We popped into Lulu’s to check out the noodles here. We didn’t know much about it, but we were all up for some tasty Thai food. It’s in a triangular-shaped building and it’s really fun inside – some good decorations and varied seating options, although there’s still some front-of-house areas being used for storage, which always changes the vibe. The menu has some good options on it – various street food appetizers, soups, salads, curries, and of course noodles. We thought we’d better check out the sampler platter, and then each of us got our own noodle dishes to try some things out. Drunken Noodles, Spicy Beef Jantaboon, and Rainbow Peanut Noodles. I also got a tiki drink (Mai Thai) since it was calling to me….
The appetizer platter came out pretty quickly. It had Vietnamese spring rolls, crab rangoons, pork dumplings, veggie dumplings, and some dipping sauces – a sweet carrot sauce, a gyoza sauce, and a sort of yellow curry peanut sauce. The Vietnamese spring rolls were good – I like mine with a peanut hoisin sauce, but the carrot sauce worked just fine. Tasted fresh and not like it’s been refrigerated all day. The crab rangoons were especially good – light and fluffy and crispy with plenty of filling. The dumplings were also really good – we asked the server if we should get them steamed or fried and she liked them steamed, so that’s how we got them. Really good and plenty of filling in them.
The drunken noodles arrived and though we had ordered our food with a medium heat, there wasn’t any at all. The noodle dish was good and satisfying, but not what I was hoping or expecting. There wasn’t a lot of seasoning nor flavor in this. It was perfectly fine, but the drunken noodles I’ve had at many other places are a bit darker and seasoned well (especially since I like thing medium-to-hot). The photo even looks a little bit white/plain. I will say that the basil flavor was the best and most prominent flavor in this dish, for what it’s worth.
I didn’t get photos of the other dishes (as they weren’t
technically mine), but we made sure we each tried each other’s dishes to see
what we got. The Rainbow Peanut Noodles were also just ok. The yellow peanut
curry sauce from the appetizer sampler was the base for this dish (more curry
than peanut) and it was also not up to the spice level ordered. The Spicy Beef Jantaboon was also in that same
ballpark of just fine but not the spice level requested. The sauce in this dish
was probably the best tasting and the right amount, but there really wasn’t
much in the way of seasoning for this one. Two or three jalapeno slices and
some cilantro wasn’t what we were hoping for.
I think this dish might work well for people without a lot
of spice tolerance or who are new to Thai flavors. I am always glad there are
sort-of “gateway” restaurants like this, but we were all surprised this place
has been cranking out noodles since 1997. They’re also serving noodles at the
CPKC Stadium, which is also a good way to get into people’s brains, but if you
want something with some heat or some flavors, there are a lot of other options
to chose from in the KC area.
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