Bubble Tea, Rice, & A Great Big Metal Tube

Do you see that?

That is a damn fine bowl of rice.

That's how they roll at Mr. Noodles, on Queen's Road, Brighton. If you can think of a thing that you would want to have with your rice, then they have already chucked it in there, so don't even bother mentioning it. You'll find what you're looking for. Just eat the damn thing.

You've got chicken, prawns, crabstick, pork, chicken, snap peas, aka: DA WOIKS.



But obviously, there's more to plucky little Noodle-San than simply rice...

For example, there are dumplings to rival those of the highly regarded E-Kagen:



Our crack team of reviewers were split 50/50 as to whether or not these tasty little pillows were in fact BETTER than E-Kagen, although they are slightly cheaper, so that is certainly a great big tick in the Mr. Noodles column.

The general affordability of the food here is really very appealing. The big stand out point though is that it isn't just cheap; it's also really very good.

Behold!



Society will forgive you, in time, for having attempted to lick your computer screen just now. That's the "Mr. Noodles Yaki Soba" and it truly is as good as it looks.

Then there's the obligatory DINNERGEDDON favourite; the yasai katsu curry:



You pair this hearty dish up with a tall glass of crisp Japanese beer (multiple varieties served on the premises) and you my friend will have a party on your hands.

Speaking of parties, have you tried Bubble Tea?



It's wierd but fun. It's essentially flavoured milk (not really tea) with odd chewey balls floating in it. Flavours range from Chocolate, Strawberry, and Banana through to more exotic fare such as Jasmin, Lychee, and Green Tea. The drink comes with an extra-wide straw for sucking up the chewy globules; or "bubbles".



As I say, wierdness abounds, but also..... fun. I would definitely get it again.

The last thing I want to mention about Mr. Noodles is a surprising feat of engineering in the back. Remember that this place is in Brighton, and so for some reason when I saw this it struck me as an extra-authentic "eastern" touch...

Leaving by the back door, you see this:



Wait for it...













Perhaps this reveals something about my personality, but this metal tube made quite the impression on me.



Stay tuned for the launch of our new companion blog, TUBEGEDDON... coming soon!

Everybody Loves Ramen

Nobody is above eating instant noodles.

I don't care who you are. I bet Elton John eats instant noodles while sat behind his hideous white piano, taking a break from writing songs for royal funerals.

If there does turn out to be life on other planets somewhere in the universe, it's a safe bet that they eat instant noodles when they first move away from home to go to parallel-university or wherever it is they go when it's time to learn to cook for themselves.



I think my basic point boils down to: don't snub instant noodles. At some point in your life, they were there for you when you needed them, and they haven't forgotten you.

We at DINNERGEDDON understand this all too well, and so we thought the time had come to do a special post all about Momofuku Ando's marvellous invention that took the world by storm.... THE INSTANT RAMEN NOODLE.



Sadly, Momofuku-San passed away in 2007 at the grand age of 96, so to honour the great man, we conducted a taste-test to find out once and for all which Ramen rules the roost.

Picking up three different brand's version of the classic "Beef" flavour, we examined them one by one.




NUMBER ONE: SAU TAO HO FAN BEEF SOUP (Made by SUN SHUN FUK FOODS)

Yes, it is made by Sun Shun Fuk Foods. Amazing, we know. But there is even more, less obvious joy to be found on this packaging. Really tiny, on the left hand side, the text reads "Non Fried", and then the simple reminder that "Health is important".

That was thoughtful of them.

These noodles turned out to be of the longer, thinner, Vermicelli variety, which already set them apart from the regular batchelor chow experience.



We dropped the exotic block into the water and counted the seconds ticking away as our food magically transformed before our eyes from a dry husk to a steaming hot heap of om-nom.

Behold, Sun Shun Fuk's finest:



Using the power of quantum mechanics, we devised the following score for this beefy-delight.

Aroma = 7/10
Appearance = 5/10
Taste = 6/10

TOTAL SCORE = 18/30

Not a barn-stormer then, I'm sure you'll agree. They smelled wonderful, but let themselves down in the appearance stakes for being more grey than a healthy-meaty brown, and the flavour, while delicious, didn't really taste of anything in particular; just a general savouriness.

Moving relentlessly on in our soy-tinted mission, we arrived at:



NUMBER TWO: SAPPORO ICHIBAN JAPANESE STYLE NOODLES AND BEEF FLAVOURED-SOUP (Made by SANYO FOODS)

Apparently this product is the result of a meeting of minds between the Ichiban Beer people, and Sanyo Stereos. I can see the logic. "We get people drunk, provide them with tunes...they need some badass food to munch down upon in a hurry while they're rocking out!"

And so these Beef Soup Noodles were born.



Aroma = 6/10
Appearance = 5/10
Taste = 6/10

TOTAL SCORE = 17/30

Uh-oh. Things aren't looking too good are they? At this point, we began to worry that we needed to revise our scoring method. We don't want you to get the impression we don't like Ramen. We only want to be strict and stick to our guns in finding the most perfect product to honour the late Momofuku-San.

We had to be steadfast and true, like all hungry scientists. The time had come to act. We had arrived at our final contender...



NUMBER THREE: DEMAE RAMEN JAPANESE NOODLESOUP (Made by NISSIN FOODS)

These noodles have two things going for them that the others don't. Firstly, check out this little dude on the packet!



I want to be friends with him.

Also, included along with the usual seasoning powder is this special sachet of flavour boosting oil.



This makes a big difference, really. Somehow, the addition of this little splash of oil elevates the dish from being "fast-food" to tasting almost "home made".



You can just see the glitter-effect of the oil at the edge of the bowl.

Aroma = 10/10
Appearance = 5/10
Taste = 7/10

TOTAL SCORE = 22/30

NISSIN FTW!!!



The smell of these just does something to you. It gets in your head and converts all the different pieces of your brain into noodle-obsessed beef-machines.

I would gladly serve this up to anybody, no matter who they are or how ritzy they hang.



So there you have it. Nissin beef noodles are the best Ramen we can find.

As a happy coincidence, since conducting this experiment we have found out that Momofuku Ando actually founded the Nissin company, so our winning noodles have the official inventor's seal of approval on them!

Quality speaks for itself. These Ramen are here to stay.