Harry's Bar de Ville at Bay Tinh, Marrickville

Bo luc lac
Tender beef cubes sauteed in special sauce
served with pepper and lemon juice

"Toto, I don't think we're in Marrickville anymore..."

Except we are in Marrickville, and we're in a bar. A bar. With cherry red textured floral wallpaper, and wall-to-wall timber and fancy light fittings. Are you sure I'm not in Newtown?

I say this because the change in Marrickville's landscape over the past decade--the past five years in particular--has been phenomenal. Once a rough and tumble working class suburb, today there are new apartment blocks, modern cafes and a noticeable upward shift in the income demographics of its latest residents.

This changing of the guard is no more apparent than the addition of Harry's Bar de Ville on the first floor of long-time restaurant Bay Tinh, a fixture on Victoria Road for over 20 years. Originally famous for being run by Tinh Tran, personal chef for Vietnamese ex-Prime Minister Kim Thien Tran, the restaurant has now been taken over by friend and chef Harry Hoang.


Tropical Night cocktails with soursop

It's a mix of friends, loyal customers, food journalists and food bloggers (including chocolatesuze, Christie and Lorraine) at the media launch. An effusive Harry happily works the floor. It's taken him two years to get the recipes written down for so many of the dishes that are a trademark at Bay Tinh.

"There was no measurements before! Nothing written down!" he explains with mock horror. The recipes, he says, have been a result of collaboration between himself and one of Tinh's older "adopted" daughters. Today Harry is the sole person responsible for making all the sauces and marinades for the restaurant's dishes.


Cha gio
Vietnamese spring rolls served with fish sauce

With the fooding throng nursing potent soursop Tropical Night cocktails and Vietnamese 333 beers, the eventual arrival of the sample dishes is hugely popular - so popular in fact that chocolatesuze and I have to relocate nearer the kitchen just so we can get photos of food and not empty plates.

Cha gio spring rolls are super crunchy in the traditional Vietnamese style, chock-full with plenty of tender pork mince and mixed through with wood ear fungus, grated carrot and vermicelli noodles.


Roast duck salad

Harry is insistent we try his latest dish, a roast duck salad that is the newest addition to the menu. Crisp lettuce cups hold a jumble of roast duck, grated carrot, Spanish onion, bean sprouts and Thai basil dusted lightly with the slight grittiness of roasted rice powder.


Goi cuon
Prawn, pork, herbs, lettuce and pickles rolled in rice paper

There's plenty more finger food in the form of goi cuon fresh prawn rolls, tom cuon thit spring rolls with pork mince and king prawns, and heo nuong grilled pork slices on lettuce with soft mats made of vermicelli noodles.


Heo nuong
Grilled pork slices with rice noodles, salad and hoi sin sauce

Bo luc lac are another crowd favourite. Tender cubes of beef are marinated in soy, pepper and fish sauce then fried quickly and served with a lime and pepper dressing. Bo means beef and luc lac means shake, referring to the rapid motion by which the wok or skillet must be moved to cook the small pieces of meat. It's a dish that involves a bit of moving and shaking, a bit like Bay Tinh and Marrickville itself.


Vietnamese 333 beer


Harry Hoang

Bay Tinh Restaurant
318 Victoria Road, Marrickville, Sydney
(corner of Marrickville Road)
Tel: +61 (02) 9560 8673

Open for dinner every night from 5.30pm
Lunch on Fridays from 12.00pm

Harry's Bar de Ville is upstairs from Bay Tinh Restaurant
Open on Fridays from 4.30pm and Satrudays from 5.30pm

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Marrickville - Huong Huong (Oct08) and (Dec06) (Vietnamese)
Marrickville - Mui Huong Goat Meat Restaurant (Vietnamese)
Marrickville - Nhat Tan (Vietnamese)
Marrickville - Old Thanh Huong (Vietnamese)
Marrickville - Post Cafe (Mod Aust)
Marrickville - Sydney Portugal Club (Portuguese)