CoBa

Vietnamese barbecue

Spring rolls

CoBa is another brand new Vietnamese restaurant that just opened recently, located in York Way, north of King Corss. The brainchild of Damon Bui, who used to run a popular supper club. The concept of the restaurant is BBQ grilled items, Vietnamese style, using traditional BBQ marinade method and serving it with fresh vermicelli salad. I visited Coba in its soft launch period to access the 50% off deal.

summer rolls

butter fried chicken

beef pho

To my surprise, the fried butter chicken was very solid, the batter was really light and the meat was moist with the right level of seasoning. My bowl of BBQ beef salad was executed wonderful, plenty of fresh but yet flavoursome taste from both the beef and salad, all worked in harmony with the lightly sour and spiced fish sauces, I just wished the kitchen would be a little more generous with the portion of the beef as it was rather tiny comparing to other elements in the bowl. The dessert was a major let down however, my carrot cake lacked refinement and balance, it was extremely sweet to a level that was almost unpleasant.
 

grilled pork salad

grilled beef salad

carrot cake

While the food at CoBa is nothing revolutionary, it was executed in a pretty high standard (the savoury dishes) and it can totally stood toe to toe, if not better against some of the more established Vietnamese restaurants in London such as Cay Tre. One of the major issue for me is its location, it is literally in the middle of no where, it took me about 15 minutes to get there from King Cross station and along the way it is just a pile of developing flats so the area is pretty dead at night. I would happily return to CoBa if I am a local but it just doesn't warrant for me to pay a special visit.

Food 2.5/5

What I paid:
£13 pp

Average cost without drinks and services:
£17

244 York Way, London N7 9AG

http://cobarestaurant.co.uk/