Fat Noodle, Treasury Casino, Brisbane CBD

Conveniently located in the Treasury Casino building, it allows easy access for events or gatherings even just for a quick lunch or dinner with family and friends. Luke Nguyen has created this restaurant to be a place where people can come and enjoy the traditional family recipes from South East Asia to the table although the main dish of the restaurant would be their 20 hour Fat Pho Noodles, their Fiery Laksa and Vietnamese Chicken Salad.

'Crispy Calamari with Thai Salad' (AUD$14) was a light and simple dish to order when you're not feeling to eat quite as much. Panko fried crumbed calamari served with shredded cabbage, tomato with a Sweet and Sour dressing. Although it did seem like a good idea at the time to eat less that night, the dish itself actually came bigger than I thought it would be.

There were about 5-6 large panko crumbed fried calamari topped with crushed peanuts and there were also fresh chilli cuts on the shredded cabbage. Most of the sauce did lie at the bottom of the bowl so make sure you give it a good mix before eating it. If not, it will seem like eating a plain no dressing salad. If you don't like chilli as much like myself, do try and take as much of the fresh chilli slices out of the dish itself and place it on the paper menu place mat or elsewhere you see fit before mixing the salad. The Panko fried calamari was definitely the highlight of this dish being thick and nicely thinly crumbed.

'Chicken Pad Thai' (AUD$18) is a classic Thai dish that consists of thin rice noodles with chicken breast, peanuts, bean sprouts and eggs. What intrigued me was that it wasn't as dark as the other Pad Thai dishes I have had before as well the crumbed peanuts and the bean sprouts were placed on top and on the side along with a wedge of lemon. Usually, they would all be mixed together while it is being stir fried in the pan.

As for the Pad Thai itself, I did think that it lacked the punch even if it did look pretty in its presentation. By squeezing a little of the lemon onto the dish and mixing it altogether along with the peanuts and bean sprouts, it felt that it needed abit more soy sauce to enhance its flavour. Overall it was alright but not extraordinary..

One thing I do have to say is that sometimes trying to get the attention of the waiters to top up your water or refilling your tea is a bit hard as they sometimes wander around other areas of the restaurant and I have had experiences where they seem to walk past you or avoid eye contact.

The Vietnamese Hut, Eight Mile Plains, Brisbane

Trying to get our Vietnamese fix after weeks of not having our usual, we decided to try The Vietnamese Hut located at Runcorn Plaza, opposite Warrigal Square. It was quite a quiet night so it was just a nice and peaceful dinner for us. As we sat down, we were given hot Jasmine Tea which was great as some restaurants now are charging for tea and opting it now with just tap water.

'Special Combination Steamed Rice' ($10) came into my mind as I didn't feel like ordering Pho nor Bun Thit however what got me confused was that it said Steamed Rice instead of the usual Broken Rice so I was not too sure of what I would get. When the dish finally arrived on our table, it was definitely broken rice but it didn't have that distinct smell nor was it made nicely as it was quite dry.

Since it was a dry dish, it had Grilled Pork Chop, thinly shredded pork mix with cooked and shredded pork skin, prawn paste cake (which may also be pork meatloaf) and fried egg. A dipping sauce is also given which is usually some sort of fermented fish sauce. However, this seemed more like a sweet chilli and vinegar mixture giving it more that acidic flavour and tangyness. Overall, it was a pleasant dish to have with each of the elements being cooked nicely. The fried egg was not too dry but was just right.

'Special Combination Rice Vermicelli' ($12) is always a must-have for the Mr. and this although was smaller than the usual portion, it didn't really matter as much as it was quite filling in the end anyway. The dressing however was just okay, it maybe needed a little bit more tangyness and kick. As for the toppings, some were less than other Vietnamese restaurants such as the spring rolls or the fishcake or such. However, the grilled pork was more choppy here than big chunks or slices.

Fat Noodle, Treasury Casino, Brisbane CBD

It's not that I fancy this restaurant so much until I keep revisiting it, but sometimes, it is rather quite a convenient place to dine, the environment and the ambience as well. It wasn't that busy during lunch time so it was rather nice to dine at a more peaceful and not so noisy environment. If you like your Asian hawker style food, then give here a try since you may just find what you're missing on from back home or from your previous travels. The food ranges from Vietnamese cuisine to chinese, Indonesian to Thai and so on. The place is quite spacious with seatings available inside and out, bar seatings as well, oh and did I mention private function rooms too? It's nice to see restaurants that can cater for various needs and likes.

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