Saturday night, about 6:30 pm we tried Spicy Noodle House in Kearny Mesa.
It had been on my list for a while ever since seeing this review on mmm-yoso. The reason that review called to me is strange, and I won’t try to explain it. Suffice to say I am attracted to strange things for weird reasons.
The place didn’t look like much, but it was filling up with middle-aged Asians who surely understand their Chinese food far better than I do. That’s a good sign.
I also liked the contemporary Chinese playlist (foreign to me) that according to Shazam included:
- Wo De Ai Mei Qian Zou 罗森涛
- Walking Towards Me by Ma Nien Hsien & 9m88
- 演员 by Joker Xue
We ordered:
- Braised Beef Noodle Soup
- Cucumber Salad
- Rice Cake with Brown Sugar
- Dumplings with Chili Oil
- Chongqing style Spicy Noodle
- Lamb kebab
My palate for Chinese food is not refined. I was raised on hamburgers and spaghetti. Spaghetti was frankly a treat. But I lived in San Francisco a bit, and I learned how good food can be.
I’ll be honest. I miss San Francisco dining. I actually lived on Irving Street, That was a pretty cool dining scene. You could get amazing Asian food in any hole-in-the-wall without breaking the bank.
Though the setting is more suburban, Spicy Noodle reminded me of that. I was delighted.
The Lamb kebab was pretty good. It was strongly spiced. If anyone can tell me the spice, please do. I know I should know that one. It didn’t strike me as a Chinese dish, but that’s part of the pleasure.
The cucumber salad was a little different than what we are used to, sliced bigger, and a generous portion for $5.99.
The Braised Beef Noodle Soup was good. We liked the thickness of the noodles. The Chonqing style Spicy Noodle were a nice addition as well, but the star of the show was the Dumplings with Chili oil. We were all quite taken with those.
By the time I stuffed my gullet with the Rice Cake with Brown Sugar, I was in heaven,and or bill before tip was under $76.
So of course we had to wander down a few doors to Premium Matcha Cafe MAIKO to keep the party going with a custom premium milk tea and a jasmine green tea for the road. This seemed to be where the young Asian crowd was gathering.
While we waited for our drinks we were treated to more cool tunes like:
- Witches by Alice Phoebe Lou
- Saw You In A Dream by The Japanese House
- Will I See You Again? by Three Sacred Souls
It was a fun sensory exploration for a family friendly Saturday night.We’ll be back.
Spicy Noodle’s website is:
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