Walk into any serious noodle joint in Asia, and it becomes clear very quickly that your dining environment is the least of their concerns. The menu is as greasy as the floor. The lighting is blinding enough to require those tinted glasses they give you at the dentist. But you get a bowl of noodles so marvellous, so utterly profound that you immediately forgive the server for having their thumb half-submerged in the soup. So, when the suavely adorned Nou Noodle Bar promises to be the “home of the artisans” making “quality bowls” with “beautiful and beautifully transformed” ingredients, it reeks of slick marketing rather than excellent mee.
Granted, it’s a sensual yet gritty place to eat noodles. The low ceiling and retro furniture give Nou Noodle Bar the impression of a 1980s dive bar. The mirrored surfaces and scarlet lighting recalled a strip club. The only thing missing was shag carpeting.
One of the artisans behind the Craig Road establishment is chef Petrina Loh, who has made fermented sauces and condiments her calling card at the restaurant, Morsels on Dempsey Hill. When her prowess shows up, it’s transformative. The Duck Kut Teh Mee Sua (S$26+) arrived in a slightly herbal white pepper broth that recalled both its inspiration – bak kut teh – and kway chap. Paired with a fried duck roll “cigar” and crunchy cabbage, the deep, luscious, and spicy layers touched the soul. A server said the beef tongue spam (S$19+) was based on spam fries, accurate if you serve them flat in a pool of sauce. But they were appropriately crunchy with a bit of heat, cooled by mentaiko mayo, lifted by pickled onions, and pungent with spring onion oil.
Nou Noodle Bar states that it “features umami-rich noodle dishes,” and I had high hopes for the Nou Umami Noodles (S$18+). There was olive scallion sauce. Pickled jalapeno. A tea-marinated egg. It was undoubtedly savoury but the flavour came solely from what tasted like soy sauce, the culinary equivalent of an orchestra playing a symphony in one note. Instead, order the seafood spinach dumplings (S$13+). The combination of spinach, cream cheese, and pink peppercorns stuffed in chewy dumplings was an inspired decision, with prawn and squid echoing the best of the sea.
Cocktails are given equal weight at Nou Noodle Bar, with bartenders Cheryl Tng and Bernardine Chan holding court. Together, their backgrounds spanned bars like Foxtail, Juice, Underdog Inn, and Neon Pigeon, and it showed. Duck-Tini (S$24+) was a mezcal martini infused with the aroma of duck fat and served bracingly cold. With rum, pineapple, and mint, the 3 Star Swizzle (S$22+) was impeccable during a warm evening, as was the Gimlet (S$23+) brightened by kaffir, bay leaves, and coriander. The Tomato, Tomato (S$24+) proved challenging: savoury and vegetal, but a fantastic accompaniment to the beef tongue spam. More approachable was the Nougroni (S$24+), a textural, creamy vanilla rendition of the classic.
In a vacuum, Nou Noodle Bar is excellent. It’s high time that bar food embraces the punchy flavours Southeast Asia is known for. But local diners will need convincing to pay five times the price of similar dishes found in hawker centres. In today’s slowing economy, it feels more sensible to grab an oily bowl from the nearby Amoy Street, Maxwell, Chinatown Complex, and Tanjong Pagar food centres, followed by drinks at Nou.
Nou Noodle Bar
Taste: 8/10
Ambience: 8/10
Value for money: 6/10
Rating: 7/10
Average cost for two: S$170+
What we liked: Duck Kut Teh Mee Sua, seafood spinach dumplings, 3 Star Swizzle, Gimblet, Nougroni
What we didn’t like: Nou Umami Noodles
45 Craig Rd, Singapore 089683
How to get there: 6 minutes walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT Station; 7 minutes walk from Maxwell MRT Station
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(Hero and featured images credit: Nou Noodle Bar)
This article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Singapore
