A few years ago, I used to frequent Canely Heights like almost once a month- I'm quite the seasoned grocery shopper so when Holy Basil first opened there I didn't think much of it because Canely Heights is a second Viet Central apart from Cabramatta. It was until I noticed how busy Holy Basil was that I was interested in eating there but back then the only reason why I would be in Canely Heights was to eat Vietnamese food and when they started to make a name for themselves luck wasn't on my side as I barely go to the suburb anymore.
As fate would have it (no destiny at play), grocery shopping took me back to Canely Heights and finally an excuse to eat at Holy Basil. After hearing good feedback from some friends I had high expectations, without a booking I had to wait around 10 minutes for a table for two. Initially I loved how they employed the buzzer system like those in Korean restaurants and pretty Korea itself, because that gets rid of those awkward moments when you're not ready to order or when you need to get a waiters attention but don't want to make a fool of yourself. Now, that sounds good and all except for the fact that when you press the buzzer your table number shows up on a board and when someone else presses after you, your table number appears smaller and obviously the more people simultaneously pressing their respective buzzers... well don't even think about service and even when someone notices that you've pressed your buzzer I'm pretty sure they forget about it the next minute. Out of the five or so occasions that I wanted service, NO ONE CAME TO ME! It was only when I physically talked that I got noticed.
If you're not sure what to pick then a safe option is always the chef's favourites of which consists of the duck salad and roast pork belly featured below.
Roast Duck Salad $16.90
What you see is what you get and that is literally the case for this humble roast duck salad. Whoever said that good things come in small packages obviously lied when it applied to food. For practically $17, a small bowl of duck coriander, onion, cherry tomatoes, bean sprout, carrots, cucumber and plum sauce is a TOTAL RIP OFF. That said, it was quite nice apart from being too salty but still I cannot get over how overpriced the food was.
Seafood Combination Panang Curry $17.90
LOVE IT LOVE LOVE IT
enough said, spicy is good
Roast Pork Belly in Chilli Basil & Garlic Sauce $18.90
Well flavoured, slightly spicy but paired well with the bamboo shoots and capsicum
Holy Basil Fried Ice-cream $13.90
Dessert itself was lovely, it is truly worth being dubbed their signature dessert and is a must order dish if you're at Holy Basil for the first time. The roast coconut on the side is to die for, that's simply how good it is and the phyllo pastry like coating together with the ice-cream and sticky caramel is just sensational. Warning may be too sweet for one person to enjoy and sharing is caring so my advice is not to tackle this one alone.
My only problem was that when I got my spoon it had rice stuck to it and if it weren't for my good eyesight it would've gone unnoticed, I know a wonderful to cap off a night filled with good food but small overpriced portions served with terrible service.
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