Boat Noodle, Jaya One

We spent our extended Friday lunch hour (everyday feels like extended lunch hour to some of us) trying out Noodle Boat restaurant in Jaya One. As we arrived just before the onslaught of hungry office workers, we managed to snag a long table for our party of 8 and leisurely started ordering while the queue for tables started to grow. 

We ordered 24 bowls of rice noodles and 4 bowls of egg noodles, limited to 4 choices of Pathumthani chicken or beef and Ayutthaya chicken or beef. We have no idea which is which but one has clear soup while the other was murky. Either way, most of us could not really taste the difference because as previously mentioned, we graduated from Food Review University of Nowhere. Except for N, because he is a dedicated Masterchef follower.

We also ordered the Thai Popeye’s Tempura, as we can still say we have eaten our vegetables. Except they taste way better crispy and deep- fried.

Since we have a large group today, we have compiled the highlights of our lunch date. Some shy members of the team declined to give their reviews, most likely due to the fact that they were too hungry to care (note La Bonito et al)

One can choose something other than boat noodles based on the menu but hey, the shop is called Boat Noodle for a reason

Master Yoda, whose resemblance with the real one ends at their height (or lack of), rated the food at 6/10. She felt the noodles tasted ok, but not super ‘I- have- died’ fantastic delicious. However, she liked her coconut shake drink but being the Asian Master Yoda that she is, loved the nice  and more importantly reusable plastic tumbler/ bottle that came from the iced tea and coffee more. If there was a review of bottles or tumblers for drinks, she will probably score this place an 11 out of 10. 

Said Thai iced coffee. And the Thai iced tea was nice too.

N felt the food was a bit too salty, rating it 6/10 while Olaf (we really do not know where we pick up these freelance reviewers) scored the food 7/10 as she has recently acquired a knack for salty food. And as she is the foremost expert in Thai food having just returned from Bangkok the week before, she declared that she preferred the Pathumthani soup base which tasted crispier like Chiang Mai, unlike Ayutthaya, which was too rich like Bangkok. Wait, what?

Aerial view of the boat noodles. We ordered 28 noodles in total.

S liked the noodles fine, scoring them 6/10 but her favourite was the Thai iced tea…which was so rich it is probably more milk than tea. The Thai iced coffee tasted nice and light too, quenching the thirst of those who were made to walk back to the workplace (i.e. all of us)

The price of the food itself was reasonable, hence being scored 6 to 7 across the board. A regular bowl of rice noodle cost RM 1.90 with the iced tea or coffee priced at RM 6.90. And since some frugal reviewer managed to calculate the price of the spinach tempura (it was 80 sen per person, in case anyone is wondering), the meal cost RM 17 per person with an average of 4 bowls of noodles ( 6% GST and 5% service tax included). Wow, that was complicated.

Service was a major drama for us. They bungled our order majorly. No one cried or shouted or anything like that, but it came close. You would have thought that a franchise which is trying to sell the novel and unique experience of ordering a lot of small bowls of noodles instead of one big one would have figured out a way on how to efficiently execute a large number of orders. So,we gave the service 3/10 for messing up our orders.

The atmosphere was good, as the place is air conditioned but the growing long and frustrated queue made it uncomfortable for us to enjoy our food in a leisurely manner. In fact, while some of us got up from the table to pay at the cashier with the rest still sitting and finishing their drinks, a few hangry (hungry + cranky) ladies already sat at our table and shooting daggers our way. So, ambience rating ranged from 4-5 only.

Overall, it was a nice place to have lunch with good company and good food. Our golden advice is to come during off- peak hours when you can get a place to sit easily and do not feel bullied by queuing patrons. Dude, no food is worth killing someone over.

Address : UG 100-P2.037, Block J, The School, No., 72, Jalan Universiti, Jaya One, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Opens daily from 10 am to 10 pm, last order by 9.30 pm

Until the next review,

Honest Foodies Review Team