[Brisbane] Kim Thanh on Hardgrave Rd, Westend

Kim Thanh
Address: 93 Hardgrave Road West End Q 4101
Phone: 07 3844 4954

Opening Days: Monday to Sunday Public Holidays (Fr. R:5:30pm)

Web: http://www.kimthanhrestaurant.com.au/kimthanh/default.htm

I can't believe its taken me this long to write about Kim Thanh.

They have been operating for 20 years, obviously got a winning recipe in hand.

Located at the far end of the complex, it's hard for me to go past Trang's aromatic herbal duck noodle soup.

Been to Quan Thanh probably twice, not really impressed.

We walked up to Kim Thanh eons ago saw the huge dark dining room with little patrons. That really put us off considering we went past very busy Trang and Quan Thanh. We had no clue of Brisbane dining scene then.

Its not until I saw Gastronomy Gal's post on Kim Thanh that made me decided to give it a go.

GG did a fantastic write-up detailing the restaurant's history, personnel and their approach to food. It certainly sparked my interest.

On the day we went, for lunch, there was only one server (probably the owner himself) manning the entire huge dining room. Fortunately, there were only four tables of us. Still, he was running around the place like a headless chicken ALL the time.

Above is grilled pork vermicelli salad. The grilled pork is delicious and nicely marinated but a tad less than lukewarm. I understand restaurant wanting to part cook some food ahead but they just need to make sure they reheat thoroughly. I would have sent this back if the pork was tough.

We ordered grilled pork vermicelli but came grilled beef version. It was sent back and promptly replaced by the pork version. I must say the beef version looked and smell incredible! You can see from the picture the beef was still pink, I bet it was perfectly cooked. But alas, we don't eat beef. Pass.

Duck noodle soup

I half expected the duck noodle soup to look similar to Trang's but instead came a bowl of clear soup with some roast duck pieces drowned in a sea of chives and green onions. I was disappointed, who wants to eat roast duck simmered to death in soup :-(.

I needn't have to worry about putting bland muscle pieces into my mouth. One sip of the soup and I am in duck heaven! The soup was clearly made from lots of duck bones, probably from unsold duck from previous day but boy did it pack a punch. The duck pieces was moist and still flavourful but I hated the chives though. It would have been just fine with some green onion toppings and lettuce leaves.

Salt and pepper calamari

The serving was huge, calamari was tender but batter was a let down, its was soft and soggy.

Springroll was tasty, again not heated through. But its ok as there is no taste of it being previously frozen stuff. If they heat them further, they would have been burnt.

Ecclectic cafe on the Hardgrave stretch.

It would be a toss between Trang and Kim Thanh if we go to Hardgrave Rd from now on, no longer being a no-brainer on Trang.