Secret Recipe Asian Bistro

For an Asian who moved to Dallas, finding good Asian food hasn’t been easy. Good thing I stumbled upon Unilocal review about Malaysian food here otherwise I would never have guessed from the name. Once I got in, I was initially disappointed with the menu on the board that is typically a random mix of Asian food, but then I saw the real menu and was elated to see some classics such as Parata, Sambal kangkung and others. I tried the Lobster with chilli sauce and sea bass with sambal. Both are great, but they seem to tone down the spice. It wasn’t as spicy as it should be. I am sure I could ask for more next time. I also ordered Parata to try. It was also good with the right texture and sauce. Overall, it was original enough that I might return. I might order to go next time as the food took about an hour to prepare (the waiter gave us a warning about it).

This is one of my favorite restaurants. I’ve been here 20+ times at this point. They have a large menu split between generic Chinese food and authentic Malaysian food. Do not get their Chinese food, it is ordinary. Their Malaysian food is where it’s at. Definitely get Curry Laksa and whatever else sounds good to you personally.

What we ordered: Roti Cani. Salted fish fried noodles. Soft shelled crab. Rice cake omelette. Crispy fish in honey vinaigrette. Hainanese roasted chicken.
Everything came out fairly quick and it all tasted good. The only dish I would not order again is the salted fish fried noodles. But everything else was delicious.
Really enjoyed the soft shelled crab dish and it was not expensive at all. The crispy fish came out looking unappetizing and the vinegar smell was quite strong. But it tasted delicious though and very crunchy on the outside and meaty on the inside. I believe the fish was bass?
The Hainanese came with a very tasty ginger fish sauce.
Overall. I really enjoyed this place and would not mind coming back. The menu is EXTENSIVE and comes with a lot of pictures. So that’s pretty nice. Definitely gives you a good visual of the dishes.

We came to the restaurant with high expectations, unfortunately those expectations starting to be crushed by reality.
The place is your average strip mall restaurant. There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem starts with how clean the place was, not the best.
The tables were sticky, the soft drink bar was a mess. The floor was soaked and so was the carpet right below which not knit was kid of gross but also dangerous as it made the floor quite slippery. I went for some lemons/​limes for my water and found that all of them were very old close to bad, that right there started to make me feel uneasy as to the freshness of the ingredients used for the food. More some after finding the great number of dishes they have.
Loved the fact that they had lots of pictures but not necessarily accurate.
In my experience the longer the menu the harder it is to maintain freshness and quality on the food
We got a number of plates, from the traditional to the very non traditional. They all lacked flavor, extremely bland and lacking much of the protein, you could count the shrimp or chicken pieces with one hand.
There are plenty of restaurants that can do a lot better, specially for the price since they tend to be on the expensive side for a restaurant of this kind.
Final verdict:0−10
Ambiance 5
Cleanness: 3
Quantity: 9
Quality of food: 5
Taste: 4
Price: 4
Do I come back/​recommend? NO

I started coming here a couple of years ago after my friend from Shanghai found it and said it was as close to food from home she has had. It’s really tasty and a huge selection

Their menu is like a book. I’m pretty sure I will never ever order everything they offer on their menu.
***Things to get***
–Hainanese Chicken and Rice. Trust me, it’s good. The rice is cooked in chicken broth and chicken lard for god’s sake. This is good and they’re famous for this dish.
–Laksa Noodle Soup
–Singapore Rice noodles
***Things to know***
Counter service.
Seats about 40 people at the most
Online ordering is available.
Daily specials (Tuesdays are Hainanese Chicken days! $ 1 off!!)
You’re welcome!

Good laksa! Stick to the Malaysian dishes! Good crispy chicken! Sauce is amazing and huge portions! Don’t forget to add Sambal sauce to everything you eat! Crispy Sambal fish is good! Very reasonably priced! Order and pay at the counter and then grab ur plates and sauces at the sauce bar! Good durian roti! Pork and tofu dish is good! Crab fried rice is good. Good and fast service! Huge menu selection! You will definitely find something you like! Weekday and lunch specials!

Nice restaurant close to my house. Granted I am not Singaporean not enjoy fusion food. When I think of fusion, I assume the food will lack in quality and authenticity.
This place is great! Especially when I am too lazy to cook. This is one of the better spots for home-​cooked style meals.
The menu offers and wide range and options. However, my favorite has got to be the steamed chicken. Consistent and good all the time. Not to mention the rice has a hint of chicken broth and fish sauce in it. The pair goes well each other. For those who likes durian, there is a durian roti. I liked it but I am not a fan of buttery or greasy items. Roti is similar to a flatbread like naan that has been folded in a fat.
Overall, the times I have eaten here… I have liked it. I would recommend this restaurant without hesitation.

