Coda.

Anniversaries. Anniversary dinners. Aren’t they swell? Well, Alice and I had ours the other day and she surprised me with a booking at Coda. I have wanted to go to Coda for a while. I often walk up and down Flinder’s lane, looking down at the basement space and its diners with envy. Ha! Now I was going to be one!

To get into Coda you have to head down another cobblestoned lane way (not so handy when you are wearing heels) and walk down some stairs.
We got in, were shown to our seats by a lovely waiter and then ordered some drinks. The place had a glam-dungeon feel.  The lights were dimmed, everything was moody and atmospheric. There was a nice buzz of people, without it being too loud.

We decided to order some mocktails – I said I wanted an apple inspired one and Alice wanted something ginger inspired. They definitely delivered those flavours. These were refreshing and delicious.

When informed about our nut and seafood allergies, the waiter ‘edited’ our menu, crossing out what we couldn’t have and marking what could/what could be changed so that we could. This is the first time that has happened to me at a restaurant. It was thoughtful and really helpful! Coda gets points on that!

Here is the ‘edited’ menu.  We started with the Aperol cured Huon ocean trout, pickled beetroot, creme fraiche sorbet and carrot mousse ($18.)

It was one of the star dishes of the night, I really loved it. It is a refreshing, simple and pretty dish. The textures were awesome. I liked the way that the trout roe popped in my mouth. The chopped little pieces of beetroot tasted awesome with the carrot mousse and the creme fraiche melted in your mouth when put on top of some of the cured ocean trout. So good!

We then went on to the That’s Amore Buffalo mozzarella, zucchini fritters, mint and pea salad. ($22)

Now, the trout was a star dish, but this was my favourite. So so delicious – imagine how extra delicious it would have been if they remembered to put the zucchini fritters on there! Though, they might have been kept off because they contained nuts. Still that pea and mint salad was brilliant and it tasted amazing with the mozzarella. So fresh!

Alice ordered some seafood dishes but was so hungry/excited that she didn’t take a photo, but she says that the Spanner crab was a must order. She also enjoyed the scallops but said that the pearl tapioca distracted from the flavour and texture of the scallop rather than enhancing it.

Next we had the Blackened quail, daikon and shiso salad ($ 7.8ea)The quail was marinated beautifully, it was sweet and juicy, though of course, being quail, there never really is enough meat there. The salad was nice but a bit boring.

We also had the Chargrilled lamb cutlet with tapenade and preserved lemon ($9 each) 

This was another star dish. Best lamb cutlet I’ve ever had. The tapenade was amazing and the meat was tender. Seriously beautiful.

Another dish we ordered was the Steak tartare, quail egg, mustard cress and and caper melba toasts ($24)

It was good, but we have had better.  It was nice that the mince was so fine, but the whole thing needed a bit more punch. The toasts it came with were delicious, though we always love little crunchy toasts.

At this point the restaurant made a mistake and brought us dessert instead of the two extra courses that we ordered – it took them a while to sort it out, but they did sort it out, which is good.

We ordered the eggplant and tofu lettuce delight, enoki mushrooms, crispy garlic and black vinegar ( $6ea) and the soft shell crab rice paper roll with Mr Vo’s special sauce ($10.5)

iAlice liked the rice paper roll but said that the spanner crab at the start was better. I liked the Tofu delight but unfortunately no good photos turned out of it. Essentially it was a lettuce leaf cup filled with fried ingredients. It was a touch oily but still a nice vegetarian option.

Ok. So NOW we were ready for dessert. Sadly most of the desserts had hidden nuts but the souffle didn’t! It was what we wanted anyway, so that worked out perfectly.
Strawberry souffle with raspberry ice cream. ($22)

It was a beautiful dessert. The souffle was soft, though the tiniest bit too moist, but I still loved it. The ice cream was the star here. You could really tell that it was made to order. Creamy and delicate. Lovely. Those little colourful jewels of fruit were delightful – super sweet and addictive. Just: Yum!

That concluded our anniversary feast!

We asked for the bill and noticed that they had charged us for another dessert which we didn’t have. We pointed this out and they quickly took both of our desserts off the bill as an apology which was really good.

It did seem like a few mistakes were made that night service wise at other tables too – the table next to us was brought the wrong dish one time as well. However, they do apologize and fix their mistakes, so all is forgiven.

To conclude, I really loved this place. It was a lovely night and the food was executed well. They cater excellently for those with allergies and I really feel like the went the extra mile to take care of us. The waiters were very friendly and helpful despite being under a lot of pressure in a busy restaurant.

I would recommend Coda for special dinner out. Go ahead and visit!