Fans of the omnipresent chain Wagamama's will be familiar with Yippee Noodle Bar's set up, but this is an altogether less corporate and generally nicer affair.
Located at the town end of King Street near fellow eateries The Bun Shop and D'Arry's, Yippee adds an Oriental flavour to a street of old pubs and a wool shop.
Diners are seated at the familiar benches on long tables, but here there's a
On arrival, we were welcomed immediately - Yippee is the utmost in efficiency, where places are cleared and people are welcomed virtually instantly.
comfortable amount of elbow room so there's no knocking of strangers with the chopsticks.
Decorated in clean white throughout, there's also a number of tastefully chosen Rothko prints on either side of the restaurant: mostly blues to the left, and mostly reds to the right.
It's often busy, especially at the peak lunch and dinner times, so expect a hive of activity. The kitchen is open plan, located just behind the till area, so you can watch your food being created in a buzz of action.
On arrival, we were welcomed immediately - Yippee is the utmost in efficiency, where places are cleared and people are welcomed virtually instantly. It describes itself as 'an Oriental dining experience' and the menu falls into three main types: wok fried noodles, noodles with soup, and rice dishes. In addition to these, there's an array of side dishes, from the familiar chicken wings to zha dofu and Yippee fish cakes; and extras such as pickled ginger. With nearly 100 menu items we were slightly at a loss of what to choose - but drinks were easy. One nice touch of Yippee Noodle Bar is that it's juices are all freshly squeezed. We opted for orange juice, though there are also more exotic varieties such as orange and carrot and apple, carrot and ginger.
For starters, we opted for the Yippee fish cake, an exotic combination of minced prawn, chicken and squid, served with a piquant sweet chilli and coriander sauce, and a simple pak choi which comes in a small bowl with a lovely oyster sauce.
Food is brought out very quickly - this is a fast and easy option, rather than a long drawn-out romantic meal type of place but you can be sure that all is fresh. They are flexible, too: traditional meaty dishes, such as the chicken Thai green curry can be substituted with alternative ingredients to suit vegetarians, and this was one of our main courses. Very spicy and incorporating a wide range of colours, this was one of our favourites. We also opted for hakka noodles, an impressively large portion of soft wheat noodles, pork balls, prawns and spinach. Continuing the Oriental theme, you could drink the Ozeki Karatabana sake, or an Asahi, Tsing Tao or Tiger beer.
Service is speedy and friendly, and although there was a slight problem with our order, it was dealt with very quickly. Yippee Noodle Bar say they focus on 'fresh, healthy ingredients and exotic flavours served from an open kitchen' - and they have done just that.