Quan Thanh

I’m probably bucking the trend here.
This is a popular place, and you have the option of Vietnamese or Chinese food.
I live down the road, so wandered up to grab some takeaway.
I had been here before a couple times in the past with groups, and the experience was fine, although not terribly memorable.
I ordered my usual chinese takeaway (honey chicken and fried rice). One of the staff offered me a seat to wait, then a couple minutes later I was ordered outside. Have to stand outside, can’t sit inside unless i’m eating in.
Ooookay.
Anyhow, food finally arrived, it was no better than anywhere else, and the rude staff… well, I haven’t been in a hurry to go back.

Best Phở I have had in Brisbane! I got the #2. Had tons of beef and very tasty broth!

Mmm Asian food cravings fulfilled, check !
Quan Thanh was proposed as an idea for a Sunday lunch by a few family members who came here last year and convinced me I’d love it.
Nestled on the outskirts of the main road in west end, Quan Thanh has one of the more prime locations as the parking is a bit more ample than if you were to eat out on the Main Street.
My dad booked a reservation for us 8 adults and we requested a table inside with air conditioning (very necessary today). Inside is quaint and clean. Te décor is pretty basic but not tacky like I’ve found a lot of small Asian restaurants to be.
The coolest part is that there are two side of the restaurant, one is where they cook the Vietnamese food, the other Chinese or Malaysian. That being said, you are seated with two different menus: one a full Vietnamese menu and the other is Chinese/​Malaysian.
The menus were quite extensive and it was great that they offer a pretty large selection of vegetarian dishes which accommodates my vegetarian aunt.
The prices were pretty average, ranging from $ 15 – 20 per plate.
I ordered the beef with basil and chili as shown in my photo, plus Spring rolls to start. The Spring rolls (with meat) were so good! I consider myself to be a spring roll expert and these were definitely one of the better ones.
My main was good as well. I think it was a bit on the mild side which was a little disappointing but still very edible.
Normally as a family, we have tons of leftovers. This time, almost everyone’s plates were practically licked clean. Not one complaint was heard, which is always a great sign, especially not hearing one from my grandma who always says «I don’t eat strange Asian food» but she took her leftovers home.
BYO wine or beer was also a bonus!
With the menus being so large, I plan on making a couple more trips back to try out some other dishes.

Got takeout here a couple weeks ago. The quality was good, but there was nothing truly remarkable about the food. We ordered the kung pao chicken, some sauteed greens, and a beef dish.

Partner and I were looking for a reasonably priced Asian dinner in West End, and Quan Thanh was perfect! The Sizzling Mongolian Lamb comes steaming on a hot plate. But there’s something for all you veggies too…

Having been to my fair share of vietnamese restaurants here in Brisvegas, I am happy to say that this one might just make my top 5 list. It’s a strange little restaurant where another part of it is located a shop away. They didn’t quite get the lease on 3 shopfronts, but they took 1 and 3… with a random shop leasing the inbetween.
Service is fast, they have $ 12.50 lunch specials which include a drink but EFTPOS minimum is $ 15, so if you tack on their quite delicious fish cakes (with a hint of spicyness) on there, you can walk out super satisfied like me for $ 18.50. Not the cheapest, but the food is fresh, hot and dare I say quite tasty.
Will be back.

Another great and affordable Vietnamese place to add to my favs. We had fried wontons for the starter, and two soups. Both rare beef phở soup and bbq pork wonton soup were really tasty and generous. We left really stuffed! Will be back for sure :)

always seated quickly, service is very prompt… the tables outside are casual and the fly in magpies ate friendly. The Phở is tasty, deliscious and very gernerous. The make your own rolls, either chicken suger cane prawn or grilled pork are scrumptious. not licenced but there is a bottle shop 2 doors away… Quan Than always satisfies my cravings

My favourite Vietnamese and my go-​to place for Phở Tai. Their menus (yes, plural! one for Vietnamese and a joint Malaysian and Chinese) are hugeeeee. The friend I regular at this place with and I sit there for nearly 10 minutes every time trying to decide what to get, but I have to admit, we almost always end up getting their phở with an entrée here and there. If you are looking for Malaysian though I would recommend going elsewhere. Not the widest variety for that cuisine.
The service here is always top notch. The waiters are all smiles and will rush to your table with the slightest eye contact. Heaters are on for the winter making outside dining nice and warm too.
Overall, this is one of the greatest places in West End to meet a group of people with your own special wine and beer (BYO!!) have a cheap meal and enjoy the ease of the place. A must dine for anyone in the local area.

