Dubai Restaurant Review: Noodle Factory, Marina Mall

In a nutshell: good food at reasonable prices

4/5

I had never heard of Noodle Factory until we ate at the Marina Mall branch and then the next day I saw another one at Dubai Mall, so they seem to be expanding. I liked the bright layout with white tables and purple chair coverings; they weren't very busy on the Friday lunchtime we visited but then Marina Mall itself doesn't seem to be terribly popular. They have copied the Noodle House idea of having a notepad to tick off the items you want, but they also have a proper menu so you can read a description of what each item is and see photos. The notepad seemed a bit pointless except to give the staff less to do! As a mall-based Chinese restaurant, I would choose PF Chang's over Noodle Factory since their food seemed healthier but not having that option, Noodle Factory is definitely worth a try.

We weren't overly hungry so decided to go for 2 starters (about AED 25 each) and then 1 main course (about AED 50 each). I asked the waiter if the duck rolls were duck pancakes and he said they were - what they actually turned out to be was duck spring rolls...fried. They tasted nice but for me it was too much pastry and not enough filling - I had one and left the rest to Simon. The steamed prawn dimsum were very good, no different to anywhere else though. I had loved the sound of the sweet & sour prawns with lycee and pineapple but when it arrived I was disappointed to see there were no lycees! I asked the waiter why they were missing and it turns out the chef had forgotten, so we were brought a separate bowl with the lycees cooked in the sweet & sour sauce. Very tasty although the prawns had been lightly battered before tossing in the sauce, I know that's the traditional way to do it but I do prefer the unbattered variety. My one gripe was that, yet again, only expensive imported Italian water was available - why do they do that??!!


A lot of my reviews recently have been Far Eastern restaurants so I think it's quite clear what my favourite cuisine is! I do need to move away to the food from other parts of the world though - next time...