Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Woks Box

Woks Box
Festival Towers, Cnr of Albert and Charlotte Street, Brisbane



One afternoon, I was decidedly too tired to make dinner so we looked for somewhere fast and cheap to eat in the city.

Woks Box is one of those fast Asian food concept stores - like Noodle Box where you pick a menu item and they quickly wok fry the ingredients (most are precooked) before dishing your meal into a plastic take-away box.


When we went in, the place seemed to be occupied purely by people who knew the owners/staff and they were all chatting among themselves so I felt a bit intimidated.


There's a reasonable variety of meal boxes to choose from - noodles, rice plus some soupy options like laksa etc. Each meal comes in 2 sizes and are very affordable.


We picked a noodle and a rice dish and as expected, the food was ready really quickly. Even as we were ordering, a kitchen staff was loading up the necessary ingredients into a bowl to get stir fried. Imagine Sumo Salad but hot and with an Asian Influence.

The staff were polite but it felt too much of a family and friends affair for me to feel comfortable eating there so we took our food to Myer Center. The boxes tend to keep your meals warm for some time because they provide a bit of insulation. Be warned though - I once ordered a noodle dish from Noodle Box and it leaked everywhere. Not sure if I read somewhere that they claimed their boxes were waterproof or I just stupidly (and incorrectly) assumed so but make sure you don't do the same.

Bankok rice

My Bankok rice had a lot of shredded coconut, which added an interesting texture. It tasted 'good' without being at all exceptional. The kind of thing you could probably make at home if you had the ingredients and some store-bought flavoring sauce.

Red curry noodles

The same applied to the red curry noodles. Charlie even said he expected it to be just curry sauce with noodles and some other things thrown in. That's pretty much what it tasted like but that's not to say it's a bad thing for a basic everyday meal.

Taste-wise, you'll be satisfied with the food as long as you don't have really high expectations. Keeping in mind that a small box from Woks Box tends to be under $8 (and I find it very filling), it's unreasonable to compare with restaurant quality food. However, some Asian eateries also offer really cheap meals for under $10 (e.g. in Elizabeth St. Arcade) and I would say that the standard of food there is a bit better.

Woks Box is an option for food on the go or to take home. Otherwise, if I had a bit more time I would choose a more authentic eatery.

7 comments:

  1. I got Woks Box today for the first time in about 6 months & it used to be really good but seems to have gone way down hill! The service was extremely slow & the flavour from my normal dish has completely changed! I got a large box of Bangkok rice & there is only about 5 or 6 tiny little pieces of chicken (& by tiny I mean way smaller than a 5c piece!), there are supposed to be cashews, but there are none & the whole dish is supposed to have a coconut flavour & include shredded coconut but it doesn't at all! The box is 97% rice & the other 3% tastes really ordinary anyway. I would NOT recommend, I'm unimpressed & WON’T be back!

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  2. Hi Kelly...

    That sounds shocking! Guess I'll be steering clear too.

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  3. Just ate here - had a chicken pad thai and my friend had a sweet chilli chicken and both were horrendous. Hardly any chicken, greasy, bland in flavour. It was peak hour luncm time and besides us only 2 others came in. NEVER AGAIN! It is still repeating on me. The noodles fell apart and it had crab in it, which was not even stated on the menu.

    Gross!!

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  4. Thanks for the review..
    Was thinking to get the deal from living social to have dinner here, but now I don't think it's a good idea!!! PS: the deal was not cheap anyway

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  5. Hi Share...

    I'm starting to get a bad vibe from those deal websites anyway. I used to love them but have had several bad experiences now (difficult to redeem, not getting everything promised etc)

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  6. Been there for the first time in 6 months, because the last time i went was absoutely TERRIBLE!Only went there on Saturday night because everywhere else was closed (12:30am). I was pleasantly surprised when i went in as it was under new management, not to mention that it was busy even during those odd hours. There were much more to choose from the menu and i ended getting myself some dishes that are normally only available in 'Asian customer based' places. This place has definitely surprised me from the amount of customers they had while i was there, the new and improved menu and the quality of their dishes. I would recommend old customers to give them another try as i can guarantee, that you'll be as pleasantly surprised as i was.

    Well done to the new owners of Woks box, will definitely see you guys again!

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  7. Went to WOKS BOX recently and it was a Horrible experience.. the staff were rude and agrressive, there was a 30 min waiting time for food even thought there was only two tables in the place and when the food arrived it tasted like it had been warmed up from the night before. I have been sufferring from a poorly tummy ever since..... DONT BOTHER

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