Last night we took the kids to The Night Noodle Markets on in Melbourne until the 30th November.
Since there’s so much on offer at the Night Noodle Markets, our strategy was to set a budget for how much we’d spend so we didn’t end up spending a small fortune on trying all the dishes we wanted. We set our budget at $50 and I’m proud to report we only went $5 over the budget, spending a total of $55 while enjoying ourselves and eating more than enough!
There was such a delicious array of food on offer that we just didn’t know where to start! So, me being me, we started with sweet – a sundae called “Monkey Balls” from Gelato Messina. The 4 of us shared it and it was soooooooo good – coconutty, crunchy and sweet. Would have gone back for a second one but there was still so much more to try!
The Night Noodle Markets wouldn’t be a Noodle Market without… Noodles! And, I knew the kids would expect just that. So, not being sure if plain noodles would be on offer anywhere, I cooked up some organic udon noodles to take with.
They were a huge hit with the kids and aside from the ice cream and coconut water, was really all they ate. I’m all for teaching my kids to be adventurous eaters, but I wanted the outing to be a pleasant one, without nagging or whingeing, so I gladly took some noodles from home for the kids and we all enjoyed the night noodle markets together.
My Husband and I each took turns to take a wander around the Night Noodle Markets, deciding what we wanted to try and sharing each others finds. It was my turn to wander first, while he supervised the kids and their noodles…
There was seriously so much to choose from and I enjoyed wandering through the crowds, observing the sometimes ridiculously long queues. Which I refused to wait in. So, yes, we may have missed the “best” dishes of the market but I just couldn’t justify spending so long in a queue while the kids and Husband were waiting for me.
My first choice was the Miso-Maple Salmon from Paperboy.
I’d have to say it was my BEST dish of the day. Not only was it a pretty bowl full of nourishing food it also was packed with unforgettable flavour.
Then, it was my Husband’s turn to take a wander. He came back with a Wagyu Beef Noodle Bowl from Izakaya Den – another yummy dish we enjoyed!
Then, the kids wanted to have a wander around the markets.
So I took them, being strict about holding their hands tightly, while we made our way through the crowds.
They saw the many stalls lined with drinking coconuts and unanimously decided that they wanted one. So, that’s what we got and took it back to our table to share.
I made a final trip around the markets, spending the last of our budget on these free range chicken dumplings (which were a tiny bit too spicy for my liking) and the most perfect butter chicken and saffron rice I’ve ever tasted…
Clearly we had a delicious experience at the Melbourne Night Noodle Markets and will try and get back again in the next week before they close. In true Melbourne fashion, as we were starting to pack up to leave it started to pour with rain and we all got completely drenched…
