I hope you are in the car on your way to Noodles and Dumplings before you finish reading my review…read more We will be coming here so often we will need to add a line item in our monthly budget for noodles. The dining room is light and inviting. We were immediately greeted by a friendly host. The kitchen is partially open so on our way to our table, we saw one of the chefs pulling the noodles. (Very fun for kids and adults I might add!)
For starters, we ordered some boba tea. Not sure how often the flavors rotate, but you will have to ask for their flavors of the day. They had mango, taro, and Thai tea when we came in. We had the mango with colorful boba (more similar to a jelly IMO) and taro with brown sugar boba. Both were delicious, not too sweet.
Beverly took great care of us the moment we sat down! Being that it was our first visit, she guided us around the menu and gave us suggestions along the way. We wanted to try the Deep Sea but unfortunately they were out. However, per Beverly's suggestion we ordered the Shrimp Tempura and it was very good. The tempura was well seasoned and the fry was crispy but not dry. We also had the Cream Cheese Wontons, Panfried Colorful Dumplings Combo and Beef Roll. Personally, of the four dumpling fillings, beef was my favorite. All four starters are a good choice, but if you leave without trying the Beef Roll, you are doing yourself a disservice. My recommendation from best to still very good:
Beef Roll
Shrimp Tempura
Panfried Colorful Dumplings
Cream Cheese Wontons
For our main dish (only had room for one after all our starters), we ordered the Black Garlic Oil Ramen with pork belly. This ramen bowl is massive. We barely made a dent in it and we thought they would have to roll us out of the restaurant. The pork belly was also nicely seared thicker cut; none of that thin and overcooked pork belly some ramen places use. I am afraid I will not be trying their other ramen bowl simply because I loved this one so much that I cannot imagine eating here and not getting this black garlic ramen.
The custard bao caught our eye so we had to order it to go. (This was when we considered whether we should have ordered less starters. The thought was fleeting as we are looking forward to all the leftovers in the fridge.) I was nervous that the custard would be overwhelmingly sweet. I was wrong, it was delicious even if its light dusting of sugar on top.