Red Rock Noodle Bar Reynella

Looking for something a bit different I recently tried a take away meal from the Red Rock Noodle bar at Reynella. I loved the look of the place on entering. Now this was the kind of take away Chinese food place I remembered from years ago. The kind of hole in the wall small shops where I first learnt the taste of Asian foods.

The menu was amazingly extensive. I thought I knew a bit about noodles, but there were dishes available that I had never heard of. The premises seemed to be run by a husband and wife team who were very friendly and from their accent I presumed had been living in Australia for many years.

I wanted to try something a bit unusual, but with seafood so I asked the Chef for his advice. He tossed around a few ideas and I eventually settled on a combination that would use a Japanese Udon noodles but with seafood and a spicy Beijing sauce. The chef put the ingredients in his wok and had it all ready to serve in minutes. I love to cook Asian food myself so I admired the way he tossed things about so casually over the heat with a skill to be admired.

My wife was not very hungry so she settled for some Chinese pork dumplings and Japanese sticky rice cakes.

On arriving home the smell of good food filled the area as soon as I lifted the lid of my noodle container. It was tasty and the amount of seafood quite fair when one considers price and that it was basically a noodle dish. I certainly ate it with relish and although listed as spicy, did not find it overly so. There is a point where hot and spicy can overwhelm taste. The Chef had stopped just short of that point and thus provided just the right amount of taste and spiciness for one to enjoy the experience.

My wife was a little disappointed with her Pork Dumplings. This was mainly because there is a huge range of difference in Chinese food from one region to another and in this case the region was not the right one for her. Tasty but rather too salty was her opinion.

The Japanese sticky rice cakes were a new experience for both of us. My wife found them very chewy and compared the experience to chewing ones pencil rubber at school. Although apparently of different flavors this did not really come through well and they all seemed to taste pretty much the same despite difference in colour and external decorations. I found them edible, but certainly not something I would go looking for.

All up I thought it was a good meal. Service was prompt and friendly, choice was extensive and the prices were very good. I would certainly get a meal from there again.