Charlies Five Malay and Chinese Cafe

I walked past this Café on my way back to the hotel. What attracts me was the Chinese writing of Malay dishes. So I decided to try their Malay Ayam Laska Noodle for € 8.50. The service was fast and friendly. The Noodle was very good. I will visit this place again to try the Malay Prawn Noodle.
I chatted with the server and they came from Malaysia Ipoh.

I like Charlies. I have been to most of them. This was my first time at this one and it was mediocre. My friend who lives down the street says the place is always empty and even he avoids it and heads to the ones in the other parts of town. The staff are nice, the service is actually better than the others since there is rarely a queue here, and the location you would think would be great being across from so many late bars, but I dunno, the chow mein I got here was very bland and EXTREMELY oily, like I had to drain it before I attempted to eat it and a disturbing amount of oil poured out of the tray which kinda turned me off to the place. Same goes for the fried starters I had, they were also very oily. Dunno if thats the issue others have, but its what makes me think twice about returning to this specific location.

Probably the worst of the Charlies.
I had my usual chicken balls, chips and curry sauce here recently and it was mediocre in comparison to 2, 3 and 4.
But still, to be able to get filthy durrrrty Chinese food after you fall out of the pub on Wexford Street at 3am on a weekend is pretty amazing. They just need to step it up a little.
I have never been to a Charlies sober however. I must try that sometime.

This place is just fine! € 6.50 for 2 courses and I had lowered my expectations for this place. But I was surprised at how nice it was, the sweet and sour chicken tasted fresh and crispy but not the standard greasy taste of a normal chinese.
The rice was grand, again not the mouthful of grease feeling and a nice amount of it. Food was piping hot but wasn’t so hot it couldn’t be eaten, just enough to inspire confidence that you weren’t going to be spending the evening with food poisoning.
I ordered a spring roll and was handed this behemoth of a spring roll decent filling and crispiness. Girl at the counter was nice, bought my food down to me. I also loved the chilled out feeling there.
For € 6.50 you can’t go wrong, big portions, great staff and chilled out atmosphere along with great taste.

Class feed, let’s face it no one comes here sober. But when I’ve had a skin full it’s the only place to go. Its never gonna get a Michelin star but I believe this establishment has saved more people from the hangover from hell with the use of curry powder salt and a little MSG

The the food arrived at my table super quick.
The Sweet and Sour chicken was fine, it was bog standard chinese fare.
The fried rice was not great though, very dry.
They do provide glasses of water on the counter, ready to grab.
I like the décor, tables and chairs. It was super clean too