it here.
We will not return because there are other restaurants we find valuable and delicious.
Thank you for reading. Happy eating 😄
Thank you for reading. Happy eating 😄
