Homi Noodle Bar is Melbourne’s latest Vietnamese hip hop noodle joint with neon lights and all, founded by friends Thomas Ho (Tho Tho), Brian Taing (Workshop Brothers, Northcote STN), Jason Ngo and Hung Huynh. They take traditional flavours from both Northern and Southern Vietnamese cuisine and inject their dishes with some Melbourne twists.

Crisp and fluffy Tater Tots are seasoned with crack salt, sesame mayo and tobiko. It’s the perfect snack to get things started, but if you’re hungrier there’s also the Homi HSP with sliced beef, pho mayo and sriracha. Another great small dish is the Spicy Beef Tartare with lao gan ma sauce, black bean, nashi pear, quail egg and quite a mild horseradish cream.

They don’t do banh mi at Homi, but you can get your sandwichy-thing fix with their bao burgers. The Broken Rice Bao Burger with Hanoi pork patty, spring onion, pickles, burnt rice, cucumber and fried egg is one of their popular choices. There’s more finger food in the form of the succulent twice-cooked caramel Lamb Ribs with coffee caramel glaze, and pickled shallots that cut through the richness of the meat.

One of Homi’s signatures is the Bun Cha with Hanoi vermicelli noodles, a crispy pork patty, grilled pork belly, and tangy fish sauce broth. Fresh herbs and nem ran (crab and pork spring roll) on the side. The highlight of the meal is the soft shell crab Banh Canh. Made with rice drop noodles, soft shell crab, quail eggs and prawns, the crab broth thick and flavoursome.

Wash everything down with a delicious Vietnamese salted coconut iced coffee, or their housemade flavoured lemongrass lemonade. There are so many great flavours going on at Homi, it’s definitely a place that could go on my regular list.

Disclaimer: I was invited to Homi Noodle Bar as a guest, however, opinions expressed here are purely my own, and are based on my experience at the time

Homi Noodle Bar
Shop 2, 190 Queen Street
Melbourne CBD, VIC, 3000
(03) 9670 5825
http://www.hominoodlebar.com.au/