Broadsheet Review: Van Expresso Bar Might Be Clovelly’s Best Kept Secret

Minimal-intervention wines and modern Vietnamese food with a French touch.

Dining at Van Expresso Bar is like visiting your fun, quirky, well-travelled aunt at home. You don’t question what’s on the menu because you know it’s going to be good, you’re likely to have one too many drinks, and you always stay a little longer than planned.

But unlike your cool aunt, chef and owner Anna Kellett has spent a lifetime in hospitality and 20 years living and cooking across Southeast Asia. Kellett and her partner, Vladimir Vujovic, are behind Circular Quay’s Young Alfred, and were the original founders of Paddington’s Love Supreme. Vujovic also started Arthur’s Pizza in the ’90s.

Van is a tiny and good-looking cafe by day and a restaurant and bar at night. It’s on Clovelly Road next to fish and chipper Out of The Blue, and when Broadsheet visits on a Wednesday evening the lively buzz and flurry of people is like a mirage on an otherwise sleepy strip. 

The food is modern Vietnamese with French accents and is informed by Kellett’s heritage. “It’s food without boundaries … I’m bored of the terms ‘modern Australian’ and ‘fusion’. I don’t want to pick a particular cuisine … it’s just me, it’s Anna, it’s who I am as a person.”

The san choy bow has clusters of crunchy fried rice with pickled pork, herbs, lime juice and peanuts, served in a lettuce cup. The market fish curry is exemplary; the perfectly cooked fillets are submerged in a light curry sauce and it’s served with a fried sweet rice bun for dipping. 

Other highlights include the corn, smoked and stir-fried with XO sauce; the prawn spring rolls with a punchy dipping sauce; and the braised pork with quail eggs served with pickled greens and pork crackle. For breakfast you can get banh mi, French toast, oyster omelettes and crepes.

Yes, the food at Van is great, but it’s the relaxed, comfortable environment Kellett creates that makes it special, and that has some locals coming back up to three times a week.

Clovelly isn’t exactly known as a night-time destination, but Van has some decent low-intervention wines and a neat cocktail menu to entice. The Good Morning Clovelly is a mix of vodka with raspberry, lemon, Vietnamese mint and soda if you prefer fresh and fruity, or if you like yours dry and strong, there’s the Big V, with gin, sake, peach liqueur and a lemon twist. During the day it’s Illy Espresso, cold-pressed juices and bubble tea.

Van Expresso Bar
3/272 Clovelly Road, Clovelly

Hours:
Wed to Sun 4pm–Late

vanexpressobar.com

michaela vujovic
Beast Review of Van: "Van Expresso Bar – Vietnamese with a French twist"

By Joel Bevilacqua on April 9, 2019 in  Food

Vantastic! by Michaela Vujovic.

The Clovelly food scene has gained a new star recruit in Van Expresso Bar. The restaurant/café, which serves Vietnamese food with a French twist, moved into the old trophy store next door to Out of the Blue on Clovelly Road last November.

Chef and owner Anna Bach-Cuc Kellett and her partner Vladimir Vujovic are the same couple who own Young Alfred in Circular Quay and previously owned Love Supreme in Paddington. Vladimir also founded Arthur’s Pizza back in the ‘90s.

Upon reading the Van menu, one could be forgiven for being a bit confused about what type of cuisine it’s actually serving up. Anna said most first-time diners are.

To use a sporting metaphor, if the neighbourhood’s food scene was a footy team, Out of the Blue would be the salt of the earth front-rower who never lets you down and Van Expresso would be the mercurial halfback with a bagful of tricks up his sleeve.
The all-day menu is no doubt rooted in Vietnamese methods, but there are also French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Thai influences. We were treated to dishes such as pork and prawn dumplings, smoked trout salad with wonton crackers, crab and prawn spring rolls, and the market fish curry with a sweet rice bun. For dessert, we had a rice chia pudding with coconut and seasonal fruits.

The verdict? Van Expresso serves up some of the best food I have had in some time. The pork and prawn dumplings were a standout performance in a winning team, but the man of the match award had to be given to the fish curry and the perfectly contrasting sweet rice bun that accompanied it.

When I enquired about the menu’s influences, Anna had a simple answer: “It’s Anna!”

A lifetime in the hospitality industry, a French and Vietnamese background and time spent in Southeast Asia has culminated in a unique and versatile menu that plays outside the boundaries. Van also does breakfast, and this is where Anna’s family’s influence really shows in the form of crepes, omelettes and brioche served with anchovy and crème fraiche.

I was impressed to learn that Anna doesn’t have a freezer on the premises, but not overly surprised given the quality of the food we ate. All the ingredients are locally sourced and this means that the Van menu must change every three months.

Predictably, Van Expresso doesn’t take bookings, but while you wait for a table their talented mixologist Fabio will fix you one of Van’s signature cocktails such as the fruity ‘Van With Me’, made with Wyborowa vodka, lychee puree, lemon, rose, plum sake and palm jelly. We visited Van on a Wednesday and even on a school night there was a fun energy about the cosy bar.

Van is sure to become a popular date spot. It’s intimate but you’re not packed in like sardines and the mood is set by summery techno beats, dark timber furniture and low hanging lights. There’s also an impressive collection of wines.

In opening Van Expresso, Anna said she wanted to bring some colour to the neighbourhood, and with her unique, playful menu and vibrant atmosphere she has certainly achieved this.

Van Expresso Bar 
www.vanexpressobar.com
Address 3/272 Clovelly Road
Facebook Van Expresso 
Instagram @vanexpressobar 
Phone 02 8054 5287
Open Wednesday to Sunday 4-Late 
Cards Master, Visa, AMEX
Licensed Yes

https://thebeast.com.au/food/van-expresso-bar-vietnamese-french-twist/

michaela vujovic
We've Opened

We opened our doors to the wonderful people of Clovelly and Coogee with so much love!
It’s been so nice getting to know you and sharing our passion for food and drink with you.

Just a quick update, our new hours for the moment are:

Monday 4.00pm - 10.00pm
Tuesday 4.00pm - 10.00pm
Wednesday 8.00am - 10.00pm
Thursday 8.00am - 10.00pm
Friday 8.00am - 10.00pm
Saturday 8.00am - 10.00pm
Sunday 8.00am - 10.00pm

We look forward to meeting more of you!

See you soon.

Love from the Van Expresso Bar Team

michaela vujovic
Opening Soon

We are almost ready to open very soon and so excited to show you everything we’ve been working on for you!

We have our menus and merchandise ready to go, our space freshly renovated, we have teamed up with Spiral foods, organic suppliers, environmentally friendly services, Ubereats for your delivery needs and we are ready to cater to your next event!

Keep your eyes peeled for our official opening. We look forward to meeting you and becoming your new local favourite!

michaela vujovic