The Treasury Casino and Hotel's new Fat Noodle, a noodle bar from one of Australia’s leading celebrity chefs Luke Nguyen, is open until 3am on Saturday and Sunday mornings, closing during the week at late-for-Brisbane midnight.
Luke says he loves Brisbane and the Treasury building with its colonnaded balconies reminds him of the romance colonial Vietnam.
Brisbane’s Fat Noodle is the second contemporary noodle bar that sees Nguyen join forces as consulting chef with casino entertainment group, Echo Entertainment Group, which launched the first Fat Noodle restaurant at The Star in Sydney two years ago.
The lush decor is distinctly Asian with a scaled serpent sliding just under the ceiling, lots of rich red and a back lit bar with a line up of Imperial lion. I expect it will appeal to both regular casino visitors taking a food break and the walk by crowd hungry for a quick and inexpensive feed.
Fat Noodle is located adjacent to the Queen Street entry of Treasury Casino, and offers Chinese cuisine, with a mix of Vietnamese, Thai and Malay fare.
The menu has four sections:
- Small Plates, covering dishes such as Prawn and Pork Rice Paper Rolls and Salt and Pepper Silken Tofu
- Noodle Soups such as Luke’s two signature dishes – which have broths that are cooked for 20 hours. ‘Crossing the Bridge
- Noodles with chicken, prawns and fish fillets in chicken broth and Fat Pho Noodles with beef broth, thinly sliced Angus
- Sirloin and fresh aromatic spices
- Woks includes a mix of authentic dishes such as Pad See Ew, Crispy Skin Chicken with Egg Noodle
- Rice dishes include Turmeric Chicken Curry and Char Grilled Pork Cutlets with broken rice.
Although renowned for his Vietnamese heritage and cuisine, Luke also has a family history in China and has drawn the inspiration for Fat Noodle from this upbringing.
"I found these authentic street food dishes during my travels in Asia" Luke said at the opening where he described himself as a 'boat person' having been born on a boat as his parents travelled to Australia from Vietnam.
He gained his love of food and cooking skills from growing up and working with his parents in their own noodle bar.
The Fat Noodle menu is very competitively priced with nothing over $20 and most dishes hovering between $16 to $19.
The open kitchen services 136 customers at communal and individual tables and there's a take away service.
The hours are long and Fat Noodle is open seven days a week from 10am-midnight; 10am-3am Friday & Saturday. No reservations required.
The restaurant opens officially at 12 on December 12 which sounds like a very auspicious date to me.
Fat Noodle,
Adjacent to Queen Street entry, Treasury Casino 130 William Street, Brisbane.
Bottom line: Great option for late night/early morning city dining.
Best tip: Try Luke's signature Fat Pho Noodles
Disclaimer: Ed+bK was a guest at the opening of Fat Noodle.