Toowoomba’s Kasian fusion restaurant building customer base after opening inside The Nash in CBD

Could this be one of Toowoomba’s best-kept foodie secrets? The owners of a new fusion restaurant is mixing chicken parmis and bao buns and now customers are paying attention.

Kasian Restaurant owners Ken Nguyen and Claire Lim say business is picking up following the reopening of the National Hotel (now called The Nash), which their eatery sits inside.

After spending a decade working in popular restaurants all over southeast Queensland, Ken Nguyen said he had always planned to open an Asian-fusion eatery in Toowoomba.

“I’ve worked in a lot of different restaurants because I wanted to experience different foods and tastes,” he said.

“The thing I learnt from my first chef I worked under is the philosophy that everybody deserves good food at an affordable price.”

Mr Nguyen and his partner Claire Lim are hoping the reopening of the revitalised National Hotel will take his fusion restaurant Kasian to the next level.

The venue, which features a menu of Australian and blended Asian dishes, opened earlier this year inside The Nash as its main restaurant.

After an inauspicious start, the pair say business is picking up following the grand reopening of the Russell St pub in March.

Along with pub classics like the chicken parmigiana and steaks, the menu includes Korean wings and bao buns, Vietnamese salads and even a panang curry.

Kasian Restaurant owners Ken Nguyen and Claire Lim say business is picking up following the reopening of the National Hotel (now called The Nash), which their eatery sits inside. (From left) panang curry, chicken parmigiana and bao buns.

“Because my background is Vietnam, I like southeast Asian food, but when I worked for other restaurants they did Asian fusion, combining Chinese, Japanese, Korean,” he said.

“I went to TAFE to study cookery and I studied the French technique — so I’ve combined Asian food with French techniques.”

Kasian Restaurant owners Ken Nguyen and Claire Lim say business is picking up following the reopening of the National Hotel (now called The Nash), which their eatery sits inside. The deep-fried ice-cream

The couple believe they’re one of the few restaurants in Toowoomba offering deep-fried ice-cream, which is a staple of Vietnamese cuisine.

Ms Lim, who was born in Korea, said the pair were starting to establish themselves in the Toowoomba restaurant circuit.

“We’ve had a lot of good regular and repeat customers – there’s one who comes every week,” she said.

“We get compliments for our bao buns, or Korean chicken wings and panang curry, as well as our Vietnamese beef salad.”

Kasian Restaurant owners Ken Nguyen and Claire Lim say business is picking up following the reopening of the National Hotel (now called The Nash), which their eatery sits inside.

“Australian people come here for the Asian food, and Asian people come here for the pub food,” Mr Nguyen said.

Kasian is open six days a week from Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner, and operates on most major food delivery apps.