I Wok

I Wok is a simple takeaway counter with a bain marie out front and a large kitchen out back where owner Johnny and his team also cooks to order from the menu which I consider offers a «kaleidoscope of Asia».
The bain marie is where you will find the popular dishes: there are Aussie crowd pleasers and dishes for home-​sick Occidentals like pork with chilli Sichuan style; honey chicken; vegetarian noodle; Singapore noodle; honey pepper beef; teriyaki fish; fried spicy squid; sweet and sour pork; satay chicken; Thai lemongrass chicken; Thai red curry chicken; teriyaki chicken and Japanese curry (to name a few). You can get one choice for $ 8.50; two choices for $ 9 or three choices for $ 9.50 (and it comes with noodles or rice). For $ 10 you get two choices and a can of drink or water.
But you are not restricted to the items in the bain marie as Johnny and his crew will make anything fresh on order from the back lit menu behind him. He will also create something on the spot that he may not have on the board (but lingering in his head) — his off-​the-​menu Thai-​style spicy sour soup with tomatoes, rice noodles and chicken is excellent (really excellent).
You can order an arrangement of Asian dishes — Malaysian, Singaporean, Chinese, Thai and Japanese influenced. There is Laksa (vegetable, beef, chicken, seafood, prawn or duck) from $ 7.50 (and the soup is true to form — creamy and coconutty with a typical mild laksa curry flavour to it and isn’t short of seafood), noodle soups (such as wonton with additions of barbecue pork or seafood and other varieties), and wok noodles with a choice of noodles and sauces (soy, oyster, teriyaki, sweet chili, satay or Mongolian).
Other dishes include: lemon chicken ($ 9.50); honey prawns; braised eggplants and shredded pork with chilli and garlic sauce; kung po diced chicken with chilli sauce; mopo tofu Sichuan style; sir fried shredded pork with green bean (to name a few) — all $ 8.50. Then there are different versions of fried rice and regional noodle dishes such as Singapore noodle ($ 8.50); stir-​fried beef noodle ($ 8.50); pad Thai ($ 8.50) and an excellent char kway teow ($ 9.50).
There is a small outside area in front of I Wok that you can eat at (plates and cutlery provided) but the majority of sales would be takeaway (and I Wok puts them in decent sized bowls and containers).
I Wok may look like another run-​of-​the-​mill takeaway but ordinary it isn’t. Yes, its takeaway fare but it offers something special among the Chinatown elites — quality and variety without leaving a hole in the pocket.