Noodle noodle update

On Monday (opening day), we went to this restaurant and I wrote a review here. On Friday, we went there again as we wanted to try even more things from the place. Here is a small update.

This time, I went for Japanese noodles (called "ramen").

Japanese Ramen, 135 NOK

It was served with an egg and two pieces of pork. One piece of pork was nice but the other was too thick.You need thin pieces of pork for this dishes as they should take the flavor from the soup. The noodles and the soup were nice, though. The quantity was also good for the price.

Nasi Goreng (Indonesian fried rice), 135 NOK

My wife went for Nasi Goreng, which is Indonesian fried rice. It came with an egg, with chicken skewers and shrimps crackers. I was not convinced by the crackers but the rice and the skewers were good. The photo does not show it but the dish was actually quite big (a lot of rice).

The conclusion is not too different from last time: this place is quite nice. For a correct price, you get some original and tasty dishes.

Noodle noodle: a new restaurant in Stavanger

Date: 03/09/2012

There are so many new restaurants in Stavanger that it is difficult to keep track of them. In case you missed them, Stavangourmet reviewed Gådjå and il Piccolo not so long ago. Today, it was the turn to "Noodle noodle" to open its doors.

Where is it?

It is in the shopping mall Magasinblaa, more or less in the centre of Stavanger. As I said in my review of Deja Vu, I am not a big fan of restaurants in shopping malls in general because I find them a bit noisy, having less personality and generally being of lower quality. However, I must admit it is convenient for kids (not a big deal if they are a bit noisy, they can go see the fish if they are bored, ...).

What kind of food?

I am sorry to be honest but I really don't like the name of this place. Not very creative and even a bit misleading. So, yes, "Noodle, noodle" serves noodles, but they also serve other things coming from different Asian countries (Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, ...). I am really happy about this restaurant as these cuisines are not so common in Stavanger (I was happy about Gådjå too).

Decoration

The decoration is simple but nice, I think it fits with the Asian culture. About the chairs: they are really beautiful but unfortunately they are not so comfortable.

Our meal

Today, I ordered the "chicken katsu curry" (you can write "karee" or curry"), which is a Japanese curry dish with fried chicken. It does not look good in the photo but I liked it and it tasted quite authentic (I have eaten this dish several times in Japan, so I knew it from before).

Chicken Katsu Curry, 145 NOK

One small thing about the presentation though: the rice was over the chicken while it should be on the side or under it, so that the chicken is visible.

My wife went for the "gyoza" bento, with "tempura prawns". The issue is that she is a bento specialist, her father and brother working in a bento place in Japan. So, she should probably have gone for something else. Here is a photo of it:

Bento Box, Gyoza with e) tempura prawns, 160 NOK

By the way, what is a bento? It is a food box with compartments, generally enjoyed because of the varied taste of each compartment. Here, 3 pieces of sushi, 3 pieces of gyoza  (Chinese minced pork dumpling, very much appreciated in Japan) and 3 "tempura prawns".

Overall this dish was not bad, but my wife had several critics about it. She thought that the sushi did not fit very well with the prawns+rice compartment (too much rice). She would have liked pickles and a miso soup. As usual for sushi outside Japan, she found the rice too hard (sushi needs a softer, more expensive rice), and she complained that the prawns were not "tempura" prawns. Here a tempura photo from wikipedia:

The difference is that breadcrumbs are used in one case and not in the other. For her, what was served in the bento were "ebi fry" or "fried prawns" but not "tempura prawns". Well, I told you, she is a specialist.

For our son, we ordered udon with ginger and sesame. Udon is a Japanese type of noodles. A small irony about Japan fans is that they generally don't know udon but are experts of ramen, a type of noodles which are also popular in Japan but which are coming from China.

Ginger and sesame chicken udon, 130 NOK

Udon are generally served in a soup. Here, they were served slightly fried without soup (this is called "yaki udon" in Japanese). The udon themselves and the vegetables were good, the chicken was not bad but could have been cooked a little more.

One thing that could surprise non-Japanese people was the ginger. This root has a strong taste and there was plenty of it in the dish (the big pinkish things that look like leaves). It is easy to take the ginger away if you don't like it, or find the taste to be too strong for you (I personally love ginger).

The restaurant also serves Indonesian and Singaporean food but we did not try them this time. Next time, for sure ;)

Verdict:

I liked this place and would be happy to go there again. My wife was not particularly impressed but would like to go there again to try other dishes.

Déjà vu

This restaurant, in the middle of a small shopping center had a bad start with me.

To begin with, I am generally not a big fan of restaurants in shopping centers. Lots of noise and generally not so good or cheap.

Then came the name. A French name for a restaurant which does not serve French food, nor has anything to do with France in general. Also, "déjà vu" is for things you have already seen somewhere. It generally gives you some comfort ("oh I know this place"-feeling) but to me, it sounds more like ("oh this place is nothing original, it's all already-seen, already-tasted place").

Finally the first few times I ate there I was not too impressed by the food and found it a bit expensive.

Well, things have changed and I must admit that I like this place. I often go there and just order some food on the go and we sometimes gather with other families with small children.

On the right a photo of their tapas. As you can see, there is a lot of different things, lots of colour and lots of taste. Everything taste quite good and the plate is well presented.

Actually, tapas is not what we order most. We generally go for the dish of the day. Also, the restaurant proposes a dish of the day. It is generally really good and changes often enough not to be bored with it (oven-baked chili chicken, Spanish style meatballs and more recently bacon pie with cream-sauce pasta).

It is also possible to pick up exactly what you want in the display of the restaurant. I generally use this option if there is something in particular that I want (cheese-filled peppers for example) but I think their tapas is the best quantity/price ratio.

Finally the restaurant has a menu but we generally either choose the dish of the day or their tapas.

Dishes are always served with pretty good bread and a very nice aioli (garlic mayonnaise), it is always nice to see that they don't fall in the easiness of serving just standard mayonnaise.

All in all, that makes Déjà vu a pretty good restaurant, clearly above the average of shopping center/mall restaurants. This restaurant is not the ideal place for a couple looking for a romantic dinner but it is a really good option for families with children.

PS: I am sorry I don't have more photos for this review, most photos were on my mobile phone but it accidentally fell on the floor and well... I lost the photos on it (quite a long story).