Coconut Mango Frappe

THE minute I put my foot in the door, I was impressed with the fit out, wowed by the beautiful, massive artwork featuring a gorgeous geisha girl who watches over you when you’re dining.

I’m talking about Soi Noodle Bar in Civic, which offers an explosion of modern Asian fusion dishes, with generous serves and super reasonable prices.

You can design your own Thai dish if you’d like – select from a range of noodles or rice, flavour it (mild, medium or hot), add spices or herbs (and nuts if you’re naughty) and then select a meat, vegetarian, seafood or a combo option ($15 to $19 depending on your choice).

While that sounded like fun, we opted to settle in and select from the delicious sounding dishes featured on the menu – the creation of Soi Noodle Bar’s skilled and very busy chefs who never seem to stop working it in the kitchen.

Mini dishes are on the menu, as are mains, noodles, ramen, curries and soups, and even a selection of salads, including soft shell, beef soba noodle, and green apple salad with battered fish ($14 or $15).

Our mini salmon teriyaki buns were divine (three pieces for $15). The salmon was fresh, the garlic mayo not too intense, the pickled onion delightful and the teriyaki sauce brilliant. The buns were soft, but not chewy, and the plating of these little gems picturesque.

Next up was Japanese Gyoza with citrus ponzu sauce (five pieces for $10). These little bundles of joy are fun to eat, especially when dipped into a tasty sauce. They came with mixed seafood and are pretty addictive.

We shared a main noodle dish – Pad Kee Mao. The thick rice noodles were stir-fried with mushrooms, baby corn, pumpkin, bamboo shoot, fresh chilli and fragrant Thai basil ($15). We opted for chicken and loved the kick of chilli (about medium level).

Since we were on a roll, back we went to the mini dish section to try out the Japanese fried chicken wings (just because we could). They were beautifully cooked, with nice crunch on the outside. However, we should have tried them before the Pad Kee Mao because they ended up tasting a bit bland (no fault of the kitchen).

The décor at Soi Noodle Bar is bright, modern and fresh, with an inviting colour scheme and contemporary and attractive interior design features, including a lovely light wood. At the front is a long bar with stools, perfect if you enjoy dining and people watching at the same time. The décor and fit out is all pretty schmick.

Soi Noodle Bar is an inviting place and we’ll be back soon. Next time I’ll design my own dish. Why not?

Soi Noodle Bar is BYO only (corkage $6 a bottle). Dine in or take away. Shop EG08, Bunda Street. Call 6249 0888.