Gr8.
Great food, good service, awesome spot to kick back and people watch on a beautiful winter’s afternoon. Comparably Sing Sing is probably cheaper but it’s probably a good idea to give them both a try and pick your favorite :-)

Quan Thanh is kind of a no-​brainer for me and my office crew. It’s cheap, clean, fast, polite, and tasty. I tend to order the same thing when I come here: the DIY Rice Paper Rolls with Chicken. The meat is deliciously peanutty, the veggies are all fresh and plentiful and there is more than enough for even the hungriest of all eaters. My boss recently celebrated her bday here with the office, and the staff were so kind to accommodate our cake service w/​candles. Take note that there is in fact two sets of menus, one Chinese and one Vietnamese, so look over both before committing.

Nothing bad to say about my experience here.
There is air conditioning which is a great thing when eating spicy noodle soup on a thirty something degree day.
Food is cheap and comes in good sized servings.
Staff are friendly.
Highly recommended :-)

Went back to this place for a second time tonight and I thought they deserved a 5 star review. The food is fresh and wholesome. Of good quality. Really delicious I would recommend the BBQ pork rice. And all the laska’s! Service has always been excellent.

If you haven’t been already, definitely put it on your list of cheap eats that you must do. Authentic food at a very good price. They don’t have a licence for alcohol, but with a bottle shop next door, you can easily get past that.
My favourite is definitely the seafood laksa with extra chilli… I like mine hoy and spicy.
Be ready to wait for a table in the evening, but a great place to go for lunch.

Definitely going back. My tasty (and extra spicy) seafood Malaysian laksa soup was flavorful and filling. I really liked the mixed thin and thick yellow noodles with prawns, white fish, fish balls, tofu, and squid. I asked for them to make it extra spicy and they put nice pieces of chili in my bowl. The broth looked like a completely different color than my friend who ordered the same thing.
We ended up sitting on the Chinese and Malaysian side instead of the Vietnamese side since the restaurant set up is a bit interesting. The restaurant is split into two as a liquor shop and massage business are set up between the two. I was wondering why I couldn’t find any Vietnamese items on the menu.
The spring rolls were OK. I can make much better ones. They are filled with tiny pieces of meat and too many glass noodles with mushrooms and carrots. The noodles need to be minimal as the flavor should come from the pork.
They were really nice when we asked to substitute the tom yum seafood for chicken. They were so kind to refill our water as well. Service was great especially for how busy they were. You could see them running from restaurant to restaurant so I am thinking you can order off the other menu. You probably just have to ask.
West End has not disappointed me yet and I already have at least three more places to try.

Quan Thanh is a Vietnamese/​Chinese hybrid restaurant, but I’d be lying if I said I have ever strayed from the Vietnamese side of the menu.
I suppose if I was to sell this restaurant I’d start by talking about how fresh everything tastes and how good for you it all feels. Again I’m talking about the Vietnamese side of things, I dare say the Chinese side of things will leave you feeling the way all Chinese makes you feel (heavy, bloated, full of human sauce… just me?).
Start with the rice paper wraps. Unless you’re making them your meal, SHARE WITH SOMEONE! These bad boys look harmless enough but man do they pack a bunch of food into those tiny wraps. Such good food. Up until tonight pork was my favourite, but tonight I had the chicken ones for the first time and holy oh my god they were good. Marinated chicken with like, chilli and ginger and flavours I can’t think of right now. Enjoy with beer (currently drinking 4 Pines pale ale).
If you’ve opted to share the wraps with a friend, move on to a noodle soup. Everyone loves Phở right? Right? Best phở you guys. Eat the phở. Seriously! Just eat it!!! So fresh with the lemon squeezed in and tons of basil and if you’re game, fresh chillies all up in it. I’m game. So game. The only problem is it’s no good the next day, the noodles get too smooshyand the chilli… I want to say steeps? It get so damn strong. So if you’re going to get phở, make sure you cram as much of the delicious into you that you can.
Quan Thanh is cheap, fresh and so darn delicious. It’s also BYO. All of this means it’s busy every night of the week so if you’re eating in, make sure you book ahead. Anyway A+ would eat again, and do… at least once a fortnight.

