Overview
Northsiders, prepare to lose your collective minds (and begin a heated debate about the values of coriander) because Prahan's beloved Vietnamese restaurant, Hanoi Hannah, is coming to Carlton for the month of July. At Yo-Chi, of all places.
Hanoi Hannah is moving in to the frozen yoghurt bar's palatial digs on Faraday Street from July 5. The culinary couple's collab name is 'pho-yo' — but before you freak out about hybrid foodstuffs, rest assured they won't be serving pho-flavoured frozen yoghurt.
"No, no that would be disgusting," laughs Simon Blacher, co-owner of Hanoi Hannah. "But we're doing a collaborative flavour with Yo-Chi, a Hanoi Hannah-inspired frozen yoghurt."
The HH crew will also be serving up signature dishes like their yellowfin tuna and wasabi rice paper rolls and fresh chargrilled chicken and BBQ pork banh mi with pickled carrot, daikon, cucumber and coriander with crispy shallots.
"It's quite a simple set up [at Yo-Chi] so we can't do any elaborate cooking, but it'll be enough to serve up a good lunch and dinner," Blacher says. "Plus, the food we're known for — like pho and bahn mi — isn't complicated, just done well."
Yo-Chi will also be serving up a bespoke dessert menu as well as their regular self-serve fro-yo and toppings. You can grab the decadent (and hilariously named) Lava'Nother (a chocolate mud cake with a ganache centre, vanilla frozen yoghurt, fresh strawberries and chocolate soil) to accompany your Vietnamese feast.
Blacher also revealed they'll be offering delivery after the pop-up gets settled in, so you won't even have to leave the house to indulge. No word, however, on whether northside will be getting their own permanent Hanoi Hannah, but we're hopeful. When asked, Blacher won't give anything away. "It may be true…who knows. We're always looking for new venues but nothing concrete at the moment".
Here's hoping Hannah finds a permanent home north of the Yarra at some point in the future — but in the meantime, we'll settle for bahn mi, pho and fro-yo in the warm, wooden interior of Yo-Chi.
The Hanoi Hannah Yo-Chi pop-up will start on Tuesday, July 5 for one month. It'll be open from midday till 10pm daily at Yo-Chi at 194 Faraday Street, Carlton. For more information, check HH's Facebook page.