How good was this place? Seriously, this the most negative thing I can say about the place — there are too many items on the menu! :) Lol.
Seriously, went with wife and a biz associate. We each ordered an appy & an entrée to share. Can’t remember the exact names, since I’m old and it was a few days ago, but the scoop — everything was great. Service fast and friendly. This place is a little gem in a nondescript strip mall in the Metroplex. Try it!

I took my family here and both my mom and dad grew up in Malaysia-​they left very pleased. There’s an open kitchen that has that nice smokey aroma from a big flame under a wok. The food itself is very reminiscent of what I’ve had in Malaysia.
Service: 3.
Its half full service, half self serve. You order at the counter, refill your own drinks, get your silverware, but they bring the bill to you. I was about confused by this when I came in the first time.
Food: 4.5
The flavors here are very good match to what you would find in southeast asia. The menu is incredibly large so come here with friends if you want to try more than a few dishes.
Char Kuey Tow:5
I remember eating this stuff in Penang Malaysia when I was 14, this dish took me back. Great texture of the noodles, nice savory flavor with a bit of char from the wok
Hokkien mee: 4
Noodles are nice thick with a good chew, sauce is savory but a touch messy, but I wish the pieces of fried pork were more abundant and crispier

Going to post a picture of fried rice I ordered.
The chefs could be better with their cooking… this is seriously closer to steam rice than fried rice. On top of that the food is rather bland.

Their food is delicious and really does taste like the food back in my new hometown Singapore. I know this because I visited Singapore ONCE and for 3 days.
I recommend not to order any fish or seafood because its all frozen. My fish came out raw on the inside. Wasn’t aware they serve sashimi.

This place is legit. The food is great, and there’s a huge amount of dishes available. We stuck with Malaysian foods, and were extremely pleased. My wife is dying to come back to try the chili crab, but since that’s actually a sort-​of expensive dish, we’re waiting for a semi-​special occasion. But with my wife being from the Philippines, this place is our fix for southeast Asian food.
Disclaimer: the food is a bit oily. It’s true. But that’s home-​cooking in southeast Asia for you. I’d love for it to be less oily, but given how it tastes and what it costs, I don’t really care.

Nice and good selection of Malaysian/​Singaporean food. Good spicy sauce at the side. I am glad that they just open one in Plano area. Is a gospel for those who like spicy Asian food. Black pepper shrimp and some seafood. Curry fish head and stir fried flat noodle with shrimp!

So many great options to choose from and at such affordable prices. We got the (i) crispy chicken which came with a ginger-​ish dipping sauce. Very flavorful, although a very slight tad on the dry side, (ii) mapo tofu with minced pork, and (iii) yu choy with garlic and shrimp, which was a little bland. All in all, satisfying home-​style meal at a good price. What’s even better is that they seem to have weekday specials of their popular dishes that make the prices even lower!
The ambiance is none. Lots of people there while we were so it was extremely loud. Also, a bit strange that you seat yourself, order at the counter and get your own dining ware.

…did we order the wrong thing? I was expecting 4-​stars but after coming in and seeing not one Singaporean-​resembling person behind the counter on a Saturday afternoon I couldn’t help but feel apprehensive.
The milk teas are good, albeit a bit sweet. I recommend.
Everything else… Meh. We got sambal green beans, eggplant, and okra; Assam shrimp; softshell crab with salted egg. The portions sizes came out a few shades smaller than I would have expected for the price, first of all. Then, the veggies, although visually coated in sambal sauce, didn’t really have much flavor.
The Assam shrimp was so sweet and resembled Americanized sweet and sour sauce, which was kind of disappointing. But to be fair, I’ve never had Assam before and I don’t know how authentic it was. The dish wasn’t a standout.
The fried softshell crab was pretty tasty, but too oily and not fried correctly. I appreciate the combination of salted egg and crab — they worked together surprisingly well — but the dish overall wasn’t executed well for the price.
Service was mostly self-​serve and the cashier doubled as our server. She was outgoing and polite.
Tldr I found no secret recipes here at Secret Recipe. Pretty disappointed :(

