What I really wanted for lunch was a toasted sandwich and a coffee - cheap and easy, with cheap being the operative word. I'd invited Mum and my sister to the nursery on the Great Ocean Road which has a cafe attached to it so we could look at plants, chat and have lunch - but it was closed for the winter. So we went again to their favourite lunch spot, which isn't mine - Soba Ramen, on Bell Street, Torquay.
It's not that I don't like noodles - in fact, I love them. But to me they should be cheap, not $22 - $26 dollars for a relatively small bowl. Perhaps it's because I can cook good, cheap noodles myself. Sure, the wontons are more fiddly to make - but I can do the broth and add a protein and some veggies and noodles for not a lot of money. Alright, maybe I'm being unfair again. A lot of restaurants go bust because they can't keep up with the increased prices and still offer reasonably priced food to their customers and make a profit. I did quite like this broth, which I ordered medium spicey, and I enjoyed it more than the black garlic broth of last time, which I found gritty. Besides, the curly 'two minute' noodles remind me of ultra cheap campfood. I love them, but to pay money for them kinda got my goat a bit.
My sister enjoyed hers. It came with three small pieces of steamed chicken and an egg, and some crispy fried noodles on top.
And Mum had the vegetarian. There wasn't a lot of vegetarian options, which I found pretty poor actually. A lot of noodle places will come with a few options - say a broth with vegetables and tofu or chicken or beef or pork or wontons. But this pumpkin soup with a kind of crispy tofu was okay - just nothing special. A bit like pumpkin soup really.
Lucky Mum paid for it or I would have really got my grouch on. I do like noodles and Japanese and the location is great, plus I imagine it'd be nice on a Friday night if you could afford the sake, but honestly I only go here because of Mum and my sister.
I tell you what though, writing this post has made me want to go home and make some noodles for dinner. Here's the menu, if you want to be inspired.
With Love,
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