Noodlemee, Wynyard Station

It was raining today at lunch, and since I found myself in Wynyard Station, it was a good opportunity wait out the rain by trying out "noodlemee". Noodlemee, which translated means "noodlenoodle", has a variety of made-to-order noodle and rice dishes, as well as a counter of ready-made dishes.

I ordered one of the more unusual dishes on the made-to-order menu, called "ramen and rice". Which described the meal pretty well. The ramen was in a mildly spicy soup with egg stirred into it, and was quite tasty and not too salty. The noodles looked and tasted like your usual instant noodles - which is perfectly fine, but doesn't quite live up to the full name of restaurant, which is "noodlemee - home made fresh noodles". Now the rice - to be honest, I wasn't sure what to do with it! I ended up putting the rice in the soup, but perhaps the noodles are supposed to be a dish to be eaten with rice. If you know, please enlighten me! In any case, the rice was quite nice soaked in the soup. By the end of the meal, I had drunk most of the soup.

Other dishes that noodlemee has are stir fried noodles, laksa, Korean jjigae and bibimbap. If you dine in, they have dolsot bibimbap, in a hot stone bowl. Always a nice treat for lunch!

Noodlemee is in Wynyard Station, on the left hand ramp leading up to George Street.

Manna Healthy Way, Hunter Connection

Three dishes with rice or noodles seems to be the norm at the upper level of Hunter Connection, the predominantly Asian food court sandwiched between Hunter, George and Pitt Streets. Four Korean stalls, four Chinese, one Taiwanese, one Thai and one Vietnamese. Today I tried "Manna Healthy Way", a Korean stall. At least I think it's Korean - some version of Korean anyway. The japchae-style noodles are the hit - these could be a dish on their own. My choice of 3 were the omelette (nothing special), chilli pork (best of the three choices, this almost passes as being authentic), and fried chicken (a bit greasy). Today they also had a tofu dish, and a couple of vegetable dishes. This is not your traditional Korean lunch (they also have made-to-order dishes which look more authentic), but not a bad option if you're in the mood for something Korean-like.