Co Thu Quan is a Vietnamese franchise restaurant in Melbourne. We haven’t tried their other locations yet, only their newly opened St Albans restaurant. We went on a Thursday night and it was PACKED. There was so much variety on their menu.
Food
It’s so rare to see a Vietnamese restaurant serve hột vịt lộn so of course we ordered one fertilized duck egg each. The sauce was a thick sweet fish sauce.
This was Vietnamese Popiah (bò bía) $18.85. The rice paper roll had Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, basil leaves, shredded lettuce, and crunchy jicama. It was average.
This was Mick’s childhood favourite: pan-fried seafood rice cake omelette (bột chiên) for $23.40. This was pan-fried scrambled egg rice cake, Vietnamese rice cake, squid, fried egg, and scallion, served with thinly sliced pickled carrot, daikon, chilli, sweet sour, and salty sauce. It was decent for Vietnamese standards, great for Australian standards.
We got the Vietnamese chicken salad (gỏi gá) for $27.95. This was shredded chicken, cabbage, carrot, Vietnamese mint topped with sweet and sour dressing, peanuts and crispy fried shallots. It was refreshing, with crunchy and soft textures and a strong umami flavour profile.
This savoury sticky rice for $23.40 was average. It had Chinese sausage, sticky rice, pork floss, cha lua, scallion oil, side of pickled veggies and was served with sweet and sour sauce.
We got this combination fried rice for the child of the group. It was $26.00 and very basic but it was great for the child. It was Vietnamese fried rice with chicken, egg, carrot, peas, onion and bean sprouts.
The coconut offal stew with banh mi (bánh mì phá lấu) $23.40 was good in flavour. It was a coconut based beef offal stew, with beef and pork innards braised in spices, served with banh mi and kumquat fish sauce. Our only critic is the TINY protein pieces.
Finally we tried the Vietnamese crepe (bánh xèo) for $29.90. This was indeed crispy. The batter was slightly too thick. It was filled with cooked pork belly, shrimp, mung beans, bean sprouts, scallions. This was the only dish that took a long time to come out, easily 30 minutes. We think they forgot this order.
Service
The restaurant fit was cute. It had a modern take of Vietnam culture with the old wooden windows and lanterns. The toilet was clean. The seating was comfortably spaced, with wooden benches. The service was fast, like any Asian restaurant.
Review
Overall we rate it a “good”, Xtiner rates it 8/10, Mick is 6/10. We will return to try other items on the menu.
Thanks for reading. Happy eating.
Thanks for reading. Happy eating.
