Restaurant review: Miss Van's sees many hands make a memorable meal

Andrew Duong is one who can execute, with consummate skill, at "both ends". Although most of his time is spent patrolling the floor of his beloved Miss Van's, he steps seamlessly into the kitchen from time to time and works alongside talented head chef Adam Hazelton, where the two create a kind of magic together.

I recently attended a Temporada x Miss Van's event and we, as well as they, had a blast. So naturally, the pre-dinner drink is the biproduct of a collaboration between Miss Van's and Bentspoke Brewery. A glass of spiced XPA - brewed with toasted rice powder, galangal, kaffir lime, lemongrass and rice paddy herb ($13). The joint effort pays respect to Grandma, whose recipes feature as prominently as her silhouette, embossed into the beer coaster.

On a less local note, Miss Van's smells a lot like South East Asia. There are teasing aromas of lime leaf, ginger and smoke wafting through the air. On a recent trip to Bali, my wife attended a perfume workshop where she created her own scent from exotic botanicals. I'm keen to bottle the scents of Miss Van's. I suspect that a "Van's Cologne" collab with Tom Ford would sell very well.

There is a lot of origami in the room. It's finger food, and it comes wrapped, folded, rolled and encased. Wash your hands because you're about to eat with them. Betel leaves are stuffed with coconut, chilli, peanut, ginger, lime, sweet tamarind sauce and fried silken tofu ($26). The tofu sits on the seesaw of flavours with peanut, lime and a judicious use of fish sauce, combined with a complex mix of young ginger, palm sugar and half-a-dozen other ingredients. The flavours are refined, reduced and ridiculously good.

There is a nod to the colonial French influence that exists in the region, including beef tongue, umami butter and crepes. We go for grilled spicy Laos sausage with jaew bong tomato dip, cabbage and Vietnamese mint ($19).

Locally made in Belconnen, there is plenty of spice here, with lemongrass, chilli, lime leaf, coriander root and pepper. Again, the sauce slides in as the hero of the dish. This is not your average Bunnings sausage. It's a banger of a banger, and the sauce has a complex mix of flavours which could only have been crafted and refined by a collaboration of finely tuned palates.

There is lots of chatter in the wide room, elbows on tables and plates being passed around. The only thing that isn't being shared is the iced coffee, which seems to be everywhere. We move onto a glass of Willm Riesling from Alsace and a local Linear Pinot Noir, and at $14 a glass, this wine list offers some of the best value in town.

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The value is probably not perceived to be the same with the Penang duck curry, a duo of confit duck leg, with peanuts and Thai basil oil ($45). Flavours are creamy, balanced and rich, with a fresh streak of basil oil loitering on top, although we are pushing the price of mains here. I suspect that most people would be more comfortable with a single duck leg at $29 and Miss Van's would also make a better margin. Just an idea. Please don't tell Grandma it was mine.

The pork belly wrap kit ($35) sounds a bit like our very own DIY Meccano set. It features pork belly, crackling, vermicelli, lettuce and herb wrap, and a ginger nuoc cham. Individual parts not sold separately. The flavours are fresh and fragrant and taste like they have been lifted from a garden next to a Hanoi rice paddy. Sticky rice ($5) arrives in a cute little bamboo basket, as well as fried green beans with mushroom XO and black vinegar ($14). We are going to need a bigger table.

Dessert is just a choice of two, so we take all of the above. The staff, who hustle about in their burnt caramel aprons, have left us plenty of time before the second sitting and they haven't missed a beat all night. "The dessert" (or it could also be called "one of two desserts"), is a Vietnamese salted coffee ganache, with condensed milk ice cream and wild puffed rice ($16). The light and airy puffs float on a thick caramel/coffee ganache, delicious at first bite, but hard to finish without calling for help.

The pandan and coconut crème brulée ($15) is all about texture and carries a subtle pandan character with notes of citrus and pine needle.

We leave Miss Van's feeling like we have experienced a dinner put together by many hands (including ours). If this place was a 200-seater in Melbourne, I expect it would be full every night. The good news is I'm hearing that "Van's Cologne" will be available just in Canberra. For a limited time only.

Address: Shop 4, 113-119 Marcus Clarke St, City

Phone: 0499 560 767

Website: missvans.com.au

Hours: Lunch Monday to Friday, and dinner Monday to Saturday.

Chef: Adam Hazelton

Noise: No problem

Dietary: Plenty of options

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