No.8 Noodle Bar: Authentic Chinese Cuisine Near Queenstown Airport
I decided to go to No.8 Noodle Bar near the Queenstown Airport (by the way, I also stayed at the Holiday Inn near the airport). I was craving some Chinese food and the restaurant looked really welcoming and beautiful. The chairs and tables were lovely shades of blue and cream and there were paper lamps hanging from the ceiling.
On the wall were pictures of noodles being made by hand. It was all very interesting. I found a seat and sat down, admiring the décor of the restaurant.
There was a glass wall between the restaurant and the kitchen. I could see the chefs working behind the glass. I thought it was really interesting that customers could see their food being prepared. Some flower pots had been placed in front of the glass window and they added a lot of brightness to the area.
There was a self-service station with plates and cups, bowls and soup spoons, water bottles and all kinds of cutlery, paper napkins and even a few pairs of scissors. Customers could fetch whatever they wanted without needing to disturb the staff.
The first thing that I had ordered was a drink. My soy milk was served very quickly since the restaurant was empty. I was impressed by the quick service.
The hot and sour noodles had thick, flat noodles. It was topped with lots of garlic and chili flakes and slivers of green onion and cucumber. I mixed up the noodles and took a bite. There was a nice balance of spice and tang in the dish and I slowly finished the rest of the noodles. It was spicy without being too hot (just like the hot and sour soup I had at the Panda Restaurant in Oamaru) and I was looking forward to all the other food that I had ordered.
The dandan noodles had a lot more sauce than the hot and sour noodles. They also came topped with some greens and chopped peanuts. The spicy sauce, which had Sichuan peppers and meat in it, was quite spicy and I was glad that I had ordered the soy milk. It helped balance the heat of the dandan noodles.
Finally, I had ordered a plate of dumplings. No.8 Noodle Bar served the dumplings fried and with soy sauce on the side (This is quite similar to the Shanghai xiaolongbao I had at the Shanghai Restaurant, in Riccarton Road Christchurch.).
Menu of No.8 Noodle Bar
The menu of the restaurant was quite diverse. There were a lot of different items.
Some of the must try items were the sweet and sour pork, the stir-fried beef with leek and the Szechuan stir-fried pork belly.
Other options were fish fillets, duck and fried rice.
There were also New Zealand specials like scampi, paua and sea cucumber.
The venison, oyster and the omelet with the NZ whitebait also looked really good. There were a lot of delicious options.
Cold sides like seaweed salad, black fungus salad and signature pickles were some other things customers could order. There were sharing platters of pork ribs.
All the menu items had pictures so that guests could know what they were ordering. I studied the pictures of the prawns, poached fish and fish soup. The portion sizes were medium or large.
The restaurant had plenty of vegetarian options. There was stir-fried cabbage, mapo tofu and stir-fried lettuce.
Other options were green beans, shredded potatoes and seaweed egg soup. There were different kinds of dim sums, wantons and dumplings.
Finally, I found all the noodle options. There were a variety of noodle soups. The dandan noodle was served with pork mince. But there was also wanton noodle soup and pickled cabbage soup and beef bone meat noodle soup.
They also had fried noodles and fried rice. Guests could order their rice or noodles with vegetables, chicken, pork, beef or even duck.
The last page had a list of wines, juices and fizzy drinks that customers could order. There was white wine, plum wine and beer.
