Edit Feb 2013: a few people have mentioned to me lately about a decline in this restaurants quality - and I am inclined to agree. I have since been back to this restaurant and while I didn't have to wait long and the food tasted fine, I was left wondering about the hygiene standards and the quality of the food being served. A friend of mine became very ill after eating the soft shell crab here. Sad. But Asian Noodlehouse is up the street!
Name: Streets of Asia
Type: Restaurant and Take-away. Asian. Noodles.
Location: Tuggeranong
Meal: Lunch
Food et: Lemongrass Squid, Deep fried duck with chilli and basil
Cost: My friend paid - but it was roughly $15-20 a dish
To celebrate a friend’s 40th birthday, a friend took us all out for lunch and a “girls afternoon” (massages etc). The birthday gal is a fan of Asian food so we decided to try Streets of Asia in Tuggeranong.
Streets of Asia used to be housed up the back of the Hyperdome, near the Good Guys, but recently moved down to what they call “Southlife”, a row of cafes and restaurants out the front of the Hyperdome along Anketell Street. Since the move, the restaurant has expanded in size and decor. Giant black and white photos of notable Asian stereotypes (rice, an old man wearing a bamboo hat etc) line the walls. The decor is modern and fresh, without being too trendy or pretentious.
I am a Public Servant who works in the Tuggeranong area, and for years I have been hearing how good Streets of Asia is. My allegiance to Asian Noodlehouse, just up the street, had stopped me from trying them before this. Not sure why that is. To be honest, now that I have tried them both - they’re actually quite different.
We decided on three dishes, to try a few different things, and a big serve of rice. One of the girls is a “vegetarian” who only eats seafood, so we got a squid dish, a fish dish (heh) and a duck dish.
The squid was cooked in a chilli and lemongrass sauce, with lots of fresh vegies. Yum! It was one of those sauces that are so delicious; you just want to push everything else on the plate to the side and spoon the sauce in to your mouth. The squid was cooked well and was not too chewy (a pet hate of mine!).
The second dish was fish, which I don’t like, so I can’t comment on how the fish was cooked. The other two seemed to enjoy it though. The sauce was really nice - a sweet chilli, garlic and basil concoction. Perfect drizzled over rice.
However! The bestest dish of the day was the duck. A crispy skinned deep fried plate of heaven. Well cooked duck with a crunchy outside, covered in an ah-mazing chilli and basil sauce, served with a good helping of fresh vegies. The sauce was strong and flavourful, bursting with life. Very moreish. Just brilliant. I was fighting my non-“vegetarian” friend off for this one. After I ate most of the duck, I then proceeded to eat bowl after bowl of rice with the chilli and basil sauce. I was so full by this stage, but I kept on eating!
I was devastated to find out that they don’t do the duck dish as take-away. In fact, most of the non-noodle dishes are eat-in only. This is not so great when I want to grab dinner for myself (being a single gal) on the way home from work. I’m not really a fan of sitting in restaurants by myself, but the duck makes me think it might be worth grabbing my book and heading down for a weekend lunch or weekday dinner by myself.
The service was good, but not exceptional. They're really fast at ordering and then bringing the food out but there are no pleasantries. They don't speak great English, but that always heartens me - because it means you're gonna get authentic food from people who really know how to make it!
Verdict: While I am still a loyal Noodlehouser for Noodles and takeaway, I think Streets of Asia could very easily become a new favourite for sit down dinners with friends before a movie or as somewhere close to just go have a catch up. And, boy! That duck dish is probably one of the best Asian dishes I’ve ever had.
Sadly the standard has dropped dramatically! Dirty dishes left on the table and stacked in the passage way. Am seriously considering reporting this restaurant so bad was the last experience. i wonder if it has changed hands recently. There seems to be a change in the cooking staff as the flavours were no where near what it used to be. SAD.
ReplyDeletewe ate there months ago and it was awesome, found the above comment while looking for opening hours. We decided to go and it was a very bad decision
ReplyDeleteto list a few things
entree - frozen supermarket dim sims and fish cakes that were luke warm and still frozen in the middle when served.
The Mains: one turned up half an hour after the entree and the second close to 40min after that.
We had to ask twice for our drinks that we ordered to be bought out,
There was about 10 crates of dirty dishes stacked up right next to the kitchen, they also had no cutlery available so they gave me 2 teaspoons to eat with.
they they tried to charge double for the meal that took over an hour to arrive.
They quality has gone to the absolute dogs, I will never eat there again under the current owners and wouldn't even score the place out of 10
I have to respectfully disagree with the adverse comments here.
DeleteI have been eating at this Thai restaurant for the last 16 to 17 years, way before it assumes the name of Streets of Asia (perhaps forced onto the restaurant owners when the Complex Corporation started to renovate the original restaurant and other neighbouring units - originally the restaurant, unnamed or with an obscure unremembered name but definitely not S of A, was next to a vege-fruit market).
While I wouldn't claim for its owners (still the same middle-age couple of Thai origin) extraordinary credits except for a few dishes, the food is still good, the service generally fast (never longer than 20 minutes when crowded) and courteous, bearing in mind the serving staff changes from time to time. But my mates and I have never ever experienced nor heard of any case of the restaurant "charging double" - prices are listed in black & white on the menu.
When judged against my 17 years of eating at this still popular, in fact very popular restaurant especially during weekday lunches and weekend nights, I found the comment to which I am responding really way over the top, in fact a wee on the hostile side. Sorry but that's my take.