Noodle noodle: a new restaurant in Stavanger

Date: 03/09/2012

There are so many new restaurants in Stavanger that it is difficult to keep track of them. In case you missed them, Stavangourmet reviewed Gådjå and il Piccolo not so long ago. Today, it was the turn to "Noodle noodle" to open its doors.

Where is it?

It is in the shopping mall Magasinblaa, more or less in the centre of Stavanger. As I said in my review of Deja Vu, I am not a big fan of restaurants in shopping malls in general because I find them a bit noisy, having less personality and generally being of lower quality. However, I must admit it is convenient for kids (not a big deal if they are a bit noisy, they can go see the fish if they are bored, ...).

What kind of food?

I am sorry to be honest but I really don't like the name of this place. Not very creative and even a bit misleading. So, yes, "Noodle, noodle" serves noodles, but they also serve other things coming from different Asian countries (Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, ...). I am really happy about this restaurant as these cuisines are not so common in Stavanger (I was happy about Gådjå too).

Decoration

The decoration is simple but nice, I think it fits with the Asian culture. About the chairs: they are really beautiful but unfortunately they are not so comfortable.

Our meal

Today, I ordered the "chicken katsu curry" (you can write "karee" or curry"), which is a Japanese curry dish with fried chicken. It does not look good in the photo but I liked it and it tasted quite authentic (I have eaten this dish several times in Japan, so I knew it from before).

Chicken Katsu Curry, 145 NOK

One small thing about the presentation though: the rice was over the chicken while it should be on the side or under it, so that the chicken is visible.

My wife went for the "gyoza" bento, with "tempura prawns". The issue is that she is a bento specialist, her father and brother working in a bento place in Japan. So, she should probably have gone for something else. Here is a photo of it:

Bento Box, Gyoza with e) tempura prawns, 160 NOK

By the way, what is a bento? It is a food box with compartments, generally enjoyed because of the varied taste of each compartment. Here, 3 pieces of sushi, 3 pieces of gyoza  (Chinese minced pork dumpling, very much appreciated in Japan) and 3 "tempura prawns".

Overall this dish was not bad, but my wife had several critics about it. She thought that the sushi did not fit very well with the prawns+rice compartment (too much rice). She would have liked pickles and a miso soup. As usual for sushi outside Japan, she found the rice too hard (sushi needs a softer, more expensive rice), and she complained that the prawns were not "tempura" prawns. Here a tempura photo from wikipedia:

The difference is that breadcrumbs are used in one case and not in the other. For her, what was served in the bento were "ebi fry" or "fried prawns" but not "tempura prawns". Well, I told you, she is a specialist.

For our son, we ordered udon with ginger and sesame. Udon is a Japanese type of noodles. A small irony about Japan fans is that they generally don't know udon but are experts of ramen, a type of noodles which are also popular in Japan but which are coming from China.

Ginger and sesame chicken udon, 130 NOK

Udon are generally served in a soup. Here, they were served slightly fried without soup (this is called "yaki udon" in Japanese). The udon themselves and the vegetables were good, the chicken was not bad but could have been cooked a little more.

One thing that could surprise non-Japanese people was the ginger. This root has a strong taste and there was plenty of it in the dish (the big pinkish things that look like leaves). It is easy to take the ginger away if you don't like it, or find the taste to be too strong for you (I personally love ginger).

The restaurant also serves Indonesian and Singaporean food but we did not try them this time. Next time, for sure ;)

Verdict:

I liked this place and would be happy to go there again. My wife was not particularly impressed but would like to go there again to try other dishes.