Menya Noodle Bar, Chinatown

I’m quite opinionated, when it comes to food. Most of the time I know what I want to eat, and where, so F’s easy goingness is much appreciated. There are moments, however, when I am over-hungry and cannot make a decision. In fact there have been numerous times, mostly when overseas, when I’ve stomped from restaurant to restaurant, not finding the guts to try something new after my first choice was full/closed/empty, until grumpily on the verge of a low blood sugar tantrum (or occasionally, mid-tantrum), I hand the reins over. By that stage I’m just greatful to be sitting, safe in the knowledge that soon sustenance will arrive.

Luckily this hasn’t happened recently. Instead, on a recent shopping trip (praying to the gods of consumerism after an early morning visit to a observe a friends baby’s baptism, eep), when I said I felt like ramen, F happily obliged.

Tori Kara-Age Ramen (Chicken) - ‘Tonkotsu’ noodle soup topped with deep fried chicken (kara-age), boiled bean sprout, naruto and sesame. $9.90

Menya Noodle Bar, recommended to me by a Japanese friend is in the Prince Centre, next door to my favourite Chinese Noodle Restaurant. It is sleek and minimal inside, full of people slurping and happily chatting.

Chilly hot teriyaki beef Ramen $9.90

Our order arrives almost immediately, my spicy beef ramen being a generous jumble of tender beef perched atop ramen noodles and boiled bean sprouts in a comforting broth. I could barely finish all the meat, and left quite a number of noodles, though I thoroughly enjoyed this enormous dish. A little more chilly wouldn’t have gone astray, though.

F, likewise, enjoyed his deep fried chicken and ramen, finishing a little more than I managed.

Bustling and comfortable, I wish Menya noodle bar was near my work, I would be there frequently to enjoy the simple, huge and affordable dishes.

Menya Noodle Bar
Shop TG8, 8 Quay Street, Haymarket