MissChu, Melbourne CBD by Snooze

In Big Fil’s absence, Bureaucrat and I lunched out yet again, this time at MissChu, a Sydney Vietnamese chain now resident in the Melbourne CBD. Without Big Fil we were limited to trying a small selection of goodies, but still managed a reasonable four options from a medium sized menu.



With Vietnam one of the homes of rice paper rolls we tried two rolls selected by Bureaucrat: the free range egg omelette with avocado and balsamic caramelised onion, and the roast duck and banana flower.



Despite looking pretty in their takeaway packaging, eat in diners were offered food in takeaway packaging. Bureaucrat and I were surprised with this approach especially given the price. Getting down to the rolls, neither Bureaucrat or I thought either was a standout. For the former, Bureaucrat couldn’t taste the caramelised onions, while the latter had a slight fragrance from the banana flower.

Next up were the steamed prawn dumplings. My choice and I’m not sure why I ordered this Chinese staple at a Vietnamese restaurant but I love these particular dumplings. My thoughts: they were generous in size but the skin wasn't quite thin enough and the prawns weren’t quite juicy enough.


The final was the lemongrass beef with vermicelli and salad. Not a favourite for me I’m afraid. The meat was bland—the overwhelming flavour was the friend onion scattered over it—and had far too much chilli for my liking.


Overall
MissChu comes up trumps for quiet, efficient service as well as on the hip and cool scale (despite sitting at a sticky table that didn’t improve after a waitress wiped it down). But I was disappointed: the food felt toned down and the serves were small considering the price. And on looking around Bureaucrat and I wondered whether MissChu fell into the anglicised Asian food category—basically where white people go for Asian food in a funky café style, (and don’t have to see people eating things they find confronting like chicken feet or beef tendon). Or as Bureaucrat observes, MissChu is to Vietnamese food what Wagamama is to Japanese food. I suppose my approach to food is looking for food that’s as authentic as possible and MissChu just didn’t cut it for me.

Verdict
Food - 6
Ambience – 7.5
Service - 8
Price – 6

Address
Food - 6
Ambience - 8
Service - 7.5
Price - 6