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Trevor Pepys reviews Hop and Vine, Hastings Street
This was weird from the start, and it only got weirder.
A dear friend from the Gold Coast was in town, burdened with baby, young mums and drunken sailors. Having dispatched the latter from Mooloolaba, she suggested a late lunch/early dinner at Hop and Vine on Hastings Street. Working around baby’s feed times, we met there at the ungodly hour of 5.15pm.
To be honest, Trev had not darkened this door since it led to Montezuma’s Mex, which is a few years back, but our mate – let’s call her Di – had, a few nights earlier, popped in with the sailors for a bottle of rum and some Asian tapas and pronounced it good-oh. Trev also didn’t realise it was the brainchild of Flux owner Malcolm Butcher who has developed a sizeable fan club for his Gympie Terrace bolt-hole for lovers of craft beers and tasty snacks and expanded the idea into Hastings Street a couple of years ago.
Not sure about the English pubby name, but at least he didn’t call it Reflux.
At 5.15 on a midweek afternoon, the joint wasn’t exactly jumping. In fact it was empty, but so, apparently was the pantry, because as we perused the extensive and somewhat lip-smacking tapas menu, we were informed that just about everything we wanted was off. There appeared to have been an overnight global shortage of bao buns, possibly something to do with Covid, or worsening relations with China.
“How can you have run out of everything when we’re the first dinner customers?” Trev politely enquired. Polite shrug. A few flat tyres and harrumphs later, Trev had decided that strong drink was need to get over this. Fortunately a bottle of the Lane Block 2 Pinot Gris ($60) from the Adelaide Hills was available and chilled and good to go, and a splendid drop it was too.
I know, I know. At this point Trev is meant to weigh in with his usual complaint about no house wine cheap option, but this is a no-win. If he complains, the restaurateurs or their sommeliers whine (no pun intended) about the tiny mark-ups they put on a decent drop to keep them affordable – presumably because they buy wholesale instead of at Dan Murphy! If he doesn’t complain, the readers accuse him of forgetting the common man and pandering to the rich wankers instead. So let’s move on.
We were a mad mix of vegans, veggos and dedicated carnivores, and given that there was very little of what we wanted left, we just ordered the bloody lot. And sometimes such silliness can pay dividends.
Trev kicked off with a Chicken Larb San Choy Bau ($7) and it was so good he promply ordered another. The vegetarian spring rolls with sweet chilli sauce ($10 for two) were also excellent. Pho soup dumplings ($18 for four) consisted of steamed aromatic pho beef, ginger and shallots, with hoisin and sriracha gel (whatever that is). It didn’t matter. It could have been hair gel and it wouldn’t have gotten in the way of this taste sensation.
We shared the vegetarian fried rice ($17) and bowls of craft fries with herb salt and spicy mayo ($10). The fried rice was perfectly acceptable if uninspired, but the chips were about as good as chips can be, crunchy fried on the outside, succulent and flavoursome inside.
The only real disappointment was the Okonomiyaki ($16), a Japanese savory pancake with vegetables and tofu, topped with Japanese mayo, okonomiyaki sauce and dried bonito flakes. Sounds great, tasted bland.
The verdict: Look, obviously something had gone very wrong for choices to be so limited. The staff should have been briefed to explain what had happened to punters. What we had was, by and large, great. What we couldn’t have may have been even better. There’s only one way to find out. Trev will return.
Hop and Vine Restaurant Bar, Bay Village, Hastings Street, Noosa Heads. Phone 5324 2343.