Noya’s Kitchen – Vietnamese Lunch
Every now and then you walk past a place and really notice a shop or restaurant that you may not remember walking past before. I think I have missed out on seeing Noya’s Kitchen as I rarely walk on that side of the road. I have however started walking past this little hidden gem to get to Hondo’s Sushi Restaurant and decided to give it a try.
When’s Noya’s Kitchen open?
The first thing you will notice is that this place is not open for long. Opening hours are 12 to 3, Tuesday to Saturday so it’s pretty much a lunch time only place.
We did not have a booking either so we were very lucky to be able to get a table on Tuesday afternoon as it was packed. Luckily this little looking cafe is a Tardis on the inside as there was additional seating downstairs which is where we were seated.
Supper Club
Above I have said it’s only open for lunch which isn’t entirely true. Noya’s Kitchen runs a supper club on a Friday’s, Saturday’s and selected Thurday’s from 7:15PM to 10:15 PM. You do need to book for this but it is a complete dinning experience. Whist you get to sit with your own group everyone eats the same course at the same time. Check the website for current prices.
It is also possible to book a private supper club for 26 people upstairs in the main dinning room and an additional 14 downstairs. If you are looking for a company treat of up to 40 people you can provide a new experience that everyone will remember forever.
The meal
Noya’s Kitchen Menu
The ‘starters’ can be found at the top of the menu. These are £6 each or you can try all three for £7.
There were two choices for the ‘main’ course. One thing to note is the two prices for the main course. It’s £7 for the smaller portion or £11 for the full size meal.
There is also one option for dessert which was £5.
As we only wanted a small lunch we chose to skip any starters and to have the smaller sized dishes. We did get to see the two size options and I would say that the larger sized plates would give a portion about 50% larger than the ones we chose (and are shown) in the pictures.
This was my choice the crispy spiced chicken skewers which comes with a small portion of jasmine rice and pickled cucumber. It was absolutely delicious and certainly recommended.
If I was looking for a larger sized meal I would suggest going for the regular sized portion. I did not feel hungry after finishing my delicious well portioned Vietnamese meal. My pics really do not do the food or the cafe any justice so make sure you check out Noya’s website.
My wife’s choice was the Bun Cha with Pork Belly, rice noodles, chilli pouring sauce and fresh herbs. This was the same sized dish as mine, the £7 smaller portion but was equally as yummy. This is also available as a chicken dish for those that prefer chicken to the pork belly.
What about dessert?
I know what you are already thinking and you are not going to be happy with us. We didn’t try the dessert. On this occasion we were only looking for something small but I certainly regret not trying it as it also sounds very nice so shame on us but we will go back. We will make sure to try the trio of starters too.
Pho Wednesday
If you check out Noya’s website you will see that you are able to book for Wednesday evenings. These evenings are specifically for Pho pronounced ‘fuh’ which is a Vietnamese noodle soup.
This may be due to change shortly as it mentions it being the perfect antidote to a winters evening. Lets face it in the UK we will probably have snow again in May followed by the warmest December on record (again) so keep an eye out to see any changes.
