Spicy Aroma - CANLEY HEIGHTS

Upon my recent disappointment in the longest running Lao restaurant in Fairfield, we decided to try this place as it has been opened for a few years now. I use to drive pass this place on a regular basis, but have always dismissed going to it because there was only one place that I would go to for Laos. The staff here are as friendly as it gets in any of the restaurants in Canley Heights, I was actually shocked to find that ox tongue was $19 when looking at the menu. It’s like they think they’re the only ones who sell ox tongue in the area. Or maybe their ox tongue is so good they could justify the 19 dollar charge. Either way we didn’t get it, it was too much of a gamble for a first time in a restaurant that none of the locals rave about. The first test to any Lao restaurant has to be the papaya salad, Lao style of course! Also got duck eggs, shrimp fried rice and tiger tears (marinated bbq pork). Not that I’m complaining, but they charge $2 for a pot of tea. This must be the only restaurant on Canley Vale Road that charges for standard jasmine tea.After ordering I needed to pee, so I asked if they had a toilet, I got a short tour of the kitchen as I had to walk through it to get to the back outside the restaurant to where the toilet was. I was glad to see that the kitchen looked pretty decent, it wasn’t smelly or super old looking. I also got to see my duck eggs being freshly cooked in boiling water on one of the woks as I walked passed.The papaya salad came out first, it looked great, but the papaya was shredded way too thickly. It didn’t soak all the juices and burst with sweet, salty and sour flavours when chewing it in your mouth like a normal papaya salad should. The fried rice came next, it was a generous serving and tasted ok. Not great, just ok, quite ordinarily just ok. The duck eggs came out after the rice, which was a bit annoying, as duck eggs should come out first so you can eat it and get rid of the shells before the main stuff comes out. And then finally the tiger tears which was rather disappointing. Tiger tears are suppose to have a layer of fat that is seared to give it a nice crisp and almost crunch like texture. This one did not have any fat as well as being over cooked, it was very chewy and the fish sauce that comes with it wasn’t very good either. Lucky we didn’t order the ox tongue and saved ourselves the heartache of a $19 let down. So now we know why none of the locals rave about this place! And now the search for a good Lao restaurant will continue!

Very Nice interior design, reminds me of some places in Thailand, friendly staff. Food is great but pricey. I quite enjoyed The experience,

My friends and I loved this restaurant when we went there like one year ago. After we've gone back a few more times, the taste changed, and not so authentic anymore. It's trying to be more like sweet Thai food than flavourful Laos food. Maybe cause the new owners are Chinese with the previous owners working with them, not sure. Customer service was very good, and didn't have to wait long for our drinks, etc.

Holy goat curry! Holy fish biryani! Holy garlic naan! Some Indian restaurants are not created equal, and this is one of those restaurants.

Enjoyed another faultless dinner here last Thursday evening To the wait staff and the chef, thank you.