madam woo

now this is tough! i use to say this was hands down my favorite place in town and it's fair to say i visited weekly without a doubt. however over the last few months i have been a busy wee bee in and out of town and depriving myself of what i openly raved about. today i can agree with the disappointment others have shared with me. food... hmm i eat the same thing every time and so does my very dear friend. my hawker was pretty much on the average side of life today usually full of great punchy flavors ?porkbelly salad well please please please change it back to how it use to be change the dressing chsnge theporkchange the cabbage and the presentation.. staff.... don't usually hear great things so i take it i've always struck gold there but not so flash today. aghhhh i was so excited to finally get back to woos but today really saddened me!

we went here for dinner. we ordered the tiger prawn and water chestnut dumplings, honey and soy squid, steamedporkribs, market fish, rice and roti canai (at the suggestion of the waitress). the only things we liked were the dumplings and the roti canai. the dumplings were delicious. unfortunately the rest of the dishes were very disappointing, the flavours were very unappealing (however my nine year old loved all the food). we found out a few days later from a local is that the problem is that the food we ordered was mainly from the center of the menu - common knowledge apparently that these are not good. big tip apparently is to only order from the left hand side of the menu....

full house on the night we visited...staff very helpful wth menu choices.. started wthporkdumplings nd deep fried cauliflower.. both very tasty. followed wth the malaysia chicken slaw which was the standout dish for us. delicate balance of sambal nd heat wth crispy chicken pieces...thoroughly enjoyed our time at madam woo... will try their takapuna restaurant when we are back in town!!

despite having been to the madam woo that was located in christchurch, a recent victim of either covid or the relocation of foot traffic to the newer terrace area, and enjoyed the food - my selection in queenstown left me thirsty!

the queenstown restaurant isn’t huge and space is tight, but not so much so as to make you feel claustrophobic. 80s hits envelop the room, which seems slightly out of kilter with the food style, but the number of people quietly singing along to tiffany and fleetwood mac indicates that few people care about this cultural incompatibility.

considering we are still very much in a post-covid phase with borders closed, it was very busy. in fact the whole of queenstown seemed busy - maybe not pre-covid busy but a lot of nzers about for the school holidays. very different from when we lived down this way and barely struck another nz family anywhere.

anyway, the food. i have particular dietary requirements these days which are often hard to fulfil, and i don’t expect restaurants to be able to cater to my reduced carb needs - so i look for what i can get away with. not much on this menu other than theporkbelly with asian greens and oyster sauce.

i knew to expect a saltier than average dish due to the oyster sauce but i wasn’t really prepared for just how salty it actually was. i’m not averse to salt either - i’m not afraid to use it on even salads. this was too much for me though and the reduced carb requirement meant i couldn’t offset it with rice even a little bit.

was so salty i didn’t finish it and couldn’t - my wife happily grabbed theporkand had it with her rice so it just looked like i ate it.

the service was great, staff attentive and i enjoyed the flashback musical soundtrack we were exposed to but the main dish was a significant let down i’m afraid.

madam woo was one of the fun highlights of our dining experiences in queenstown. reservation is almost certainly necessary as it is packed all the time. we spend a lot of time in penang, malaysia and know the standard of food there and madam woo as an eclectic interpretation of malaysian food is a real winner. we had the calamari, the ayam percik with prata starter, the cracklingporkstir fry and fried noodles. all were great. they had many wines by the glass and the location is one of the best in queenstown. the service was great in all regards with special mention to katie in the upstairs bar, alex the server and kacie the hostess. a lot of fun with great food in the heart of queenstown, well worth a visit in our opinion.

loved the food with a hawker roll as a highlight. great flavor in theporkbelly dish and enjoyed the coconut rice to go with it. decent sizes to order as sharing plates, would highly recommend.

