Co Bar in Dickson advertises itself as a Chinese charcoal BBQ restaurant. There were two people busily basting some meat skewers and rotating other items on a stick on the charcoal BBQ situated by the front window.
The charcoal BBQ section of the menu has been split into four parts – A to D. A has the more ‘ordinary’ skewers such as Wagyu beef, lamb, chicken and prawn. B has most of the offal such as chicken gizzards, heart and pork intestine. C has calamari and some other processed seafood such as fish balls and fish tofu. D has the vegetables and everything that falls into the ‘other’ category such as ‘fresh gluten’, ‘garlic moss’ and ‘steamed bun slice’ skewers. Skewers cost around $5-10 for 2-5 skewers. Then there’s the special charcoal BBQ menu with items like lamb rib, whole squid, pork trotters and chicken cartilage. There are also various salads – seaweed salad, pork ears, chicken feet and greens, tofu with century egg etc. The handmade mains seemed inviting with fried and steamed dumplings, soup and shallot or potato pancakes.
We started off with the crab nuggets ($5 for 3 skewers) which were basically the processed minced fish meat with crab flavouring packs you can get from the frozen section at an Asian grocer. Nothing special there.
The Wagyu beef skewers ($10 for 4 skewers) were juicy and succulent. No complaints.
Used skewers are to be placed in a metal container for easy collection later.
I can never resist dumplings and ordered the handmade pan fried pork dumplings ($13.80 for 12). I would have preferred some chives and other herbs and spices in the pork dumplings, but they were well-wrapped, juicy, with a nice crunchy bottom. My friends ordered the steamed version (slightly cheaper at $11.80 for 12 pieces).
We realised that although most of us ordered individually or to share between two, one large tray was placed in the middle of the table and that’s where all the skewers are set down. At least we all remembered what we ordered. I liked the marinated chicken skewers ($10 for 5 skewers) which were tender and well-seasoned with some spices. Some friends also ordered the marinated lamb skewers.
‘Steamed Bun Slice’ skewers were on the menu and I ordered it more out of curiosity ($5 for three skewers). These were like plain mantou cooked on a BBQ with a crispy exterior. Although we got 3 skewers, each skewer only had two bun slices on them.
The chicken wings ($5 for 4 wings) had been marinated in a mildly spicy sauce with a touch of charcoal after being cooked on the BBQ.
My friend ordered the shallot pancake ($4.80) which looked thick and tasty.
Another dish I ordered purely out of curiosity was the dough drop with wagyu and assorted vegetable soup ($6.80). What is a dough drop? Mr FPJ summed it up pretty well – it’s basically Chinese gnocchi. Small pieces of various-shaped dough were found at the bottom of the bowl. The soup itself was nicer than expected. It had a thickness to it mainly from a potato soup base, with carrots and shallots. It was lightly seasoned and had that homemade taste to it. Great value at only $6.80 for a large bowl of filling soup.
My friend ordered the chicken feet with pickled greens and chilli pepper ($12.80). She wasn’t a fan as it came out chilled, had a rubbery texture and came with too much chilli.
It wasn’t too busy on a Saturday night which meant we were well looked after. There were a few staff working that night who were eager to take our orders. The food didn’t take long to arrive. As mentioned above, all the skewers were placed on one large tray in the centre of the table even though our group of 6 weren’t all sharing dishes. So it’s best to try out Co Bar with a group of friends with similar tastes to share everything.
Some of the pricing seems a bit off. For example, 3 pineapple skewers for $5 for literally a few chunks of fresh pineapple on a stick seems a bit overpriced. But the meat skewers are pretty reasonably priced.
I wouldn’t mind going back to try more skewers, the potato pancake, stir fried clams and other BBQ dishes.
Co Bar
2/1 Woolley Street, Dickson
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Thursday: 11.30am-2.30pm; 5.00-9.30pm
Friday to Sunday: 11.30am-2.30pm; 5.00-10.00pm
Foodgasm 6.5/10
Value for money 7/10
Service 8/10
FPJ score 21.5/30
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