By John Rozentals.
While the Brisbane Treasury’s Fat Noodle restaurant offers some wonderful moderately priced fare and while it makes liberal use of Luke Nguyen’s name in its promotional material just don’t expect him to have personally prepared any of the food you order.
Any more than you’d expect Luke Mangan – are all celebrity chefs named Luke? – to work behind the stove at the Sydney Hilton’s flash Glass Brasserie.
Celebrity chefs just don’t work that way.
Sure, they play major roles in shaping the menus and style of the places they lend their names to – and, like Luke Nguyen – they often deposit their spirit on the kitchen rafters.
But they leave the day-to-day to people such as Fat Noodle’s excellent souls-chef Sarah Ghim.
Sarah takes great care of me on my visit to Fat Noodle and prepares special smaller servings so that I can taste a range of dishes without having to select from the simple yet comprehensive menu.Her opening salvo, a chicken salad, has Luke written all over and is a triumph.It features pickles, cabbage, peanuts, fresh herbs and chilli, and is refreshing and filling enough to be a meal on its own, despite the tiny price of $15.I’m sorely tempted to gorge but I do remember that there is much more to come.The accompanying edamame beans, served with sea salt and chilli garlic, are tasty enough and will entertain kids but don’t touch the salad in adult appeal.
For the next episode of food over-indulgence at Fat Noodle – a serving of prawn dumplings – I can blame no other than myself for they are among my favourites.They were crisp and delicious – and came with a hot-as-you-like chilli sauce – but a regularity of shape suggested they had been pre-prepared.I can definitely blame Sarah though for the next course, for she chose the wok-tossed pepper beef with boiled rice and the premium Fat noodles, another Luke specialty.The latter were marvellous – served in a beef broth with bean sprouts and the freshest of fresh basil – and the former, based on eye fillet severed with fresh Asian greens, was to die for.
And let me indulge and blame Sarah for sheer overindulgence and accepting her kind offer of ordering a dish or two from the menu’s wok selection.Which is how I came to finish a memorable lunch with dishes of salad of ginger chicken and prawn-based mee goreng.Let’s just say that both were scrumptious and provided a fitting end to a fine repast courtesy of Luke Nguyen, even if he didn’t appear from the kitchen at the end to take plaudits.
So how did a kid rise from being born in a Thai refugee camp to learning how to cook at his parents’ knees in Sydney to becoming Australia’s premier Vietnamese celebrity chef?You’ll just have to find out for yourself.
Details:
Website: https://www.treasurybrisbane.com.au/casino-restaurants/fat-noodle
The Treasury, cnr George and Queen St, Brisbane; phone 07 3306 8888
