nudel bar - 76 bourke st melbourne 3000 03 9662 9100

it's been such a long time since i wrote anything at all here! I've been specifically inspired by a meal at the nudel bar on the weekend- it was such a great experience that i figured it was worth revisiting eajguide to post a comment or two.

A friend of mine picked this place from a pack of tourist cards with an "eatery" on each. She decided that nudel bar looked good and was appropriately priced. Now, call me a control-freak but I like to eat where I like to eat. (okay, control freak it is.) but seriously, I just know good places, and don't like to eat at shit ones. Knowing this, my friend checked with my three times to see if I was happy with the nudel bar, and even nearly moved us to pellegrini's (can never go wrong with pellegrini's, and my friend knew I liked it there). But her pandering was in vain, because the nudel bar rocked!

It was absolutely packed on Saturday night (lots of those rowdy rugby supporters) but in cosy, atmospheric way. Bloody lucky we got in early because an absolute truck load of people arrived after us and we would have been pushing shit up a hill to get a table had we got there five minutes later.

The food was great, although it did take an eensy bit longer than I otherwise would have liked to get served. The cuisine is an interesting mix of different types of chinese, vietnamese, indian and even italian. I ordered potato curry with dipping roti bread and it was excellent! In fact, my friend stopped eating her meal and just started eating mine instead. Around the table, everyone was pretty happy with their meal, although you might want to keep in mind that when they say spicy, they mean really-goddam-spicy.

The drinks list is average with some token cocktails, but no less than expected in a place like this. I loved the d/(c)cor and mood-creating downlights. The high tables with bar stools were oh-so-cool, and, although they were probably covered with the previous occupants' left-over food, the dim lighting and camouflage print was a clever disguise. Nudel bar has an upstairs, although I didn't manage to get up there. Bet it's cool, but.

In short, I am waiting for my next opportunity to go back to this place. And I'm even going to stop being derogatory about those tourist cards. Okay, maybe I'll just be less derogatory.