brisbane blogger Archives - Wander Wonder Wonton

I LOVE Vietnamese. I’m a pho addict, so no surprises that when I found out Than Nuong Vietnamese restaurant opened up in Woolloongabba right by my work, I quickly locked in a lunch date with my colleagues to check it out.

You can smell the restaurant before you get there, the beautiful charcoal smell wafts around. Than Nuong translates to ‘Charcoal’. There’s a great outdoor area which will be perfect with a beer in Summer for lunch too.

We shared the prawn rice paper rolls and soft shall crab to begin. Both were fantastic. The soft shell crab was complimented by the fresh herbs and vegetables and the rice paper rolls were classic Viet-goodness.

I had food envy over my colleague’s dish, the prawn and papaya salad. It looked phenomenal and she said it tasted amazing. My other colleague loved her chilli, coriander pork pork salad, it looked really fresh.

No surprises for what I ordered, the pho! I love pho! I had the medium size and it was still very generous, particularly with the fresh ingredients to put on top and there was a generous serving of meat too. The broth was lovley, a few hints of spices that were subtly different. The noodles weren’t what I expected, still rice noodles but thick ones. I asked if it was a regional thing but the owner said it was just a preference of his. I quickly forgot about that and it was devoured it!

I’d like to go in for dinner and try something that really showcases the charcoal flavour on the meat, it smells supreme!

While this dining experience was complimentary, this review is true and authentic.

Ten months ago I visited Junk Asian in South Bank and was really disappointed. I thought I would give them another try in the hope they have improved. Unfortunately, I had a similar experience again.

I will start with the good stuff! Soft shell crab bao was excellent! The bao was soft and heavy, the crab crispy. The masaman curry wasn’t bad.

We actually chose Junk Asian because we wanted to have a drink with our meal, low and behold, they had lost their liquor licence.

Okay now for the rest. The dumplings (usually my favourite part of a meal) were soft and mushy like they had been steamed from frozen. The roti to accompany the curry was a weird texture and very oily. It was partly crispy and then heavy with oil. It should be soft and lightly doughy when made fresh. The pork belly was deep fried and very oily, crispy on the outside and then just averagely cooked inside. The spring rolls were mushy inside but at least the sauce was nice.

I don’t particularly like writing reviews that aren’t nice, however you can’t always just share the good ones and I stand by providing authentic reviews. There’s many other places to dine cheaply on Asian food in Brisbane that is fantastic, I suggest going to one of them.