Watch and learn
John Lethlean | August 15, 2009
Article from: The Australian

THE guy behind the bar has a theory. And this being Coda, almost certainly the hottest restaurant in Melbourne, he explains it over dessert. Mine, not
his.

It runs like this: restaurants with proper eating bars – where you can spread out and dine on a stool – are particularly attractive propositions to women.

I eat my tapioca, all ears.

They’re places, he says, where women can sit, check out guys – cooks, waiters, barmen (although not him, he stresses) – and have a glass of wine without fear of harassment. The environment gives women licence to do, more or less, what men have been doing in pubs for donkey’s. Or so the theory goes.

Whether the guy behind the bar is right, who knows (although there do always seem to be glamorous women at Coda’s bar), but you can’t say he hasn’t done the fieldwork. Mykal Bartholomew has been the guy behind the bar this past five years at two of the city’s most important eating places: MoVida and MoVida Next Door, the former a restaurant with a great bar, the latter a more pure version of the Spanish tapas concept.

Realising it or not, Bartholomew has been cheerfully observing the changing face of Australian dining.

His customers, in turn, have been observing him. And the inescapable conclusion about this traffic manager/waiter/barman/sommelier is that if ever you were looking for a man in the right job, here he is. News that he was teaming with chef Adam d’Sylva (ex Pearl and Longrain) to do his own thing in a Melbourne laneways basement with MoVida’s architect on board was like the sight of several stars coming into alignment. And Coda has not only risen to the challenge of giving Melbourne’s CBD yet another cool place to hang and eat/drink, it has tapped into the 30-something zeitgeist perfectly. That androgynous business model – pub/winebar/casual diner/serious eatery – plays right into the hands of anyone looking for somewhere welcoming to meet and see where the mood might take them.

Coda’s great fun. Hospitable, good value and buzzing with the positive energy of a first venture that is, quite literally, turning people away, such is the demand for tables (the bar’s a perfectly acceptable option, let me tell you). Use it as you will. But to sit here and drink without sampling d’Sylva’s kitchen would be like going to the beach and not getting wet. Heaven knows, working as head chef for Pearl’s Geoff Lindsay and Martin Boetz at Longrain Melbourne, winning an important award in 2007 and subsequently staging at Per Se New York last year, the guy’s done his apprenticeship.

For all that, Coda’s is a curious menu. Part modern Vietnamese/ Thai, part… bistro? What else can you say about a list that juxtaposes duck liver parfait and citrus-cured fish?

Pommes frites and jasmine rice? I’m not sure all of it, in the kind of place that encourages sharing, works harmoniously. Baked snails with puff pastry make unusual bedfellows with spiced cuttlefish and a ponzu/soy dipping sauce, for instance. It’s all good. But for me, the chef’s passion and skill with Asian flavours would steer a meal every time. Things like the lightly citrus-cured kingfish dressed with a pretty little garden of leaves, petals and tiny balls of pickled radish on top. Or the seven-spice fried cuttlefish pieces you might recognise from Longrain, with their crisp/chewy batter “shells” and slippery innards. Then there are betel leaves rolled around minced prawn and tapioca, like a cigar, dusted with cornflour and fried.

All a blast. D’Sylva, unlike many westerners cooking Asian food, puts the emphasis on aromatics rather than sweetness and heat.

He has a rare touch. The long list of small things includes an outstanding blackspiced half quail – charred on the outside, slippery/moist underneath – that sits alongside a perky shiso and shredded daikon salad; and something I’m less keen on, a kind of spring roll with bone marrow, mushroom and a few other things.

In fact there are no fewer than 20 “smaller” items. And while I’m at it, I don’t reckon beef works too well in rice paper rolls. The traditional prawn and pork version is practically Melbourne’s civic dish. But from the bigger list, a yellow curry of braised duck is destined for classic status, a dark and powerful, rich and robust sensation crowned with crisp wafers of lotus root. And that same flavour depth, without resorting to sweetness and gummy fillers, is found in a retro classic: Coda’s take on the sizzling iron plate we’ve all eaten from in Vietnamese cafes. This version is made up of prawns and crunchy wing beans with roasted chilli, mushroom, shrimp paste and garlic as well as green peppercorns and pungent Thai basil. An olfactory turbo-charger with beautifully integrated flavours. In this sort of company, executed so well, I find it hard to imagine choosing steak with béarnaise or d’Sylva’s version of a rabbit cassoulet.

Fussy wine drinkers – catered to with a really nice little list – may see things differently. Fair enough. If I wanted to drink Burgundy, I’m not sure I’d be eating curry, and a lot of patrons think about their meal in exactly that order.

I liked the idea of crisp-fried spiced apple and goat cheese dumplings, honestly, but found leatherwood honey ice cream just too sweet against the rich fritters.

Which takes us back to the man behind the bar and another dessert, a tumbler of coconut and tapioca pudding topped with tropical fruits and a blob of ruby grapefruit sorbet. It’s cleansing, light and quite delicious.

As always, the man behind the bar is smiling an infectious smile. He has good reason.