Hello folks,

Just writing a quick post for ya. I finally checked out the new Noodle & Noodle restaurant which was only two blocks from my office in Pasadena. Before going there, I read about the place on Yelp to see what it was all about.

Noodle & Noodle is owned by a Thai restaurant called Nine & Nine, which used to occupy Noodle’s current location before moving a few doors down. I walked past Noodle last week and found that they have ramen on their menu. Knowing that they are owned by a Thai restaurant, I knew I couldn’t expect authentic ramen but I had to try it! And I’ve eaten at Nine before and thought the food was pretty good.

There were few people in the restaurant when I arrived. I sat myself at the bar area, even though it just faced a wall. I was pretty fascinated by their collection of Tonka trucks!

 View above my seat

They had 8 choices of ramen, along with their variety of noodle dishes. I ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen which included boiled egg, fishcake, cabbage, corn, green onions, bamboo, seaweed and barbeque pork. I asked for the bamboo not to be included, which they remembered to do, but they forgot the seaweed because I don’t recall seeing/tasting any of it.

Overall, I thought the ramen was not too bad! My first sip of the broth was actually quite refreshing. The broth had a lighter flavor but you can still taste the pork and some vegetable flavor in it as well, and it wasn’t too salty or oily. But I doubt the broth was something that was cooked overnight. I don’t normally get corn in my ramen and gave it a try this time. But as soon as I twirled my chopsticks around the ramen, the corn overpowered the taste of the tonkotsu. The noodles were on the border of being undercooked though, it was a bit too doughy. But the barbecue pork was delicious! It was very tender and the flavor was amazing. I really liked the pork. There was nothing special about the egg, it just tasted like a regular boiled egg. The cabbage and green onion gave it a nice touch, but the fishcake seemed a bit out of place.

I have to say that the service was great. The server was super friendly and she checked up on me frequently. My dining experience was excellent.

Would I come back here? Yes, I would. It didn’t taste like “authentic” ramen but it was something I wouldn’t mind eating again. That and it was only a 3 minute walk from my office. There are no ramen places out here in Pasadena so Noodle & Noodle is a nice addition to my lunch break options.

Thanks for reading!

Joan

Restaurant Information:

Noodle & Noodle
754 E Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91101

There is plenty of one-hour street parking in the area. It’s right across from Target and you can probably park in their lot as well.