The Brass Coq
470 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
thebrasscoq.com
So, we’re not going to make any puns related to the name of this bar — nothing about how the size of the bar doesn’t matter, nothing like that. We’ll just focus on the facts. It’s up to you what you do with The Brass Coq.
What we can say is that The Brass Coq is a new bar and eatery in Melbourne that’s taking its inspiration from Vietnamese cuisine.
“Ou eatery focuses on authentic Vietnamese flavours with a refined twist while our upstairs bar uses fresh seasonal fruits as the centre of attention with plenty of classic drinks available at your request,” owner Colin Tam told us.
Inside the split level venue, the eatery is downstairs and upstairs, there’s big green leather chesterfields surrounded by warm exposed brick walls, and a mural overlooking the bar.
Tam has done time working at Sydney’s Zeta Bar, and like Zeta the cocktail list at The Brass Coq takes a similarly inspired departure from the norm. They’re using seasonal fruits, with plenty of asian flavours peppered throughout the drinks: they take the Margarita and give it an “oriental” twist with yuzu and grapefruit-infused tequila; their take on the Pharmaceutical Stimulant, which they call the TBC Espresso, uses Vietnamese dripped coffee and condensed milk and is served tall with homemade salted caramel; and for their take on the Bloody Mary, they spike some gin with peppercorn and coriander, add their own in-house Mary mix, and name it Saigon Mary.
The downstairs eatery is open Monday through to Friday for lunch, and on Saturdays for dinner; the upstairs bar opens on Friday and Saturday nights from 5pm to 1am.