Food Court Tour @ Noodle Bazaar, Cup Noodle Museum, Yokohama

Food crawl in a museum? Is that even possible? Gotta hand it to the Japanese to up the ante in their museums eh?

In a previous post, I have written about visiting the Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama with my cousins. And unbeknownst to us, the food court is an attraction on its own. Named Noodles Bazaar, the food court has 8 different stalls which represent 8 different food cultures. If you have not read the previous post about the Museum as a whole, I highly recommend that you read it (click here to go to that post) before you proceed. if you have, lets get slurping shall we?

The menu outside the Bazaar

The layout of the Bazaar was fun and interesting. Each country is represented by a stall and you place your order via a ticket machine, similar to the ones that can be found in ramen shops. The eating area is expansive and there is alot of energy around. Although it looks alot like a shanty town from the outside. 

One part of the large dining area.

The first choice would naturally be the one from home, which is the famed laksa. For the uninitiated, the laksa is a noodle dish with a spicy curry like broth. Each region in Malaysia has its own rendition ranging from sour and fishy (Penang's asam laksa), to nutty and fragrant (Sarawak laksa) and to coconut based lava (Malacca's nyonya laksa, which is my personal favourite). So how does this version stack up?

Laksa?

It is of course not as good as Grandma's or anything I can find at home.  The flavour of the spices were present, but not strong enough to label this bowl a good bowl of laksa. The spiciness was also a bit lacking. Perhaps ingredients like galangal and daun kesum are hard to find. Also, the Japanese palate tends to favour softer undertones rather than explosive flavours, with a few exceptions. The toppings were nice though. The prawn was fresh and the tofu pieces fit in just fine. Still, it was a respectful attempt and hit the right notes, although the notes were not hit quite right.

Its quite interesting to see that each stall has its own decor and personality. 

The next one in line was the tom yum noodles. This one was slightly better than the laksa, with more punch to the soup. The soup has a sour kickback, which you need in a tom yum. However, like the laksa, it lacks in heat. There was also a lack of pungency that you get from fish sauce. 

Still a decent attempt. 

Again, we are after all in Japan and not Thailand. The prawns are very fresh though, although parts of the bowl looked like a rehash of the laksa. Still, if you are not too particular with the soup, it is still nice to have. Just do not expect a perfect tom yum.

I enjoyed it as yakisoba. But as mi goreng, maybe not so much

The fried noodles came next in the form of mi goreng from Indonesia. Do bear in mind that fried noodles have many variants in the South East Asian area  and Japan has its own delicious version in the form of yakisoba. How about this one? It was actually quite delicious, although as we are in Japan, it does taste more to a yakisoba than an Indonesian style fried noodle dish. This was quite enjoyable. And you can add a side of sambal to make it more authentic. The sambal attempt was decent, with hits of smoked chillies and lime in it. Definitely one of the better ones we have tasted for today.

Note the lanterns and fire crackers

You know the saying "saving the best for last"? Well, we did not deliberately do that, but the last bowl as quite spot on. The final entree for this food crawl was a bowl of spicy Chinese beef noodles. And this was quite spot on. 

The finale, which was really good though

There was a good splash of chilli oil which adds depth and heat. The soup was full bodied and matched with the noodles. Beef chucks that were strewn into the bowl was surprisingly tender and well marinated. They do flake off to our surprise. And with the soup had the spicy and salty balance down, this was enjoyable. 

Hello again old friend

To end things off, a can of Wong Lo Kat was in order. I have not had it for almost a decade and funnily enough I have reacquainted myself with an old friend in Yokohama. And it was just as refreshing as I remembered it to be. 

A common sight in the area, and also most noodle places. 

As you can see the place is more of a tribute gallery rather than a legitimate noodle establishment. But for ¥300 per bowl and ¥200  for drinks, which some are free flow, this is actually a fun place to visit and sample. The food may be so so but the concept and the environment is indeed interesting and worth going to. 

The entry point. 

Going to the Museum is pretty easy and walk-able from the Yokohama JR station. If you feel like visiting the Museum and sampling some of its food, the exact location is as follows:

2-3-4 Shinko, Naka-ku, Yokohama 231-0001 Japan