Bia Hoi pop-up Vietnamese @ Small Block, Brunswick

After reading the tongue-in-cheek blog post tweeted by @JohnandNecia on Twitter this morning, and seeing timing is of the essence, I thought I would wax lyrical about the Cohen's of Brunswickistan impromptu dinner last night at the über schick pop-up eatery at Small Block Café on Lygon - Bia Hoi.

You see, 18 months ago, the Cohen's ventured off to Vietnam for a month long trip south to north, eating everything from crickets to rats to little un-born ducks still in their  egg - thank God I ticked that off my bucket list!! Yes, Vietnam, seems so long ago.

So, to last night. I only really found out about the joint yesterday afternoon, and seeing it is located at Small Block, owned by the always busy Mr Brunswick himself, Michael Hole, I thought the only thing to do was drag the family down for some flavour. And seeing the restaurant is called Bia Hoi, what else would a world famous blogger wear to said eatery then their very own 'Bia Hoi' t-shirt all the way from downtown Hanoi. Classy hey?

We walk through the door and the place is full. And walking out of the kitchen resplendent in her Vietnamese flag t-shirt is the all round good chick Chantelle, formerly of Vue de monde (along with me), Cutler & Co. and numerous other fine eateries. After a big old bear hug in the middle of the place and ruffling of hair by said Chantelle to the little Cohen's, we were seated out back with three lemonades and a glass of Brunswick's finest Thunder Road Brewery Kolsch;  so Vietnamese and so Brunswick.

So, the food. It's a short menu. It's actually a shortish piece of brown paper with menu items scribbled on. Remember, it's a pop-up restaurant. With a confident 'yes' from Erin, we ordered everything on the menu; Roast Pork Rolls, Prawn rice paper rolls, steamed eggplant, Green papaya salad and chicken ribs (chicken wings?) with sponge laffa. And only one photo of the dishes all splayed around the table. I cannot stand the incessant shutter bugs constantly trying to get the best angle of a lamb shank - its food people.

The pork buns were more like pork sliders, but even so they were awesome. oursum. 'Tastes yum' quote unquote from my almost 8 year old daughter Imogen. So yum in fact that I had to go and pay a visit to the always smiling Tommy in the kitchen; Tommy of St. Judes, Albert Street Food & Wine (with me again) and recently The Middle Park Hotel where he was charring meat fame. After a few minutes of blah blahs it was back to the table to take Henry to the toilet for the 3rd time and continue on with dinner.

The green papaya salad was as authentic as I remember from the numerous times ordered on our trip to Vietnam. Crunch and heat and crunch; that's what you want. That's what we got. The rice paper rolls, well I'm not sure. These were hoovered up - two plates worth (three per serve) by Imogen and her brother Henry. They looked great so you'll have to take my word for it, or ask the kids; just don't freak them out is all.

The steamed eggplant for me was the most surprising. On the plate it looked just like eggplant; poor eggplant. But when you stuff it in your gob and get the texture of the fried bits of prawn and a touch of heat it turns in to this flavour mash and explosion that quite rightly sexes up the appearance of it on the plate. You get that?

Bia Hoi is the brainchild of Peter - your amiable host -  and I assume others who are working there too. I don't have the chutzpah like other bloggers to corner the proprietor and ask them 20 questions ranging from where'd you get your inspiration to where'd you get your fabulous pants??!! So get on down I say. Bia Hoi is only open on Thursday and Sunday nights from about 6ish running till March 24th - perfect timing for all the food sycophants coming for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. And they only accept the folding stuff - no cards people. (All food and bevvies were duly paid for by and on behalf of the Cohen's of Brunswickistan.)

So seeing I'm blogging about Bia Hoi, I think I have to give it a gold birk.

Home

Number 64. My home. Our home. After three weeks in Vietnam with family can honelstly say that I am loving the very mild 13 degress right now in downtown Brunswick. Heaps of food, heaps of beer - no wine except for a very ordinary Chardonnay/Chenin Blanc out of the cask from South Africa - heaps of sunburn, now tan, and heaps of everything in between.

Hào Phong, 136 Hopkins St Footscray

Its 7.30ish on Monday night. So of course I’m in the study typing out a post. Not only is ‘Glee’ on, but it’s on Oprah; Glee and Oprah – TV gold, yeah-nah!

So as I said, I’m in the study and writing a post. Something about wine; like before – yeah-nah. Instead of wine I think, how about food. In just 94 days, me and the family will be heading north to sweaty Vietnam for a 22 day trek from south-to-north. To get everyone ‘tummy-ready’ we have decided to go nuts on Vietnamese food. So first stop Footscray!



With a recommendation we head to Hào Phong on Hopkins Street -136 to be precise. On our way there we see another Vietnamese restaurant that has a few people inside (no Vietnamese – what was I thinking) so we chanced our arm. Big mistake. Looking down the menu read of the best from the 70’s & 80’s – beef and black bean, sweet and sour pork, Mongolian beef. Just to be safe we thought we’d order some rice paper rolls. The reply, ‘sorry, they have not defrosted yet’. You can imagine the awkward silence. With our apologies we bidded our farewell and legged it to Hào Phong. It was only 5.45pm.


We arrive for the second time and manage to get a table for 4. Ten minutes later there is a line at the door – good timing. The menu’s come and it looks awesome – AWESOMELY AWESOME!!!! And if you’re wondering, there are no photos of food, just us eating it!

We order in 10minutes and it as follows:

• 1. Prawn and chicken rice paper rolls $7.00 for 4
• 10. Satay chicken on skewers, or chicken on a stick for my 2 year old son Henry - $4.50 for 2
• 99. BBQ pork with vegetables with plum sauce - $13.80
• 141. Scallops with ginger and shallots - $19.80
• 1. Prawn and chicken rice paper rolls $7.00 for 4 …. again
• Special - Shallow fried soft shelled crab - $18.80 for 4. That’s right, 4!!!!

Not a rice dish in sight I tell ya! All this and a bottle of Tsing Tao beer. The bill arrives and we are $88 lighter – plus tip.



There’s only 94 days to go but I can bet you we will be back a few times before we head off. And I would book. As I said, by 6pm there was a line. What a place!!

Hào Phong is my 1st ‘Hooters chicks with Birks’ rating


Where – 136 Hopkins Street Footscray 9689-8373

By the way, thanks Ronnie for the recommendation. Bisou Bisou!