Yakisoba literally means ‘fried noodles’. Yaki (fried in Japanese) and Soba (Chinese egg noodles.
Yakisoba is on Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton, opposite Chorlton bus-station and two minutes walk from Argyles (a pub/bar that has great alcoholic and alcohol free cocktails for under a fiver).
Yakisoba opened in Chorlton about six months ago, I cannot find a website and there is not one mentioned on the menu. Since opening night, each time I have passed this restaurant is consistently busy. We have visited on spec a couple of times and found ourselves turned away. Two weeks before payday I booked a table here, as a treat on payday night. I asked them how much notice they would recommend. They told me at least three days if it is a weekend night.
What is Japanese food? My reaction to this was the same as everybody else I asked. Raw fish and noodles. I really dislike that taste of fish and am not overly keen on noodles either. So why did I choose Yakisoba for a meal? I looked at the menu and how full it always seemed to be when we passed and decided to give it a chance. No sushi was in sight.
First Impressions -----------------------------
On arriving at Yakisoba, after enjoying a post-work pint at our local, we are immediately greeted by a friendly Japanese waiter. He checks our reservation and leads us to a table for two near the bar and the large coy carp, who are for decorative purpose not for eating. We walk across the tiled floor and sit at a green wood table with a red leather bench and single red leather chair. There is subdued lighting throughout the restaurant. We are handed a menu each and left to settle for a couple of minutes, before the same waiter returns to take our drinks order. There is a minimal wine menu (with four choices of each red and white wine (all priced at £12.95), we select a bottle of Pinot Grigio. This is brought to us promptly and we are asked to taste and approve it. I sip it and nod. This restaurant has four tables for two and one long bench on the other side with tables of four dividing it up. There are not more than 20 tables. The décor is oriental and tasteful rather than overdone.
Drinks --------------
At the back of the restaurant there is a bar, with a variety of drinks available. The menu lists the origin of each beer, which I find unusual; these include Carlsberg (Denmark), Tsingtao (China), Shingha (Thailand) and Kirin (Japan). Other drinks on offer include: Fresh juice, Japanese Plum wine (Umesha) 11.5% at £12.95 a bottle or £3.25 a glass (175ml), Sencha (green tea) and Mugi-cha (traditional Japanese brown nutty tasting tea).
Apparently Umesha is very sweet and light with a touch of almond milk of plums (Ume) and Sake. Ume contains Potassium and Calcium. So this wine is good for health and has been consumed in Japan for 1000 years.
Food ----------------
Most of this menu was in the form of Bento boxes. These are kind of like a packed lunch. On ordering you get to choose one part of your bento, this comes on a separate plate. This main part of your meal is served along with a bento box, divided into the box are filled with the standard set menu part of your meal.
Bento options let you choose your soup, noodles, rice, salad or stir fry. We both selected the stir fry option as it had the largest choice. Each bento meal was priced at £7.95, with some of the more extravagant dishes asking you to add £1.50 to the cost.
Having selected the stir fry breaded chicken, which doesn’t appear to be on the take away menu. My fiancé selected the prawn noodle and we waited in anticipation to see what a bento would look like.
Other options on the menu to select separate meals were available and varied, including smaller meals: Dumplings, rolls, fish-cakes, ribs, chicken wings and wraps. Larger meals in the separate section included Seafood platter, mixed skewer hot platter and Crispy platter (the first two were £8.50 and the latter £6.95). Over 50% of the people eating there were eating from bento boxes.
My Bento box ------------------------
After a reasonable wait of about quarter of an hour to sip the wine and toast the fact that we can afford to treat ourselves to two meals out in a month, after saving pennies toward buying a house for so long, treats are back!
Then they arrive. They are moulded wooden trays, with divisions for different parts of the meal. Our bento boxes both have prawn crackers (which I ate, despite the strong taste of fish) salad with a wholegrain mustard dressing, spicy soup and fresh fruit (a piece of melon and two large pieces of orange. A small space in the middle of the tray held sticky cashew nuts (?in honey) with sesame seeds. This tray is why starters are not needed at this restaurant.
Our main course arrived almost immediately after we had worked out the ingredients in our bentos. My breaded chicken was tender and the coating crunchy. The curry sauce tasted very like the curry you get from chip shops but a little more sophisticated and it had vegetables in it. My intended had noodle wrapped prawns. He found them quite difficult to get into but once he did he said it tasted of seaside.
Parking ------------ There are many options for vegetarian visitors and several would be suitable for vegans. There is a vegetarian bento and vegetarian delicacies (x11)
Desserts --------------
A desert menu was available, I was full by this point, so declined. So did fiancé. Banana crepe, Mango pudding or home made ice-cream. If you have space, go for it!
Service --------------
The service was attentive, at any moment we were ready to order, but this was intrusive as we were coming to the end of the meal. We were interrupted three times to ask if we had finished near the end of the meal. Also, another visitor, obviously unhappy with their meal, poked her head over and asked us if ours was any good. Not a welcome interruption.
Several different members of staff served us. Each member of staff was helpful and friendly. For someone who cherishes the personal touch, this may have been off-putting.
Clientele ---------------
The clientele is very mixed, but probably quite representative of the Chorlton as a whole, being mainly couples and small groups of friends.
Website ---------------
No website evident.
Toilets ---------------
There were either toilets. These were spacious and clean and well-stocked with both soap and toilet roll.
Well, This meal was wonderful, with tasty wine. Bottle of wine and huge, filling meal for less than £30 between two of us. Bargain and wonderfully tasty. This can be taken away in most cases for £4.95. Only complaint is that other visitors and staff pestered you. Making you feel like you had a set time and had to leave when they wanted you to not when you were ready.
More details
Cleanliness
Excellent
Family Friendly
Good
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