Episode II: Amit and Chloé Do Japan

Amit’s Review:

This past Monday, Chloe and I finally ‘Did Japan’; through the medium of the Noodle Chef. WOWEEEE! This place had great service, as soon as we walked in the hostess greeted us with piping hot green tea and menus. I enjoyed the atmosphere, it was quite relaxing and it was amplified by the green tea, which had a nice Japanese taste to it (unlike the English green tea I drink at home). After much deliberation we ordered vegetarian sushi of the radish and avocado kind, gyoza, tofu and shrimp ramen. The food was prepared fresh and right in front of Chloe’s eyes (I wasn’t watching), she seemed extremely fascinated by it, like the hypnotic jiggling of a fat man’s belly. Anyway in no time flat, we were chowing down. The sushi was awesome, the tofu was not so good (not a fan of tofu blocks), and the ramen was pretty. That’s right I said pretty, so much thought went into the presentation, it was very simplistic, but it made it ever more appetizing (refer to schematic below). What I really enjoy was the fact the hostess gave us chopsticks and no forks or knifes because most places never give you chopsticks. Following some after dinner green tea for two, Chloe and I headed out, but not home because the service was so fast, we had time for more downtown adventuring. We stopped off at the local bubble tea house (I don’t remember the name) and like ‘bakas’ we over complicated the ordering of the bubble tea, good thing the hostess was patient (and cute!). Overall the Noodle Chef and Bubble Tea Night get a rating of dragonfruit!

Chloé’s Review:

This past Monday, Amit and I finally did japan by going to noodle chef, which until Monday afternoon, I had been referring to as mr noodle. Why that is, I don’t know. The restaurant was your typical low budget Japanese eatery, but the server was extremely nice, and since there was not another soul in the place, we got top of the line attention. The green tea that generally gets put in front of you at establishments like this was excellent, piping hot and had that oh so pleasant Japanese aroma, you can almost taste the sea breeze in it. Anyway so amit and I perused the menu for ages, since were both terribly indecisive. We finally decided to get two kinds of sushi, avacado maki and sweet radish maki, vegetable gyoza, tofu, and amit got shrimp tempura ramen soup. The sushi, which is never a bad choice, was delicious, and I was playing the “chloé tries to eat as much wasabi as possible without expelling her sinuses all over the table” game, which I always win. I was so impressed at how the waitress was making our food fresh to order, and doubly impressed because if she had have gotten busy, it would have been challenging indeed to have to serve tables and make food. Also I was happy about her bringing chopsticks and only chopsticks because I think it compromises the whole Japanese flavour of the restaurant when they have forks and knives on the table. Plus I love the idea of being out with my friends to dinner and having one of them have to suffer the humiliation of requesting a fork because they are too incompetent to eat with chopsticks. Anyway the gyoza was good, nice and hot, but it had a slight msg taste to it, not my favourite. I think the gyoza would have been improved if they had served it with a sweet dipping sauce instead of the saltier one it came with. This would have better complemented the saltiness of the gyoza itself. The tofu was less than remarkable, but this is often the case with restaurant tofu, so I don’t hold it against the noodle chef, he is a noodle chef after all, not a tofu chef. Amit’s tempura soup was by far the best looking of all the things we ordered. The presentation was both appetizing and original, and the portion was very generous. Anyway, the food was painfully inexpensive, a good choice for paupers like ourselves, and I left the server almost 30% cause she was so nice and we enjoyed our food so much. We then proceeded to the bubble tea place, which was an adventure in itself, and im pretty sure we were by far the most idiotic customers that the server had to deal with that day. The bubble tea wasn’t the best ive ever had, but the inside of the place was very nice. All in all this nite out gets a sweet july cherry.