We’d been to Tokki in Surry Hills a few times and really liked it, so when we heard a sister venue was open, we made it a priority to visit Kinhboy. It’s a cool and modern adaption of traditional Vietnamese restaurants. More of a night style place, upmarket, hip and serving up tapas style food, it’s got a young vibe to it. This fits quite well in Redfern, close to the train station.
The space is dark, just lit up by some neon lights and a bright glowing red neon sign which reads “Pho King Amazing”. Whilst it looks cool, it means our photos are pretty rubbish so don’t judge a visit based on our photos, trust our word!
The menu offers plenty of unique offerings ranging in size as well as the ability to do a tasting menu, their ‘feed me’ option, to save having to decide what to order, which is a good idea, because, let’s face it, you’ll want everything. They make huge bowls of pho, and some pretty tasty bánh xèo tacos; essentially crispy taco (the Banh Xeo crepe is made of turmeric powder, rice flour and coconut milk) filled with tiger prawns, pork crackling and a turmeric papaya green served in a little cardboard container.
The Kingfish Ce’viet’che is everyone’s favourite. It is Hiramasa kingfish, flavoured with pomegranate, chilli, coriander, fried garlic (gf). The crispy chicken is served with plenty of sauce and it’s nice and crispy moist chicken with a crispy crust. It comes with a bowl of duck rice, suitable to mop up remaining sauce.
We also have corn ribs as part of the tasting, small bits of grilled corn, topped with a sweet soy seasoning, fried garlic and saffron shards.
The tasting menu is great and it’s honestly so much food, you will really be very full. Though we do also like that we didn’t all have to do the tasting menu, I personally have some dietary requirements so ordered my own, the Fresh Tofu Rice Paper Rolls with 12 Viet slaw, fresh herbs, shar shu sauce (vg gf) in addition to theHanoi Seafood Netted Spring Rolls with Viet pickles, fresh herbs, nuoc cham sauce.
Drink wise, there’s plenty of cocktails, wine and beer. They even made me a pretty darn good mocktail which was like the real thing, so they certainly have the drink making down pat. For the alcoholic versions , we try the “Old Smokey using Toki whisky, Ardbeg, cherry blossom, bitters, orange zest as well as the Aloe Gin Gin with cucumber, aloe vera, lemon.
They also have a separate lunch menu with banh mi, pho, vermicelli salads and Buddha bowls.
It’s a great option for some tasty food and fun!
Shop E/66 Regent St, Redfern NSW 2016
Tuesday-Friday 12-3pm
Tuesday-Saturday 5pm-late