georgieats

I tried Eden Noodles Cafe for the first time last Friday.

I know, I know, I am super late on the bandwagon. It might be that for a long time, I was put off by the long queues out the door or the fact that I can’t handle extremely spicy food. Anyhow, I finally made it… and I am so glad I did! It was everything I imagined and more.

Eden Noodles Cafe is located on Dominion Road in Mount Eden and specialises in Sichuan cuisine. The menu is lengthy, and all dishes are reasonably priced. You can order fresh and handmade dumplings, noodles, soups, wontons, hotpot, rice dishes and Sichuan snacks. Their main drawcard is the Dumplings in Spicy Sauce. Ya Qin Zhang, aka ‘The Dumpling Queen’ makes between 3000-4000 dumplings a day at Eden Noodles Cafe. She can even make them with her eyes closed!

Ya Qin Zhang aka ‘The Dumpling Queen’

We ordered a FEAST, because, well, I didn’t want to try only one dish, and it was also my first time trying Sichuan cuisine. We ordered the following: Pork and Chive Dumplings in Spicy Sauce (20 for $12), Dan Dan Noodles with Crispy Pork on top (medium for $8.50), Cucumber Salad ($8), Sichuan Pickles ($4.50), Wonton in Chicken Soup (small for $5) ‘Make Your Own’ Hot Pot ($13) and Spicy Pork Ribs on Rice ($13).

Every dish was super tasty, especially the Dumplings, which pack a punch! They are the perfect balance of sweet, salty and spicy… all the good things in one! I also highly recommend the Cucumber Salad, which balanced out the spice nicely. The Make Your Own Hotpot was a super fun experience too – you can literally choose any ingredient you want and it was delicious! However, I did not enjoy the Sichuan Pickles – so weird.

Pork and Chive Dumplings in Spicy Sauce

Dan Dan Noodles with Crispy Pork on top

Cucumber Salad 

Sichuan Pickles

‘Make Your Own’ Hot Pot with shredded tofu, pork luncheon meat, beef slices, crab meat, broccoli and noodles

In terms of dining times, we arrived early (around 5.30pm) and we were seated right away. By the time we left (7.30pm), the queue was out the door. There are only about 10 seats and the restaurant is tiny. If you can’t get there around 5.30pm, I would recommend getting takeaway. This seemed to be a very popular option for the locals.

So, what did I think overall? Eden Noodles Cafe is definitely worth the hype – check it out now.

Eden Noodles
105 Dominion Road, Mount Eden, Auckland / Website / Instagram