thanks to a friend’s recommendation, we try out madam woo tonight. after a late lunch, we all feel like a late dinner which means we rock up at around 8:30pm. the place is almost full, but it doesn’t take long for our friendly scottish host to clear a table and get us seated. the menu looks really inviting and it’s difficult to choose, so in the end we opt for three entrees that include the prawn dumplings ($11), mushroom spring rolls($9), and chicken satay($14). the flavours and textures are intense, and superb!! we can’t decide which is best, but it’s a toss up between the spring rolls and the dumplings. for mains, we go for theporkbelly stir fry ($19), honey soy squid ($18), and char kway teow ($24). we split 2 x bowls of rice($6) and 2 x roti canai($10) between us. we’re also given a complimentary side dish of stir fried vege that are really delicious. again, the flavours of the dishes are perfectly rich, with just enough spice, and great textures thanks to cashew nuts, fresh sprouts etc. the service from the lovely girls on tonight is friendly and attentive, with plenty of good advice being offered over the menu options. the decor is cool, with large pictures, photos, and woven bamboo light shades. would definitely head back here in a heartbeat! well done team!

food was great - i highly recommend getting theporkbelly, honey & soy squid and i personally enjoyed the blushing dragon drink. however service was terrible when we had our dinner - there seemed to be more than enough waiters & waitresses to cater all customers but somehow it took very long for us just to request some refills for our water. our food also took very long to come out. the restaurant was fully booked that night and i almost let it go but then i saw some of the waitresses constantly chatting with some customers, completely disregarding our presence. it is very unfortunate because we could have had a positive experience with the food but the service definitely needs improvement.

high expectations for madam woo and very disappointed. front of house team are lovely & the venue busy. food however, wasn’t authentic... the beef rendang lacked any flavour, spice & looked like an irish stew. the stir fryporkhad nice vegetables, with hardly anything that resembled an asian green...theporkdry & over cooked. when asked how was the meal? i was embarrassed to say ‘bland’ & was told the executive chefs were visiting malaysia soon - a big learning curve on how to prepare asian food.

had spring rolls stuffed with shiitake mushroom, stickyporkhawker roll, soy sesame eggplant hawker roll, kum heong style soft shell crab, roti canai, malaysian dahl
crab was average. didn’t like spring roll. loved everything else. atmosphere was good too

very high quality food. well thought out dishes. service was not that great but the food made up for it. try theporkand prawn dumplings or the pulledporkroll... they were really amazing.

great little spot! food was tasty! awesome vibe! they are known for their hawker style rolls apparently which were yum! we had the eggplant one. we had the special dumplings of prawnporkand corn also yum and fresh! the chicken salad was nice too and the lamb and chicken satay was great! very reasonably priced! would return again when we have a bigger appetite for sure! great service! thanks guys!

really nice service. had our first day dinner in queenstown and definitely worth it. we orderedporkhawker, soft shell crab and fish curry. all were a little salty but still fantastic. highly recommend the hawker and 'ping pong' cocktail . most importantly, sitting outside to enjoy the beautiful views.

very good and a must try if you like tasty asian flavours! the tiger prawn & chestnut dumpling andporkprawn chinese mushroom sui mai for starters were good though we liked the former much better.

the percik chicken toasted coconut was just super! very nice flavours. te coconut and cilantro combination is perfect! this is for sharing.

capped it off with a very tasty beef rendang ( chicken option also available ). mix the rice with all its ingredients then we added the beef to the mix! perfect perfect! you might need to order an extra cup of rice, the meat is that tasty!

hawker rolls - it's all about the hawker rolls people! i can't stress this enough! we had the pulledpork(so delicious it disappeared before i could try it!) and the chicken & coconut which had a lip tingling chilli kick. the beautiful roti casing was mind-bogglingly oily, dense & flaky all at once. wished we went back just for the hawker rolls another time.

as it was, they were just the precursor to an epic feed....the asian veggies were great and had a variety of stuff in them.porkbelly was juicy and everything you'd expect, with a smick crunchyporkfloss. mushroom spring rolls were also a delicious flavour surprise.porkribs were the tiniest we'd ever seen but tasty enough (an expert might suggest they'd stuck to the pan a bit). overall i loved it but after those bloody awesome hawker rolls, husbandio thought the food lacked something he couldn't quite put his finger on. more hawker rolls probably. 😋 if rating was based purely on dem rolls, it'd be a 5 out of 5.