REVIEW: Côba, King's Cross

Well, where do I begin with Côba...

The brainchild of Damon Bui, an Aussie raised Vietnamese born restaurateur and founder of the supperclub Table for 10, Côba offers STUNNING Vietnamese food in the unexpected area of King's Cross. I say unexpected as, from my personal experience, dining around King's Cross (and in fact most major stations), can be pretty awful. With a few exceptions, it can be pretty tough to find good, let alone incredible, food around such major tourist hubs. Côba describes itself as a Vietnamese BBQ restaurant serving Australian inspired Vietnamese food, which I think pretty much sums things up. The modern, clean and contemporary approach at Côba is seen in everything from the restaurant design to the small menu, plating and ingredient selections. Overall, it's pretty awesome place for foodies.

Please note, this review took place before my vegan transition for January. Meat, fish and cream based dishes are all featured.

Where
Coba, King's Cross
When
Tuesday evening, from 7pm
What we ate

• Starters: Fried butter chicken, Vegetarian Spring Rolls, Prawn Toast, Vegetarian Spring Rolls

• Mains: Vegetarian BBQ Noodle Salad, half-and-half BBQ Beef and BBQ Lemongrass Pork Noodle Salad (this is not normally offered but the chef made an exception for our review)

• Dessert: Red Velvet Cake

Review

Well, where on earth do I begin! Coba is one of the best restaurants I have visited with the coolest atmosphere this side of Shoreditch, the kindest staff and the most delicious, authentic food experience. So you see it's a little hard to narrow the whole visit into a few lines, however here are a few of my favourite moments:

• We began with the most delicious cocktails. I missed the names which I am very annoyed about (my fault) but mine was a mix of chocolate, orange and egg whites (seriously it's delicious), while Alex went for an Earl Grey and gin based delight. These were a great opener to our meal.

• We were kindly offered to try all of the four starters on offer at Coba. I indulged a little with both vegetarian spring and summer rolls. The different textures offered different flavour profiles despite containing similar ingredients. The spring rolls were not at all greasy and the added protein came from tofu - a great addition for vegetarians and vegans. The summer rolls had a notably more 'Vietnamese' feel with a super spicy dipping sauce and plenty of fresh veggies too. 

• The prawn toast was OUT OF THIS WORLD. You have never eaten prawn toast like this, I can assure you. The stacks of prawn topped toasts are drowned in the sweetest, most creamy sauce you've ever eaten. I am actually not overdoing the description here, you just need to go to Coba and eat this dish RIGHT NOW. 

• During our visit the chef was serving a special of spiced lamb cutlets with a traditional Vietnamese dipping sauce. I did not eat the meat courses so Alex was in for a total treat. The lamb was perfectly spiced and served medium rare to ensure the best flavour. The lamb is English and therefore excellent quality. I loved the little side salad too which featured on most of our starters.

• The fried butter chicken was also outstanding. Crisp, crunchy exterior - check; soft, perfectly cooked white chicken meat inside - check; no signs of grease - check! The flour coating was gently spiced so the chicken had a little kick to it which worked well with the creamy dipping sauce. 

• And moving onto the main courses! Noodle salads are very traditional fare in Vietnam and consist of fresh herbs (tonnes of them!), noodles, fresh salad leaves (we had iceburg), some crispy component and (where possible) a meat or fish topping. This dish is all about the four flavour profiles, mixes of textures and an all-over fantastic eating experience. The dipping sauce that is poured over the top is normally fish sauce based and helps to really wake everything up.

• I opted for the vegetarian BBQ noodle salad which featured a mix of okra, peppers and more charcoaled on the BBQ grill to give that meaty (umami) flavour profile. I was also offered both the fish sauce and non fish sauce based dipping sauces. Both went in and my dish was a burst of flavours and textures. I also really liked the spiralised courgette and carrot which helped to make the dish a little lighter. 

• Alex was very lucky to be treated to both the lemongrass spiced BBQ pork and the BBQ beef in betel leaf. The beef came wrapped in this interesting leaf on the side while the pork came shredded in the bowl. The pork was deliciously sweet with the lemongrass helping to bring a fresher note to this often heavy way of preparing pork. The beef had a really interesting herbal flavour thanks to the betel leaf which was quite unexpected from the king of meaty tasting meats. Alongside the noodle salad (which by the way is cold), these meats really stood out whilst completely complementing the veggies. A true show of an excellent chef. 

Despite being more full than I could describe there was absolutely room for dessert. I'm not normally a huge fan of red velvet cake but this version perfectly based the sweet and savoury flavours that come from this modern classic. The vanilla and cinnamon balance was fantastic and the cream cheese frosting was really, really soft. Hey, I might even change my wedding cake choice after this!  (Sorry Coba, I won't!!!)

THANK YOU SO MUCH to Damon and your AMAZING team. Ok, enough with the caps... No seriously this review was an absolute treat and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Although this meal was complimentary I will be heading back when they reopen tomorrow after Christmas. 

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