Yakisoba

A massive bowl of Red Sea Soup

Barlow Moor Rd, Chorlton.

April 2012 - It's good but what is it?
I'll get this out of the way - I like Yakisoba. I have eaten well here every time. The menu is mixed east asian - and I mean mixed in a very broad sense. The menu is essentially split into 'Oriental Tea House' - loosely starters and Bentos - loosely mains. I've never really seen a menu like it - the usual chinese type dim sum are here, duck and pancakes - steamed things, crispy things, skewers of things, and also slightly rarer items: steamed and deep fried sushi, calamari, lamb chops, beef samosa ('triangles')... It goes on and on. However - they are very good. Crisp and tasty, containing large identifiable pieces of what's supposed to be in there - prawns, scallops, duck - whatever. And they're served with a selection of pickles and sauces. Delicious. But as is often the case, this is the best part of the meal.
 Then there are the 'mains', the Bento concept I find a little confusing in this context. Every meal is acompanied by a bento box:

 Bento Box

This is a Japanese concept  for packed lunches and to get it in a restaurant, to me, seems like a bit of a gimmick. It's just an add on to the main dish and accompanying rice (where applicable). The 'mains' then come separately: It's nice to get the bit of miso soup and what not, but it's just all a bit weird. Should it be pre-starter? - sorry 'Oriental Tea House'. The melon's quite a nice palate cleanser at the end though.... I don't know. Not bad, just confusing.

The main courses then arrive and again there's a huge selection of loosely East Asian dishes. I've been here numerous times and never been blown away by the mains. After luxurious tasty starters how could I be wowed by ploughing through mountains of noodles or vats of soup? I just can't.  They're tasty - it just feels a lot less exciting. In the interests of branching out I tried a special - Mongolian Lamb. Yet another country added to menu. I've no idea what was mongolian about it. Didn't even know they had lamb in mongolia - I don't want to sound pedantic as I'm sure the intention was lamb in a Mongolian style but I really couldn't pick out anything distinctive, just lamb and red onions with a vaguely East-Asian flavour - though, it was tasty and well cooked.

Mongolian Lamb and Steamed Rice

Friends had:

Tiger King Prawn Thai Style Lomen

Duck with Thai Red Curry

Both of which I've had before and enjoyed - the Thai Red Curry probably being the best thing I've had here - though interestingly it contained cauliflower and potatoes this time. I feel like I'm being negative about Yakisoba when I don't want to be - it serves good, tasty food - we got stuffed on the dishes listed above plus a Sea food platter and two different dim sum for £50, which is good value. I'd just like a bit more focus and bit less of the attitude that anything east of India can be chucked in, be it a concept, dish or a flavouring.

FEB 2011
Quiet Sunday afternoon - excellent meal, meat and fish skewers, red sea soup - which was huge and brimming with fish and lime zest, Thai Red duck curry - rich, spicy and peanutty and plenty of it - (which is always one of our criteria). Good service and no complaints. Thanks.

General....
This restaurant offers reasonably priced Asian food from a range of different countries - including Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and China. It suffers from a lack of seating, with diners being somewhat crammed into a long narrow space. When it's busy in here you really know about it.

For this trip, the service was generally good because the staff were attentive - especially when it came to ordering drinks. However, there was an issue with the starters arriving at different times - one being served a good 10 minutes before the rest. The food was good - one highlight being the Vietnamese beef stir fry dish. The crab and king prawn roll was poor, but the other dishes were all of a decent standard. The central idea of Yakisoba is to have a bento box with a rice or noodle dish. This make the place a bit more interesting, and it involves getting a small box with different sections containing crackers, melon, miso soup, sweet cashew nuts and salad. The box is accompanied by the main dish. The main courses cost around £8.95 to £10.95 (£5.50 for takeaway - bit of a bargain), and starters are about £2.95 to £4.95.

Yakisoba is a nice place to go for a meal out in Chorlton, and the it won't cost you a fortune. It is best avoided at the busiest times, and - as with all places - you need to choose your dishes carefully. Finally, the food is available to takeaway, and many people use this service. It is one of the best 'oriental' takeways in the area.