Try Vietnam’s viral coffee at this new Sydney restaurant opened by a Mad Max stuntman

Before opening Tina & Po in Canley Vale, Michael Tang had multiple lives. As a stuntman, he was repeatedly blown up in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. As a background extra, he battled alongside Oscar-winning actor Michelle Yeoh in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. And as co-owner of Cabramatta’s Alpha Unit martial arts school, he dreamt of opening a restaurant one day – when he was much older and couldn’t move so well.

Surprisingly, the 30-year-old launched Tina & Po in October. He’s still incredibly mobile, and you’ll notice his friendly, rocket-booster energy when placing your order. “I got you!” Tang says, as he ensures every requested dish is entered into the system.

He opened earlier than planned because the right space surfaced near Canley Vale Station. Plus, his mum offered to help. Ngoc Truc Huong Doan has operated An Nhien in Cabramatta for a decade and many items from her vegetarian restaurant also appear here, from vegan pho to fried rice with XO sauce.

Tina & Po’s noodle soups, stir-fries and rice sets have a welcome familiarity and reflect what’s typically available at Sydney’s Asian vegetarian eateries. Many have served meat-free meals for decades (An Lac, Green Gourmet, Mother Chu’s Vegetarian Kitchen), long before Impossible Burgers and wood-fired cauliflower main courses existed.

What sets Tina & Po apart is its energised, Instagram-era approach to drinks. At first glance, it feels like a matcha cafe cross-bred with an old-school vegetarian restaurant. The diversity of diners backs that impression, from schoolkids sipping matcha-streaked beverages to grandparents dividing turmeric-yellow serves of banh xeo (Vietnamese crepes) or tearing herbs for noodle soups such as bun bo Hue or bun rieu.

Look closer, and you’ll realise it’s a restaurant fuelled by Viet coffee culture. The clue is in the title: “Tina” name-checks Tang’s wife (who co-owns the business) and “Po” recalls Ho Chi Minh City’s Po Cafe, run by his cousins Doan Le Ai Tien and Vu Van Phuoc. During Tang’s visits to Vietnam, he loved their drinks so much that he semi-seriously suggested they open a cafe in Sydney. He suggested it so often, they simply said, “Why don’t you do it?” They even supplied recipes.

That’s how the egg coffee ended up at Tina & Po. While a milk scarcity in 1946 led to coffee being bolstered with yolks whipped into flan-like fashion in Hanoi, his cousins have inverted that hot drink into a chilled viral sensation. At Tina & Po, the egg foam is torched until brulee-like. Crack it with a spoon and knock off bergs of charred custard; sip the underlying caramel sweetness and add ice cubes to savour the drink further. It’s all incredibly delicious – particularly the choc-Biscoff notes that emerge while you swirl layers of egg and coffee.

Notably, Tina & Po doesn’t have an espresso machine. Tang says staff manually drip coffee, as is the style in Vietnam. You’ll see phins (Viet coffee filters) lining the counter. In Australia, caffeine is usually something you grab to rev your workday, but Tang hopes to invoke Vietnam’s more laid-back coffee culture, where socialising is measured in well-nursed brews.

Ca phe muoi transports you to his mum’s home town of Hue in Central Vietnam. The city’s salted milk coffee has been adapted for our foam-laden signature drink era and its savoury punch will dial up your alertness (if the caffeine levels don’t). Iced cacao with coconut foam tastes like a grown-up Bounty bar in sippable form. For matcha fiends, there are many options, from a salted-milk variant to Tang’s coconut cloud version.

The food is more old-school, and a vegetarian take on sweet-and-sour pork hits strong nostalgia notes. Many incorporate a Buddhist approach to using mock meats (a tradition that’s more than 1000 years old). Some people criticise these plant-based alternatives for being too convincing, while others think they won’t fool anyone. I see them as an inclusive touch. Fried rice with salty “fish” flakes of bean curd is a good gateway dish, as is banh tam bi: noodles flavoured with coconut cream, fresh vegie strips, alternative fish sauce and a convincing “pork floss” textured from tofu shreds. If you prefer something headlined with vegetables, try the clay pot with lush hunks of caramelised eggplant, zinging with lemongrass, basil and chilli.

This is a multi-generational place: I can take both my matcha-loving sister and my parents, who have very exacting opinions on how food is prepared. It’s called Tina & Po, but it’s for everyone.

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