One of my early memories as a kid that really made me appreciate Vietnamese food was the time my family and I took our first road trip to Queensland. On the way there was nothing to eat except fast food and other Western foods such as fish and chips, pizza and burgers. At first I thought this was awesome but a few days in, I finally began to crave something I thought I was never going to miss... the homely and comforting taste of the Vietnamese food I had been raised on.
To my salvation was our first stop in Queensland, the Vietnamese-dominated suburb of Inala. In no way does Inala even come close to rivalling Cabramatta or Bankstown back in Sydney but it truly felt familiar and comfortable. Tan Thanh, a Vietnamese restaurant in Inala was recommended to us by a family friend and we have since always made it a pit stop for dinner during our Queensland road trips.
The restaurant is always clean, spacious and airconned making it perfect to have a relaxing meal in the summer heat.
The drinks bar.
The menu has lots of choices written in Vietnamese, English and even Chinese. The prices are quite reasonable, and similar with Sydney. Dare I say, they might even be slightly cheaper.
Che Sam Bo Luong
My dad orders for me this cold and refreshing drink called: chè Sâm Bổ Lượng. All my Chinese and Vietnamese readers must surely know that this drink here is! It is a cold and sweet soup consisting of interesting ingredients such as seaweed, lotus seeds, longans, pearl barley, white fungus and jujubes.
Combination Broken Rice $8.50
Also known as Com Tam, this dish was really delicious! The grilled pork chop was smokey and tender and the plate was abundant with broken rice, fried egg, pickled vegetables, fresh cucumbers, shredded pork skin and pork cake.
Pho Tai Bo Vien (Beef Noodle Soup with Beef Balls) $9.50
I'm not a huge fan of the coriander and green onion mixture that is usually generously sprinkled on top of a bowl of Pho. I usually order my pho without the greens so I was really shocked to see this bowl come out for my mom who didn't make the request and actually likes those greens. In fact... that's quite a stingy amount don't you think? Anyway the bowl of Pho is really warm and satisfying with a great portion of meat and noodles, but it's in my opinion that the quality of the pho isn't as good as it was a few years ago. It's likely still the best Pho in the area though!
Hu Tieu Nam Vang (Phnom Penh style rice noodles) $8.50
I love a good bowl of Hu Tieu Nam Vang because of the delicious clear broth and chewy clear rice noodles and I love this! The pork in this bowl is very dry so I don't like that but theres lots of juicy prawns which I really enjoy. My parents tried this and said it was so-so but I really thought this was a great choice!
Hope you guys enjoyed the read! Let me know if you've been to Tan Thanh as well or have a similar experience as I would love to hear all about it :) xx
TL;DR:
Price: Affordable, can eat for under $10
Quality: Good
Service: Decent
Ambience: Clean and spacious, comfortable
Tan Thanh
16/57 Corsair Ave,
Inala QLD 4077
Open 7 days a week
8AM - 8PM