Some days I just feel like I was put on this earth to have a belly full of the Combination Beef Phở from Quan Thanh. I feel like that’s all I would ever need to nourish my entire being.
If that’s not a sterling recommendation, I don’t know what is.

If you like Vietnamese food and you live anywhere near West End, it’s a requirement that you show fealty to one restaurant. Quan Thanh is my one. I’ve taken onboard the personal challenge of getting all of the waitresses to smile, which at times feels impossible. Despite the surly nature of some, Quan Thanh is DELICIOUS and well worth the effort. Look past the short, sharp service to the delicious treats awaiting you.
My go-​to meal (again, a loyalty thing) is their vermicelli noodle salad. I’ve sampled other restaurants’ salads and they can’t hold a candle to Quan Thanh’s. It comes with whatever meat you want (go with combination for a sample of a few!) and is a great takeaway option (unlike some of the soups, which come in parts and can get complicated and confusing). However, if you takeaway, you miss out on the homemade lemon iced tea, another tried and true favourite of mine.
Quan Thanh is loud inside (the little deck outside is better), it’s busy, it’s lit with fluoros and the tables are covered in plastic — but the food and the price are so, so worth it. They even let me get away with ordering a takeaway salad up until around 9:15pm, which is brilliant. Quan Thanh, I will be your bannerman. I’ll love you and your vermicelli noodle salad until my dying breath.

Quan Thanh is a great place for cheap, casual, BYO dining. I’ve been there a couple of times now, dining inside and out and the experience has always been good for what you pay, despite Vietnamese not being my favourite cuisine.
The first time I went, I let my boyfriend order. Never again. I ended up with a plate of 3 pork-​filled rice paper rolls, topped with slices of processed pork roll, sprinkled with garlic chips, with a side of salad, sauce and a weird pork-​filled, prawn-​topped muffin. Not my cup of tea.
The second time, however, I ate with friends and ordered a spicy beef noodle soup. It was good and very filling, but I had food envy of my friend’s vermicelli noodle salad with chicken and sauce!
The service there is a bit iffy – don’t always expect a smile, particularly if they’re busy, which they often are. When it’s that cheap though, I’m prepared to cut them some slack on service as they draw large crowds some evenings and it gets pretty hectic.
As I said, Vietnamese isn’t my favourite, but for a cheap, fresh, not-​too-​unhealthy meal, Quan Thanh is a good spot.

I have been something of a regular at West End’s Quan Thanh over the years always enjoying the food, the service and obnoxious green chopsticks. Unfortunately of late The Thanh has had a bit of a fall from grace.
Never much to look at with it’s plastic tables and chairs one could at least expect smiling wait staff and a genial atmosphere. On my last couple of visits I have been treated as more of an inconvenience than a customer and the place has been so packed and noisy the person immediately to my right had to struggle to hear me (a true tragedy believe me). And yet, i continue to go back for the food. The lemon grass beef rice vermicelli salad is always a hit and the sizzling mongolian lamb is well worth a look.
The influx of people is probably due to its ever growing popularity and Quan Thanh might just be in a transitional phase as they adjust to that. But the standards in service and the general dining experience have undoubtedly slipped. I would recommend a lunch time visit when seats will be easier to find and food will be delivered promptly and without fuss. Just don’t expect a smile.