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Firebird

Popular destination for char-grilled dishes.

Endless grilled oysters on weekends.
1 / 9Endless grilled oysters on weekends.Leah Tracey
Firebird champions flame-fuelled cooking.
2 / 9Firebird champions flame-fuelled cooking.Supplied.
The $25 chicken.
3 / 9The $25 chicken.Supplied
Scotch quail eggs.
4 / 9Scotch quail eggs.Leah Tracey
Oysters, fries and free-range chicken.
5 / 9Oysters, fries and free-range chicken.Supplied
The fire-driven kitchen at Firebird.
6 / 9The fire-driven kitchen at Firebird.Bonnie Savage
Pipis in canh chua.
7 / 9Pipis in canh chua.Bonnie Savage
Vietnamese coffee dessert.
8 / 9Vietnamese coffee dessert.Bonnie Savage
It’s visited regularly by mystery diners.
9 / 9It’s visited regularly by mystery diners.Bonnie Savage

Firebird

Contemporary$

It’s been a hit since day one, and four years later Firebird’s dining room indicates little has changed. The tile-topped tables of the double-decker former furniture warehouse are regularly full, and video motifs are beamed onto concrete walls.

From a quick scan of the menu, it’s not obvious you’re in a Vietnamese restaurant. You’ll also spot influence from Thailand, China and beyond. There’s betel leaf topped with honey-glazed pork and crackling. Duck is a signature, but steer to wood-fired chicken that could feed three. It comes slathered in nuoc mam and over-delivers on both succulence and size.

Please-all rice dishes are essential – special fried rice is dotted with char siu pork – and desserts are refreshing counterpoints, evidenced by mango custard with coconut jelly and billowing coconut cream. Firebird is fast, fun and a welcome south-of-the-Yarra fixture.

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