I didn't set out to go to Yakisoba. We ended up going in here after wandering around Chorlton for…read morethe better part of an hour on New Year's Day, trying to find somewhere which was both open and still serving food. We actually tried to go to Double Zero, which is practically next door, but as there was another 20 minutes until they opened which would've meant standing outside in the cold we went elsewhere and arrived at Yakisoba.
The restaurant itself is a bit narrow, but there's room inside for a decent amount of people - say 30-40 or so. We were a group of 6, which wasn't an issue as they weren't very busy. Unlike other restaurants serving Asian food, Yakisoba had already provided cutlery on the tables as well as chopsticks so you don't have to make that embarrassing admission that you can't use them.
The menu is pretty extensive, with a selection of starters and sharing platters, but practically everything comes with a bento box with a range of accompaniments for a larger main dish. We ordered three of the mixed dumpling platters to share between us, and for a main I went for the Kare Katsu Chicken, which came with steamed jasmine rice as well as the bento.
The mixed dumpling platter had 10 dumplings (2 of each of the five varieties), as well as some dipping sauces such as sweet chilli and soy. I liked all the dumplings, which were filled with a variety of meats and fish, and the sweet chilli sauce was great.
There was a little bit of a wait between the bento aspect of the meal arriving and the main dish following it, but that wasn't too bad. One of our party had a little mishap where one of the staff dropped a portion of rice on the table, which we made a little bit of a joke about and the lady who was waiting on our table took it in good humour too.
The Kare Katsu was a hearty portion, and I mean hearty. The chicken was crispy and perfectly cooked without being dry, and the katsu curry sauce was fantastic. The chicken pieces were huge too, which made it interesting eating with chopsticks but I enjoy a challenge and it also stopped me from basically inhaling my food. The rice was good also, but I think sticky rice would have been my preference - especially for eating with chopsticks. The others went for a range of different bento meals, including the teriyaki beef steak and the duck in red thai curry, all of which looked delicious and went down well.
They have a decent range of drinks as well, including Asian beers like Kirin Ichiban and Tsingtao as well as wine and spirits.
Overall, even though we didn't set out to go to Yakisoba I'm quite happy that we did. Some of our group couldn't finish the meal, due to the size of the portions not any issue with quality, so if you're after a hearty meal then this place will provide. At £25 each for a starter, main and a couple of drinks each including a tip it's also not going to break you financially either. If you just wanted a main course, all the bento boxes were around £9-12 and would make a good meal on their own.
I'd certainly be happy to return to Yakisoba in future.