There aren’t that many places to go for Indo Chinese & Singaporean food around these parts so you can imagine my surprise when I happened upon this hole in the wall one day last year.
I just got back from Europe traveling & soon as I got home I couldn’t get to this place fast enough. They are def cookin up some really yummy stuff in this joint. I been dreaming about their crispy ginger chicken! YUM!
Years ago, I lived over there for a year or so work/​studying & I think this place is pretty authentic.
I have gotten food to go many times but its never quite as mind blowing at home as sitting down & having it there fresh & crispy. So go early or off peak times to try for the first time, its a very small dining area.
There is no bar or table service, just order from the counter, go to the service area, get your drink & condiments & prepare for your mind blowing Indo Chinese & Singaporean experience right here in North Dallas.
Do not pass up the condiments! I call it the wall of HOT! lol You can make any dish as spicy as you want, they leave it up to you. I find this is an excellent concept as most people have a different idea of what spicy means.
Everything I have ordered has been fantastic, after I add my level of hot to it ;)
I especially LOVE LOVE LOVE the crispy ginger chicken, the eggplant with the basil & the pineapple fried rice with pork OH MY GAWD, It’s like my «sex, drugs & Rock n Roll» my Mirepoix, my Ménage a trois. A perfect trio, the Secret Recipe dream team.
The Hainese steamed chicken is also fantastic, the sauce its served with is Amazballs. There is one that is offered with bones & one that is boneless. You def want the one with the bones. I think the boneless has less flavor & is a little dry.
The sambal fried egg is good as an appetizer & so is the crab rangoon. I love the way they make theirs, so light & creamy.
The crispy fish, with the sauce on this side, is also one of my faves along with the softshell crab with egg & basil, both incredible.
If you are in the mood for Singapore Hokkien Mee well, they got it too, & it is worth a drive across town for. They also have Mapo tofu that is to die for. it goes great with the water spinach in sambal sauce for a lite vegetarian meal.
If you are feeling porky & adventurous try the pork knuckle, the beancurd pork ribs ‘YUM’ or the pork belly with the taro. I haven’t found anyone else that serves this. ALL so good they will make your taste buds sing oink oink oink.
In the mood for Curry? They got several. My favorite is the seafood Laksa curry. Spice it up & have it with their fresh made Roti bread or perfectly cooked white rice… omg I got to go now, but Shhhhhhhhhh, don’t tell anybody…
Secret Recipe Asian Bistro is my yummiest secret ;)
Highly Recommend.

I was craving some good ol home cooking food so we came here Saturday night. It was ridiculously busy!!! Tables were all full and everyone was waiting for their orders so we were almost discouraged and about to leave. But, we stayed and ordered a few things. Came back for the soft shell crab, trying out the grilled stingray with sambal, mango chicken and beef with basil. We got lucky with a table and decided to share with this older couple. The restaurant was so generous to give us an order of Roti on the house for sharing tables! :) So that was very nice! Our orders all came in at once, except the soft shell crab, they ran out !!! Ahh so sad but it’s okay because the rest of our food was good. The mango chicken was a lot sweeter and mango-​y than I’ve had at other places, it was not spicy at all like we thought it would be but it was good. Crispy meat and good portion. The basil beef was real spicy and had this interesting flavor but there wasn’t that much meat in the order, it had more veggies than beef so that was a bit disappointing, at least it tasted good. The grilled stingray with sambal was very interesting. It was a lot meatier than I expected, (this was my first experience with stingray and it was good but not my fave) It had a lot of plastic like bones/​cartillaries? so it felt like eating chicken feet coz we had to continually spit out these bones. The taste was a bit fishy, so the lime and sambal helped alot. The meat was kinda stringy as well but this was probably the meatiest out of all our dishes.
Overall, this place hasn’t disappointed. I’ll definitely keep coming back to try more dishes. :)

Have to say, I’ve been here twice and I’m still in love with this place. Also a great spot to take your parents. If you’re up to explore a variety of southeast Asian food, this is the place to be. They provide a full menu with PICTURES included for those who are more of a visual like myself. Decent size restaurant. As you wait to be seated, I like that you can place your order at the register so you’re not rushed when deciding what to select; especially when you’re overwhelmed with their menu.
For a veggie dish, I would recommend the water spinach with beef added in sambal sauce. As for a meat choice, I would suggest the Hainanese roasted chicken. Delish!
They have several drinks and dessert options. Just so many one visit isn’t enough. I would suggest coming back with a good size group so you can try more dishes! Lol.

Hmm… Why haven’t I been here before? Why is this place not closer to me? Is it really this affordable? Why didn’t I get two orders of the steam chicken? Why is this chicken changing my life? All these questions entered my head as I silently tasted I ever thing we ordered: calamari, curry puffs, steam chicken rice and loh ark (steamed duck).
When you walk in you’re handed a huge ass menu with everything imaginable on it. Order at the counter once and then try to find a spot. Came here on a Saturday night and the place was just packed. Had to sit at a dirty table for over 10 mins just to claim a spot. Very much worth the wait, however.
I loved the rice with the steam chicken which was easily the best thing we tasted. And the dipping sauce for the chicken is just out of this world. Yeah, you’ll have that gingery garlic taste lingering in your mouth for about a month afterwards but it’s worth it. The stewed duck looked like it was going to be sweet, but it surprisingly wasn’t and was incredibly tender. I’m going to have to come back again. Curry puffs and calamari were both good, but I think I would like to try the satays next time.
The mango chicken and the pad thai were definitely too sweet and almost tasted like candy to me but my guests seemed to really enjoy it. One even stated that the mango chicken is now his favorite thing. The stewed pork belly with the little black fungus along with the curry chicken was just perfect and I would love order it again even though you could come here every day in a row for several weeks and never get the same thing twice.