I hadn’t been to Wood & Coal for a few years (since 2014!). I had passed by one day and saw a sign for a $20 lunch plate which sounded good to me, plus I was starving, and decided to dine in. There was a choice of house wine, beer or soft drink included so I chose a soft drink.
The lunch plate included 4 pieces of warmly toasted bread, two types of dips – tzatziki and tomato, pork off the spit served sang choi bao style, grilled chicken, ice berg lettuce salad and dessert. The sang choi bao included several pieces of crunchy cos lettuce. Unfortunately, they were quite small and thin so I couldn’t fit much into the thin sang choi bao. Nevertheless, the items were tasty. There was a generous serve of chunky pork which I sliced into thinner strips to fit into the sang choi bao. There were also pickled onions and pickles to cut through the meatiness of the pork. Delicious. There was also a huge serving of grilled chicken with the charred juicy skin still on. Absolutely no complaints – well cooked and fabulously tender and juicy. I wanted more! I didn’t go through all of the bread as I knew it would just fill me up leaving me with no room for anything else. But I did love the tomato dip which was full of flavour, and I really would be quite happy with just bread and tomato dip next time as an entree. The iceberg lettuce salad was fresh, crunchy and had a hint of mustard in the dressing. I didn’t finish this off as I was busy polishing off the other parts of the plate. The dessert that week was a mandarin and coconut cake. To be honest, I really wasn’t expecting much but this was amazing. The cake itself was so moist and melted in my mouth. The flavours of mandarin and coconut go so well together. I had saved this to last, and even though I was stuffed full by this stage, I inhaled it.
The desserts seem to change each week. I was actually planning on trying the cookie monster for second dessert as I didn’t think the lunch plate would be so big. Ah well, next time. But how good does it look?!
The $20 lunch plate is available Tuesday to Sunday. As it was a weekday lunch, there were plenty of seats inside and it was fairly quiet. Service was attentive with my drink order taken quickly and my choice of tap or sparkling water provided as soon as I sat down. As I was sitting near the kitchen, I could hear plenty more orders for lunch plates. Considering the prices of other items on the menu, this lunch plate had enough variety, was good value for money and definitely filling.
Wood & Coal can be found at 125 Bunda Street in Civic. Open seven days for lunch and dinner.
Foodgasm 8/10
Value for money 8/10
Service 8/10
FPJ score 24/30
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