Perth: Noodle Forum

Welcome to the first post on our blog - The more the munchier! 

It has been a goal of ours for a little while to kick start a food blog.  We LOVE eating, C loves taking photos (although K would say she has the better eye for composition) and no holiday is complete unless we've visited the best places to eat.  

Our recent trip to Perth and in particular, our visit to Noodle Forum was the real motivator to kick start this little project.  We were blown away by the food and Chef Wong's passion for all things noodles.  More people need to know about this place!  So what better way to start this blog than to make the first post all about this humble little noodle shop.

Visiting this restaurant on our last day in Perth and being welcomed by enthusiastic Malaysian waitresses and the scene of Chef Wong preparing his freshly made noodles, we knew we would be in for a treat.  But nothing prepared us for just how much of a treat this was going to be! 

The restaurant is not particularly big but is nicely decorated, displaying Chef Wong's heritage and love for noodles.  The menu itself is also not particularly extensive, with various types of noodle choices including laksa and soupy or dry noodles - but this did not bother us one bit - it's usually a good sign when a restaurant can do so well specialising in just one type of food.  

Now onto the food!

Noodle Forum pride themselves in using all local WA, free range produce, being MSG, colouring and preservatives free.  It definitely shows in the quality and taste of their dishes.  

C and K both ordered a bowl of char siew mee with wonton soup on the side.  We knew this was going to be good so did not even bother trying to share one bowl.  And we were right.  This bowl of noodles brought back so many fond memories of our honeymoon in KL.  The char siew had just the right amount of charred bits and the perfect balance of lean meat and fat.  The noodles....where do we start! They had the perfect amount of chewiness and "springyness" - it literally feels like it's bouncing in your mouth with every chew.  The sauce is delicious and not just your normal Malaysian black sauce.  The noodles came with a good amount of dried onion flakes as garnish along with 2 pieces of fried wonton skins.  

As for the wonton soup - the soup tasted authentic, slightly peppery with nicely garnished.  The wontons themselves had on the thinnest wonton skins we have ever had.  The prawns in the wonton were fresh and crunchy.  All in all, the perfect accompaniment to the char siew mee. 

Char siew won ton mee

As we were flying back to Sydney that night, we knew we would not have another opportunity soon to try their other dishes so we decided to order a third bowl of noodles to share!  We chose the crispy skin satay chicken noodles.  The satay sauce had the perfect amount of peanut flavour although we would personally have preferred something with a bit more of a kick. The chicken was beautifully cooked, so crispy on the outside but still retaining all the nice juices and tenderness.  It was a delicious dish, although we both agreed by the end that our preference was still the char siew mee.  

Crispy skin satay chicken mee

After our meal, we spent so long loitering outside the shop and taking photos of Chef Wong making his noodles that Chef Wong and Chef Ian came out to chat to us!  They must have thought we were a bit crazy... both Chef Wong and Ian are super friendly and very willing to tell us about their loves for noodles and for fresh food, real food.  

Chef Ian and Chef Wong with us.  The room behind is where Chef Wong makes his noodles and wonton skins fresh daily!

We also discovered that you can buy Noodle Forum's noodles, wonton skins and sauce to cook yourself at home!  We bought some as souvenirs to bring back to Sydney. 

Chef Wong making spinach wonton skins for us to bring back to Sydney

C with Chef Wong.  The bamboo Chef Wong is holding is what he has been using for decades to make noodles.

This was such a special find in Perth.  If you are ever in Perth, be sure to visit them (and buy some noodles home for another meal!).  

*****
Noodle Forum
Shop 16 and 17 Equus Retail Arcade 
580 Hay Street, Perth

M-TH: 11am-5:30pm
F: 11am-9pm
Sun: closed
*****