Menya Mappen

Back in Sydney for work. Had dinner plans for catch with a friend, but get a call last minute that she has to cancel... What to do..? Well I still need to be fed regardless.

Since it was a Thursday night, I wondered down to Westfield to see if anything there catches my attention. If you have read my previous post, you will know I like my truffle oil, Parmesan chips. So I get myself a serving of that to start nibbling on.... However chips alone isn't quite dinner and since I was in Sydney with spare time, it felt a bit of shame not to try something new.

Keep wandering around and I find myself on George Street passing Menya Mappen. I have walked passed this place a number of times and I've always been curious to try it. Since it was a freezing day, soupy noodles sounded like the way to go.

I was a bit surprise to see how busy the place was, and also a bit overwhelmed. It looked confusing and I had no idea how to order. Took me a few minutes before I realised they didn't do ramen (which was what I originally had a craving for) but only did udon, soba and rice. The place was set up in a way that it's similar to a US school canteen, you line up order and with a tray pick up things along the way. Other than noodles, and rice they also had a good selection of tempura, side dishes and other Japansese street food. Now onto the food...

After 5 minutes of deliberation I finally settled for the Bukkake spicy pork udon, with extra soft boiled egg. The udon was made just right, smooth silky and not too soft. The soup was full of flavour and that spicy pork really packed a punch. The highlight had to be the egg though. Boiled just to the point where the yolk was still runny.

As much as I wanted to try everything, I was almost full so all I could try was the takoyaki from the tempura bar. Hmmm this wasn't anything special, think it was sitting there for awhile so it was slightly soggy.

Overall, I think for a fast food joint, it's pretty awesome. For less than $15 you can get yourself fully stuffed and if you compare it to how much McDonald's and KFC cost these days, it's pretty good value. If you just want a quick cheap meal, think you can't go wrong with this place.

Next time, I go back to Syd, I will review it's sister store in Chinatown where they do Ramen.