Noodle Bar 05-15-2009

Location: 172 Orchard Street
Time: 7pm
People: RB and myself

Feelings: We were excited to try the Vietnamese noodle bar, Slurp, but it was under new management, and they were serving sushi instead but retained the same name. (I'm not sure how you slurp sushi) We instead walked half a block to Noodle Bar. RB and I slurped some noodles at Noodle Bar last summer after a visit to the Slipper Room with my friends from Denmark, and we remember it being quite decent.

I absolutely adore their exposed semi-outdoor space. It is still indoors, but you can feel the air and warm rays. You do have to worry about your napkins blowing away but it still gives you the feel of outdoor dining.

It slipped my mind that this place was BYOB, but thankfully they carried one of RB's favorites, Kirin. I got wonderfully flavored fiji iced tea (wild papaya, pineapple, green tea), which complimented and welcomed the beginning of the summer.

The appetizer, Roti with veggie dipping sauce was perfectly flakey outside and fluffy inside, and I begged for more. The sauce (red kidney beans and tomato sauce) was so tasty that we desperately scooped out with chopsticks when the roti was all gone.

I ordered Mee Goreng and RB got the Mee Siam. They reminded me a lot of Republic from Union Square. They are inexpensive and voluminous, but the flavor is average and unspectacular. If you go to more authentic, hall in the wall noodle places, the prices will be lower with better zing, but you will probably not have this pleasant summer ambience Noodle Bar will give you. It is also nice that there are vast varieties of Indian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese inspired dishes on the menu in case you can't decide what you want for dinner. If your out of towner friends are unfamiliar with Asian noodle dishes, this would be the perfect place to start as well. Afterwards, you can always take them out to the Slipper Room across the street for a little late night entertainment.