Côdô - Vietnamese Deli, Sushi & Wow
Xin Chào - Good day Vietnam
Want to eat really good Asian food?! The Côdô might be the place that makes you happy in every way. It's not just the quality of the food that's good here - the location, presentation of the food and really good service are just as impressive as the unbeatable price-performance ratio. Here you will find one of the few REAL Dresden restaurants that is represented in the city center alongside all the chain giants such as Vapiano, Hans im Glück etc.
A Dresden success story
It all started nine years ago. A small restaurant was opened on what felt like 20 square meters in Dresden Neustadt, where the founding forge for everything new and international in culinary terms is located. To the guests' surprise, there was not only fried noodles with chicken, but also "Bàhn Mì", a classic Vietnamese street food. In short, it is a complete Asian meal without rice and noodles stuffed into a baguette. It was new, tasty and authentic and very well received. So good, though, that they had expanded twice since then. A real restaurant followed in 2013 in close proximity and since last year, a second restaurant close to the Zwinger is representing the enterprise on the old town side.
As the branches have expanded, the menu has also grown in every direction. From the summer roll, the Phô to the red Thai curry with fried duck - the selection of dishes now has something to offer. The restaurants themselves are modern and friendly, clean and invite you to stay. In addition, the service is really convincing. Friendly, really fast and the waiters actually do see you. Even when it's busy, you rarely have to wait longer than a minute or two to place an additional order - I really like that. The quality is right across the board. In addition to the large selection, you also get really generous portions, fresh and good ingredients and the price is right too. Each of the following dishes was priced between €7 - €12 in Spring 2023, so you sometimes feel bad about paying so little for so much.
What to eat?
Once you have sat down in front of the menu, you will be literally overwhelmed with coices. In order to be able to offer the curious visitor something from every direction, in addition to the aforementioned "Bàhn Mì" baguette, the menu has been massively expanded in recent years and expanded to include all the important classics of Vietnamese cuisine. To make the choice a little easier for you, here is my selection of the best and most diverse dishes.
List of Services
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1 Bun CôdôList Item 1
A "Bun Bo" is traditionally a lukewarm salad made of flat rice noodles (Bun) with seared beef (Bo) and fresh raw vegetables, herbs (usually mint & coriander) and sprouts. A dressing made from lime juice, brown sugar, fish sauce, garlic and chili, which is used in many Vietnamese dishes, provides the typical Vietnamese kick. The mixture of sweet and salty flavors gives the dish the necessary “umami” and thus its exceptional taste.
With the house creation, instead of beef, you get a trio of baked spring rolls, pork with sesame and a skewer of chicken rolls fried in a La-Lot herb leaf on top.
A light dish, especially in the hot summer months, that tastes good and fills you up without putting you out of action for two hours. With an unbeatable price of less than €10, it's a well-deserved first place and my top recommendation.
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2 Mango-Mint-Beef with RiceList Item 2
If you prefer a classic Asian dish, i.e. fried meat with vegetables in a creamy sauce and rice, but would like to try something new, we warmly recommend the mango-mint beef.
For many, the combination may sound crazy and may be off-putting at first due to memories of culinary crimes like Pizza Hawaii. The three main ingredients, beef, mango and mint though, are made for each other. The whole thing is complemented by mildly steamed peppers and sprouts. Complex flavors of very different types come together harmoniously here - for me that's what characterizes good cuisine - highly recommended.
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3 PhôList Item 3
Phô Bo is an intense beef bone soup with rice noodles, sprouts, spring onions and coriander - so to speak the Vietnamese variation on the "German chicken noodle pot". The characteristic aroma comes from the spices used in the preparation of the broth. In addition to star anise, cloves and roasted ginger, fennel, cinnamon and coriander seeds are also used depending on the recipe, giving this Vietnamese national dish a surprisingly oriental taste. A real feel-good meal and highly recommended, especially in autumn and winter.
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4 Vit Ca Ri - Red Thai-Curry with baked duckList Item 4
Those of you who don't like things that experimental, will find an all-round talent in a Thai curry that might be apreciated by many of you. The more creamy dishes are always made from a mixture of coconut milk and various curry pastes. Together with various asian vegetables and the obligatory crispy baked duck breast, the fatty coconut milk ensures that the different curry flavors really come together in their own.
Sushi & Wow
Anyone who likes sushi knows that it's not just about filleting raw fish into small rice bites. Sushi is also the art of presenting food beautifully. In fact, the almost philosophical approach behind the preparation of sushi is to represent the beauty and diversity of the “Garden of Eden” on the plate in the form of food. Unfortunately, the Côdô succeeds so well that once you have them on the table, you no longer want to eat the beautiful creations. You should definitely take a look at the sushi menu.
The wide range has everything to offer, from classic maki rolls (fish and rice in a seaweed leaf), to nigiri (fish fillet on rice), to elaborate creations. Admittedly, the selection of types of fish is a little smaller than in a pure sushi restaurant - but no one would probably expect blowfish here anyway. A recommendation here are, for example, the salmon tartar rolls (see photo above). The ingredients used are fresh and the amount of fish used in the dish is just as WOW! as the beautiful decoration on the plate.
If you've never tried sushi before because you just don't like the idea of raw fish, then you should give tempura sushi a chance. The prepared sushi roll is breaded and then fried in hot fat. The heat moves into the roll and ensures that the fish inside is also cooked slowly. Since such variations often use fillings with short cooking times (e.g. shrimp), it's easy to avoid the "raw" stuff. For some, this might be an alternative way to get closer to the joys of sushi.
As you can see, the Côdô did not only completely convince me with it's sushi creations, to me it is one of the few general recommendations if you want to go out for a good meal in Dresden. At the Côdô, everything is actually just right and fans of the Asian cuisine in particular are guaranteed to get their money's worth here.
My personal recommendation for hot summerdays (and nights)
Especially on hot summer days, it can get uncomfortably warm in Dresden city center. That's why I like to send many of my guests straight to Côdô to cool off after the city tour, simply because of the incredible proximity. My last recommendation goes to a star on the menu that is often overlooked - namely the Vietnamese iced coffee.
Like many nations, the Vietnamese have their own way of making coffee. A small metal filter is used for this, through which the coffee drips very slowly. This works a bit like the German Melitta filter, but the coffee is strong, like an Italian espresso. The coffee brewed in this way is very intense and tastes reminiscent of cocoa beans. The whole thing is served in a glass with concentrated and sweetened canned milk over ice. This is not only wonderfully refreshing, but also super tasty with its chocolatey aroma and a good and light replacement for a desert at the end of your meal.
Côdô old town
Öffnugszeiten / Business Hours
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- Fr - Sa
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Côdô new town
Öffnugszeiten / Business Hours
- So - Do
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- Fr - Sa
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