After a recent visit to Robinvale where I was genuinely surprised by the quality of a bánh mì, I thought it was only fair to give another Vietnamese restaurant in town a go.
This time it was A&T Restaurant in Robinvale, and I wasn’t disappointed.
A&T sits just off the highway with plenty of street parking, so it’s an easy stop if you’re driving through Robinvale, heading home, or just looking for something a bit different for lunch.
When I walked in, the Head Chef of the restaurant recommended I try a Vietnamese salted cream coffee while I waited for my meal to be cooked. Now, I’m already a bit of a sucker for coffee, but this one was something special. It had a layer of salted cream sitting on top, which gave the coffee a richer, smoother flavour and made it feel a bit more indulgent than your standard iced coffee. It was a decent size too, but I just about inhaled it.
My Vietnamese Pork Noodle Soup came out quickly, along with a pork bánh mì, and that soup took me straight back to a trip I did years ago to Hanoi in Vietnam. That was where I first really got hooked on Vietnamese food, and until recently, I hadn’t found much around here that gave me that same authentic feeling, but this did.
The dish was made by the chef Vu, who cooks a lot of the food at A&T. He also makes the fresh bread every day, which is a fair effort in itself and probably explains why the bánh mì roll tasted so good.
The Restaurant has been in Robinvale for around ten years, and while I was there, there was a steady stream of locals coming in and out. What stood out to me was that the customers were from all different nationalities, and that says a fair bit. In a small town, when everyone keeps coming back, you’re clearly doing something right.
Then came the bánh mì, Simple, tasty, fresh and balanced. The roll had crunch, but not that over-the-top “shatter everywhere” crunch. The pork was tender, and then there were these little salty bits of pork crackle sprinkled through it, I could’ve happily had a plate just of the pork crackle.
The salad was fresh without taking over the whole roll, and everything worked together properly. Nothing was trying too hard. It was just good food done well.
One of the things that makes A&T stand out is that they bake their own rolls in-house. They can make up to 250 rolls a day, which is a fair effort for a small-town restaurant, and it probably explains why the bread tasted so fresh.
It’s the sort of place that proves you don’t need to be in a big city to find great, authentic food. Sometimes it’s sitting just off the highway in a regional town, quietly feeding locals, travellers and anyone smart enough to pull in.
So if you’re passing through Robinvale, or looking for a reason to take a drive, call in and give it a go.
Try the iced coffee. Try the noodle soup. Definitely try the pork bánh mì. If they ever put a plate of pork crackle on the menu, I’ll be first in line.
Open from around 7am to 3.30pm
Just off the highway with plenty of street parking.