{"id":104250,"date":"2025-12-29T23:24:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T23:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/104250\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T23:24:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T23:24:09","slug":"brya-zan-brings-handcrafted-noodles-wok-fired-flavors-to-plano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/104250\/","title":{"rendered":"Brya Zan brings handcrafted noodles, wok-fired flavors to Plano"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brya Zan Thai Noodle + Brew was born out of the desire for Malai Kitchen owners to create a more casual version of their DFW concept.<\/p>\n

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Rice flour, tapioca starch and salt are whisked together. Water is gradually added in. A little bit of oil. The mixture is steamed in \u00bc cup intervals in a wok. Everyone has their own measurements and techniques, but it\u2019s universally agreed upon that preparing rice noodles is a delicate process. <\/p>\n

Yet, fast casual Thai eatery Brya Zan Thai Noodle & Brew<\/a> makes all its noodles from scratch, following in the footsteps of their primary restaurant, Malai Kitchen, whose menu and restaurant inspired its owners to create<\/a> Brya Zan. Owners Braden and Yasmin Wages spent over a year perfecting the recipe (even traveling to Vietnam to refine it).<\/p>\n

And the Southeast Asian inspiration isn\u2019t a theme or aesthetic \u2014 the region plays a central part in the Wages\u2019 lives. They travel there regularly, even now with children. <\/p>\n

\u201cThailand blew my mind,\u201d Braden says. \u201cThe culture, the food, everything. I tell everyone to go. It\u2019s the best place to visit.\u201d <\/p>\n

In fact, after three years with the company, the Wages send their employees on an expenses-paid trip to Thailand or Vietnam.<\/p>\n

\"BryaPhotography by KathyTran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they come back and say, \u2018Wow, the pad thai really does taste like Thailand,\u2019 that\u2019s the best compliment,\u201d Yasmin says. <\/p>\n

\u201cRice noodles are way harder to make than Italian pasta because there\u2019s no gluten,\u201d Braden says. \u201cNo one else in Dallas makes their own fresh rice noodles. It\u2019s a labor of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noodle dishes are the star of the menu, including pad thai, glass noodles (pad woo sen), broccoli noodles (pad see ew), tiger noodles and fan-favorite drunken noodles (pad kee mow).<\/p>\n

\u201c[Drunken noodles are] just a great introduction,\u201d Braden says. \u201cThe wok hei, the handmade noodles, the basil we get directly from a farm in Hawaii \u2026 it really represents what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The menu brings in some of Malai Kitchen\u2019s favorites \u2014 noodles, curries, stir-fry, fried rice, salads and desserts. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t sacrificed quality,\u201d Braden says. \u201cEverything is the same as what we serve at Malai. The only real difference is portion size and switching from beef tenderloin to sirloin, because we can\u2019t serve tenderloin at an $11 price point.\u201d<\/p>\n

West Plano is a fast-moving area, and the Wageses chose it deliberately. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are busy,\u201d Yasmin says. \u201cYour options are usually burgers, chicken sandwiches, and tacos. We want people to know they can still have a healthy, fresh, well-rounded meal that fits into a tight schedule.\u201d <\/p>\n

For adults, the fast casual speed is met with a full bar, featuring cocktails, wine and a selection of beer brewed at the Malai brewery in Southlake. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a great bar program: fun cocktails, great wine and beers you can\u2019t get anywhere else,\u201d Braden says. \u201cThe Pilsner we brew is similar to what you\u2019d drink in Thailand, like Singha or Tiger, but fresh and made nearby.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Wages\u2019 intentionality carries over into each part of the restaurant. Even the takeout containers were carefully selected with sustainability in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hated the idea of food sitting in soggy cardboard,\u201d Braden says. \u201cSo we found these new sugarcane-fiber bowls lined with a plant-fiber plastic. They don\u2019t leak, they don\u2019t disintegrate, and they\u2019re compostable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Already, the dining room has become a spot for post-work catch-ups, long lunches and quiet moments with a newspaper at the bar, they say.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome get to know us,\u201d Yasmin says. \u201cOur team is awesome. We\u2019ve priced ourselves so people can come once a week, a couple times a month. When you don\u2019t have time to use your kitchen, use ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brya Zan Thai Noodle & Brew<\/a>, 1909 Preston Road, 469.498.4099<\/p>\n

\"Brya<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\t\tPhotography by KathyTran.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Brya<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\t\tPhotography by KathyTran.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Brya<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\t\tPhotography by KathyTran.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Brya<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\t\tPhotography by KathyTran. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brya Zan Thai Noodle + Brew was born out of the desire for Malai Kitchen owners to create…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":{"0":"post-104250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-plano","9":"tag-plano-headlines","10":"tag-plano-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}