At first glance, Eddy + Wolff seems an unusual name for an Asian restaurant in the Gold Coast suburb of Robina, but owners Vien and Thao Nguyen want their restaurant to both celebrate their Vietnamese heritage and push boundaries.
Vien tells SBS Food that they like to keep Asian flavours, but change things up a bit
Thao (left) and Vien Nguyen. Source: Eddy + Wolff
"We wanted to bring to the table our authentic tastes but with refined Asian food," he says.
Meanwhile, the name Eddy + Wolff stems from Vien and Thao's childhood in Canberra. "She lived on Eddy Crescent and I was on Wolff Crescent. We wanted to do something that was our story from our background growing up in Canberra."
We are pushing their boundaries. With a lot of my food you can't go to any other restaurant on the Gold Coast to find these dishes on the menu.
Like their cuisine, Vien and Thao's story is both bitter and sweet. They left their home country on separate boats in the early 1980s, a few years after the Vietnam War ended. Both families were forced to escape at night to avoid being captured by the communist regime.
Vien, now 46, has vague memories of being on a boat, out at sea. "The communists would either shoot you or wait until you were out on the boat and blow you up. Our engine was failing and we were just drifting in the water, and an oil tanker picked us up during the night," he says.
"I remember someone from our boat jumping into the water to grab the oil tanker line and then everyone on the tanker sitting around a massive tarpaulin.
"We were taken to Indonesia to a camp and were offered to go to America or Australia. Then we had to get a sponsor family. The lady who sponsored us – I'm still in contact with now."
But he doesn't tell this story often. "We have learned to appreciate how lucky we are to live in this country, and our restaurant is a way of giving back."
Thao, 43, remembers little of her journey by boat, but is aware of the sacrifice made by both of their families who went on to work in restaurants and taught them the tricks of the trade.
Thao and Vien, who met through Thao's sister at primary school, also have two children, aged 19 and 17.
We have learned to appreciate how lucky we are to live in this country, and our restaurant is a way of giving back.
Eddy + Wolff has not been without its challenges, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the couple to revert to more traditional food such as banh mi and vermicelli bowls, which work well as takeaway.
But they are now back in full swing, serving their signature dish of chargrilled prawns, burnt garlic butter, shrimp paste and chilli oil, and the popular crunchy eggplant with red vinegar, chilli caramel, shallot and sesame.
"We knew that people were going to love the crunchy eggplant dish so much so that if you don't love it, you don't have to pay," Vien says.
"That's why we enjoy what we are doing, we are pushing their boundaries. With a lot of my food, you can't go to any other restaurant on the Gold Coast to find these dishes on the menu."
They have a cheeky cocktail list, featuring a phogroni instead of a negroni that's flavoured with pho spices, gin, Campari, vermouth, cinnamon, basil and lime.
Vien also makes a soy-sauce-flavoured ice-cream with Korean chilli crumb, garlic crisps, soy caramel and rose petals. He loves to gauge the reaction of diners to this daring dessert.
"Every time I send that dish out, I watch their reaction. People go 'this is crazy but it works'," he says.
"There is no limit to what you can do."
Tuesday–Thursday: 5:30pm–10pm
Friday–Saturday: 12pm–2:30pm and 5:30pm–10pm
VIETNAMESE FOOD
Val's Vietnamese honeycomb cake (bánh bò nuóng)
