This is not going to be enlightening to most of my readers, but I am not a fan of food courts in general. I find the quality of food to be sub-par, the service is normally lacking (if there at all), and you’re almost always left with the feeling you should have looked harder for somewhere to eat.

However, they do serve a purpose. When it’s late at night, or you’re just in a bit of a rush and not being terribly picky about what you eat (I know. I know. It happens to the best of us at times), the humble food court is there with it’s neon signage and glazed over food staring at us.

So, today was one of those days where I knew I needed to eat, but was not so inclined to cook. See, it does hit the best of us. At it happened, a friend obsessed with wanton noodle soup dropped past and suggested lunch. Who was I to say no?

Now, I have tried to educate this friend on her wayward trend towards the food equivalent of a “dive bar”, but she insists on having her soup from the Shanghai food court. *sigh* You can lead a horse to water… It’s okay. She knows I love her.

So she picked the place and we had battle of the Wanton & Noodles. Hers was in soup form. Mine was dry.

Shanghai Food Court - Taste of Asia - Wanton Noodle Soup.

It’s not awesome. The wantons are mushy and flavourless. The soup isn’t seasoned and has a bit of oil floating on the top of it and the spring onions are the only relief to the “meh” of it all. The noodles are overcooked AND undercooked and the BBQ pork is too sweet. The veg is just how I like it, undercooked and just heated through, but most people would dislike it immensely. The hoisin sauce is a little watered down and there is too much of it.

You get more of the soup poured over when you have it as a soup, which is fine if you like the soup. It tends to pick up some more flavour when it’s poured over the noodles and veg.

Despite of all of that, it’s a passable meal. If you’re not au fait with authentic cuisine from Asian countries, you’ll like it for what it is. It’s a warm meal that fills you up and is relatively healthy. It’s better for you than a kebab from down the road, or soggy chips.