Noodle Bar
1st Floor, Phoenix Market City Mall, Whitefield, Bangalore – 560048
March 9. 2013.
Noodle Bar is an oriental restaurant which serves up cuisines familiar to Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and China. The diverse menu is a relief to those who are tired of eating roti-gravy-tandoor-makhani food outside.
One of the several restaurants in Phoenix mall, this one was chosen as we wanted a lighter meal (as opposed to burgers, sizzlers or pizzas) to end our shopping sojourn. However it would be wise to go there earlier as we had to wait for atleast 15-20 minutes around 9 p.m. While leaving after dinner, we still saw several people waiting to get in.
Noodle Bar
The atmosphere inside was good – warm brown panels, bright lights, happy families, lots of servers. The tables were closer than expected so we had to wait for a better one. To my surprise, the server led us to a round sofa booth (the one which can seat atleast 4 people comfortably). We didn’t complain since we had loads of bags 
After a prolonged discussion on what to order (and we were spoilt for choices since there were several here!), we settled on Lamb Pao, Prawn with Crab Meat, Mixed Meat Hakka Noodles, and Ginger Lime Soda.
Note: The main courses here are not served with rice or noodles so these are essentially side dishes.
Sauces
The accompanying sauces are what you would find in any similar resto – chili, vinegar, soya, garlic. We were also served caramelized onions in a pungent sauce which was really delicious (forgot to take a picture of the same). Made a mental note to make the same at home!
Lamb Pao
Lamb Pao are basically dimsums stuffed with barbecue roast lamb. The lamb filling was absolutely lip-smacking and I must confess being no fan of lamb – this almost converted me back to red meat! The dimsum batter was steamed and so soft that it was difficult to lift it up without breaking it. Oddly the batter tasted like the dosa version. Not sure if that’s how it was supposed to taste, oh well!
Prawn with Crab Meat
Prawns. Crabs. Two of my favorite seafoods in one dish and I was salivating just looking at it. These were large size wok-sauteed prawns in a spiced gravy sauce. The crab meat was lesser in comparison though. The taste was satisfying considering you cannot go wrong with seafood in an oriental sauce.
Mixed Meat Hakka Noodles
As I mentioned before, the main courses above were without accompaniments so we had the Mixed Meat hakka style noodles along with them. This was a meat lovers dream with squid, prawns, lamb & chicken with sliced veggies. Finally it turned out to be an overdose of meat and seafood but hey who’s complaining
Desserts were skipped over since we could not move a muscle after the food was devoured. And to think I felt it was going to be a light dinner. Phew!
The service was attentive and to-the-point (they could do with dispensing some smiles though). The meal costed close to 1600 (Rs.) with all the taxes thrown in.
Noodle Bar is a good improvement over the smaller restaurants which serve this type of cuisine. It is however overpriced and the food although good is not extraordinary to warrant the prices.
My rating:
Ambience: ***
Food: ***1/2
Service: ***
Value for money: ***
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Rating Guide: ***** (Excellent) **** (Good) *** (Average) ** (Bad) * (Avoid)
 Curry Recipe)
(I have used only the inside beans and not the outer shell in this recipe). Very simple to make and pressure cooking the curry ensures a deeper flavor.
 Curry Recipe)