Fat Noodle @ the Treasury Casino, Brisbane

I first heard of Luke Nguyen when I came back to Australia back in 2011 and I had a friend who taped every episode of his Luke Nguyen's Vietnam - where he traveled, eat, drink, cook his way around Vietnam.  I loved his show and I love vietnamese food where the ingredients are always consisting of fresh herbs.

So, coming back to Brisbane this month, when my parents suggested we should give his new restaurant, Fat Noodle a try, I jumped at the chance.  Dad was raving about the celebrity chef while mum was less than impressed where she continuously compared his food to those you could get from Inala or Darra (cheap viet eats in Brisbane!)

Located in the Treasury Casino, this of course spelled out fine dining.  Walking into their restaurant, you will notice that all the staff are asian.  Not one single white person working either at the bar or the floor...  Interesting enough, most of the customers were caucasian ;)

As we were there during lunch time, the whole place was buzzing with people and there were no space for us at the proper dining area.  We were then led to the end side, close to their bar, where we had to perch on the high chairs.  I'm OK with it, but not so much for my dad as he was complaining about sore back and how the chair is not very comfortable.

Loving the very oriental feel to the place...  We sat just opposite the bar and I love the shadows cast by the bottles and lions displays just above the bar..

After being led to our high chairs, we were then offered complimentary green tea.  I love the heavy cast pot and how fragrant the tea was ( you will not get this kind of service in either Inala or Darra!!).  There's also a couple of chilli condiments in the middle where you could just help yourself

Our placemat/menu.  The left side consist of food and the right drinks.  The prices were pretty reasonable for fine dining experience..  Entree prices start from $9 - $16 (the sizes looked pretty reasonable.. I peeked at my neighbour's dishes), mains were $15 - $19.  There's a small selection of noodle soup, rice and stir fries..  

Dad being vegetarian had to stick with the Stir Fried Shanghai Noodles $16 (the only vegetarian dish) which consist of pumpkin, shitake mushroom and asian greens (I think this was the dish my mum was least impressed with saying there's not much ingredient in it).  Dad was pretty happy with it, declaring it's tasty albeit slightly oily

with dad's suggestion, who kept insisting I choose the signature dish - Fat Pho Noodles - his signature beef broth, thinly sliced Sir Loin & Brisket, thin rice noodle with a side of fresh bean sprouts and a tiny sprig of thai basil.  You just dump all the bean sprout and pinch the basil leaves into your bowl and then squeeze the lemon juice into it.

I have to say my pho was quite generous, the broth was ... ok... (they are a lot more flavoursome at most of the proper vietnamese eateries.. probably more MSG there though ;) ).  The rice noodles were chopped into too fine short pieces and I could have just used my spoon to eat, which was a disappointment to me, as being a typical asian, I love to slurrrrp my noodles with my chopsticks..

Overall a pretty good experience.  Dad's dish came out pretty quickly, but mine took slightly longer, which was surprising, as usually soup noodles are a lot quicker to prepare compared to stir fry...

I wouldn't mind returning here as I saw a few dishes that caught my eye (e.g. Grilled Pork Neck Skewer and Chicken and Abalone congee.. ) yum yum..