Review: Hai Sizzling Wok
Author: WIBIA | Filed under: Food Reviews, Location: Indianapolis, IN
Hai Sizzling Wok
4351 Lafayette Rd
Indianapolis, IN 46254
I am not going to claim that I am an expert on Vietnamese Food or even Asian food in general. My bro recommended that we stop by Sizzling Wok for dinner before we hit the Black Crowes Concert, so I said why not?
This menu is huge, so we had a little of this and that. I took very poor notes and am writing it about a month later, so this might my worst review ever.
First up, my bro recommended the Spring Rolls for $2.50. There was not a lot going on here. I didn’t think that they were any better or worse than you can find at any other competitor.
Next up, Beef Salad for $6. I love the cold beef salad that you get at Thai places. I thought this version was good, but I have had better. There was a ton of ginger in it, but the sauce didn’t do anything for me. My brother liked this though, so I think that it was just personal preference. Btw, what is the fried item on the right, I have no clue?
My bro ordered the Lemongrass Chicken for around $8.00. I had a few bites and liked this quite a bit. It was lightly coated with a little oil and came with a little sauce dish that I have no clue what was in it (obviously carrots). There was a good amount of chicken and just a good dish overall.
I ordered the Spicy Beef Pho around $8. It looks really spicy, but it wasn’t as spicy as Flaming Hot Cheetos. Beef, onions, scallions, cilantro and Vermicelli noodles. I have had a lot of pho lately at places like Sandra’s, Saigon, etc. and I have to say that I thought this was probably my favorite. It doesn’t look that appetizing, but it surely was. My only complaint was that the beef was really fatty and I found cartilage in a few bites. However, the by-product of those funky pieces of beef fat made for one tasty broth.
Would I Buy It Again? Yes, easily. A few hits and misses, but you almost expect that when the restaurant has a huge menu. I liked the entrees a lot and feel as if there are many items on the menu that I have never had. I am looking forward to becoming more familiar with Vietnamese food.
-wibia
Tags: beef salad, Food, lemon grass chicken, sizzling wok, spicy beef pho, spring rolls, vietnamese
Thanks for reviewing… been wanting to try this Viet option…. love the comparison to Flaming Hot Cheetos…. Chester would be proud.
looks like a rice cracker to me…
The fried item on the right is a fried shrimp chip.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krupuk
Thanks Erin/Condimentality… Do people actually like these? Ha….Totally not my thing.
I would count as one of the people whos love shrimp chips. We used to get these from the Asian markets as kids and fry them at home. (We grew up with a very international palate, and our family liked to travel.) We really loved the different colors they came in. As the Wikipedia article already mentioned, they’re also known as prawn crackers in the EU and are really common with Chinese “take-away” and in a lot of grocery stores there. I’m not a huge fan of pho, so I usually order the glazed pork chops at Sizzling Wok (the best I’ve had locally.) If you ever make it up to Chicago on occasion, I tend to like the Vietnamese food there better and would have to agree with many of the rankings in this “Pho Smackdown”: http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/restaurants-bars/71180/pho-888. In general, I would have to list Dong Ky (yes, pronounced like the animal but no burros are harmed in making the food
; as a general rule, I find the crazier sounding the restaurant name to Anglo ears, the better the ethnic food) as one of my “fave cheap lunches.” It’s a little over $4 for a bowl of pho and a little over $5 for a lot of the entrees. The prices are actually like this for dinner too. It’s also known for the bun bo hue, which is well-seasoned. Scroll down the following web page to check out some pics of their good eats: http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=85738
I love the Rice Noodle Combination here. I think it is a tad better at their 71st and Michigan location, which I used to work near. Everyone in the office got addicted to it, and we had it at least twice a month. So good!
I took a photo of it once: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarybiz/433008153/
LOVE shrimp chips. This from someone who grew up in rural Indiana–we would fry them every year at Chinese New Year. Best when they are crunchy–doesn’t take a super long time for them to be stale, so maybe that’s part of it? But I agree that it’s probably an acquired thing.