The Brass Coq, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

There's nothing quite like a name that makes you giggle little a school kid.  The Brass Coq lives up to its name - it's brassy and it's cocky and its modern Vietnamese menu is finger-licking good if you're willing to pay $7 for a single rice paper roll or almost 1.5 times the price of a typical bowl of pho. Located in an otherwise dead-ish part of Little Lonsdale Street, The Brass Coq is 'in', it's chic and it's possibly the most upmarket Vietnamese restaurant I've eaten at (at least in Australia).


Ms G and I picked three dishes and a serve of rice to share as our dinner.  The menu is split up in the oh-so-typical format of little, small and bigger plates (which I personally dislike because I'm greedy and I don't like sharing... unless I have food envy... lol).  The grilled pork loin w lemongrass was one of the bigger plates ($22).  It was tender and juicy and had a nice lemongrass flavour to it.  It came with a slow-cooked egg, pickled salad and this crumbly, savoury 'dirt' as a garnish.


The stir fried eggplant was a smaller dish and pretty good value at $10.  This was my favourite dish of the night.  Lovely, squidgy chunks of tender eggplant in a sticky salty glaze.  The eggplant had an amazing caramelisation, which gave it the thinnest yet most delectable crust on each chunk.  Gorgeous.


We couldn't go past the VFC - Vietnamese Fried Chicken - which was another smaller plate ($14).  The crispy batter was very reminiscent of a piece of KFC, but the seasoning was more of salt and pepper and chilli (rather than the Colonel's 11 secret herbs and spices).  It had a lovely drizzle of sticky sweet sauce and topped with black and white toasted sesame seeds.

Verdict

We really liked it

Overall

Very tasty modern Vietnamese fare going on at The Brass Coq.  Service is friendly and schmick.  Well worth checking out if you've got a hankering for Vietnamese but wanting something more upmarket.

Find it at

The Brass Coq
470 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne 3000
Phone: 9640 0035