EAT: HOMI NOODLE BAR, MELBOURNE CBD
Workshop Brothers has been attending to the coffee needs of Melbourne CBD folks for the past few years. It was only a matter of time before they made their leap into the brunch sphere, establishing several popular cafes across Melbourne.
A move that made complete sense given that coffee and brunch are very much intertwined. Last year's opening of Homi Noodle Bar on the other hand fell somewhere outside of this box given the little common ground shared between coffee+brunch and noodles...
But it seems the delivery between the cafes and the noodle bar is at least consistent: a solid good feed. Traditional favourites like broken rice, pho and banh canh drop noodles get quite the extensive makeover, re-emerging as a broken rice bao burger, a pho HSP-style dish comprising crispy tater tots topped with sliced beef+pho mayo+sriracha, and banh canh noodles in a thick and flavoursome sauce-like soup teamed with soft shell crab. Points for culinary creativity. Double points for deliciousness. I absolutely adore many of the traditional dishes in their original forms, but was still won over by Homi Noodle Bar's many twists and turns. But don't take my word for it, see for yourself!
Vietnamese salted coconut iced coffee // lemongrass chia seed lemonade.
Tater tots - with crack salt, tobiko and sesame mayo.
Caramel ribs - twice cooked lamb ribs with coffee caramel glaze and pickled shallots.
Fried chicken bao with garlic gochujang glaze, dijon and burger slaw // Broken rice bao with Hanoi pork patty, spring onion, pickles, burnt rice, cucumber and fried egg.
HFC fried chicken wings - with a spiced glaze and bottarga.
Soft shell crab banh canh rice drop noodles - with soft shell crab, quail egg and prawn.
Buddha bowl - rice or egg noodles with mixed mushrooms, fried tofu and bean sprouts.
Homi Noodle Bar
190 Queen St,
Melbourne, Victoria, 3000.
(03) 9670 5825
http://www.hominoodlebar.com.au/
Disclosure: I dined as a guest of Homi Noodle Bar. All opinions expressed in this post are based entirely on my experience and observations made during the time of my visit.