Hanna Nassiri | The Bottom Line
Fresh Wok is one of those places only a privileged few seem to know about. Situated on the 6500 block of Trigo, round the corner of Hempwise, its easy to miss, but once people have figured it out, it’s hard not to get obsessed.
When I first moved to IV my roommate and I found our apartment pretty last minute on Craigslist. Our friend checked it out for us she said it looked like a good place except there was this restaurant below that was serving Chinese food and hamburgers. We didn’t think anything of it until we tried it. At first we ate there a couple of times a month but by spring quarter I was definitely eating at least two, sometimes three meals a day there.
Its family run and the cooking is in the same league as those meals you travel all the way home for. Freshly cooked on the spot by the expert Glenn in the kitchen whilst Candace runs the show at the front, they always welcome newcomers and remember the familiar faces who return. The atmosphere is super friendly and a chill break from the student madness, as Candace always has time for a chat and her sons are often hanging out in the restaurant. They almost feel like my surrogate family.
Glenn can make pretty much anything you can think up. Megan, who lives above the Fresh Wok now, is a vegetarian so Glenn added orange tofu to the menu especially for her. I’m a glutton for really spicy foods. A few months ago, while I was there we had a contest going to see if he could cook something so spicy I wouldn’t eat it. It was a pretty sweaty competition. You came close a couple of times Glenn but no cigar.
I love Fresh Wok so much that when I lived above it, my roommate Alex and I would advertise whatever we had just ate the night before by making a sign with scratch paper and a sharpie and taping it up in the window.
At first, living above the wok, we’d hear a lot of people stumble past at 2 in the morning and shout “Fresh Wok?”, more like fresh fuck! We knew people were catching on though when their friends would then say, “You know what dude? That place is actually pretty good.”
I think Glenn puts crack in his food to keep people coming back. That’s pretty much my standard order, spicy Thai chicken over chow mein with an extra sprinkling of crack. Even if crack isn’t your thing, the food is always great. The comic on the wall will tell you, Fresh Wok is super “4/20 friendly” and just the thing to fight off the munchies.
Now that I’m in Australia I’m starting to go into Fresh Wok withdrawal. Seriously Glenn, Candace, mail me some Thai chicken and chow mein extra spicy the way I like it.
The average meal price is $7, open from 7-9pm, Monday through to Saturday. Check out their Facebook page for more information.