Minmin Noodle Bar, Unit 4 Latitude Building, Bromsgrove Street, B5 6AB, T: 0121 622 5955
7/10
It’s not often I go to a restaurant only to return a couple of days later – just to be on the safe side.
Minmin Noodle Bar, which opened at the end of June in Bromsgrove Street, was the reason for my double take. The first time I went, I flew solo; so I didn’t eat enough. So I parachuted back in. It was worth the trip.
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Chinatown isn’t exactly unfamiliar with new openings, with some places lasting considerably longer than others. But there is something different about Minmin.
It has been set up by Denice Phan and her brother Ben, who is the head chef, while another sister, Lin, works in the kitchen. It’s a Vietnamese Chinese family affair.
Denice’s family moved to Birmingham when she was eight. She is now 39, with a young child, but looks a decade younger. The harder she works, the younger she looks. It must be the noodles and the broths her brother knocks up.
Minmin is a breath of fresh air in Birmingham’s sometimes predictable chain-infested dining scene. It is an informal restaurant/cafe serving good food in a cool environment with lovely staff. You can tell when a place has been conceived with enthusiasm, passion and a genuine love of food rather than as a cynical cash generator.
The eye-catching look has been developed by Denice’s husband Graham, who’s got a terrific eye for groovy interiors. Bold green works as the restaurant’s statement colour, off-set with white tiles, industrial-style lighting, solid white tables, steel chairs and some green-topped pom pom stools. Two brightly coloured electric mopeds, parked in the dining room, lend bustling Oriental city chic to the scene.
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The family’s background and food interests mean Chinese dishes dominate and there are influences from Japan, Vietnam and Thailand. But rather than being a hotch-potch of pan-Asian cuisine, Minmin has a coherence and individual charm.
Minmin (it means “noodles,” apparently) takes its inspiration from Hong Kong’s street cafes, which means big noodle soups, lots of them, take centre stage.
There is a choice of 10 traditional shrimp egg noodles, which are imported from Hong Kong. (There are also four varieties of rice noodles.) The noodles are flavoured with an array of ingredients such as scallop and chicken, spinach, cured beancurd and agaricus blazei murill (mushroom).
They go in the slow-cooked (knuckles-and-all) chicken and pork broth and diners select a topping, or several, to mix with their noodles. There are 15 toppings, including homemade squid balls, roast pork belly and beef shin, so you can go back everyday for a fortnight and have a different dish each time.
The broth, for its robust roots, is remarkably clear. We tried a prawn topping with mixed vegetables that would happily feed a growing boy, or girl (for £7.30). Homemade fish balls in noodle soup is just £6.20.
I preferred the Japanese style noodle soup, which packed more punch. The yakibuta ramen (you can have udon, too) had slices of Japanese style roast pork, bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms, seaweed, sweetcorn and sesame. The soup is topped with an egg marinaded in five spice and as you slurp the killer pork rib broth you can’t help but think it must be adding days to your life expectancy.
The Japanese noodle soups represent Minmin’s trump card in the cool food stakes. Ramen are a big draw for young, hip Chinese and Japanese and the clientele reflects the hunger for hip cuisine. Denice and Ben have been disappointed with the quality of ramen they can source and are looking at making their own at Bromsgrove Street. They have been experimenting with recipes and I hope they pull it off. It would give them a great selling point: Brum’s first homemade ramen bar.
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The starters are great, so good that some diners ask for the entire list of eight as a main meal. I loved the Vietnamese steamed cheung fun – gorgeous steamed rice pancakes filled with prawns and minced pork, shallots, wood ear mushrooms and carrots. Simply dunk in the vinegar and garlic dipping sauce and try to stop yourself clearing the plate. Sorry, I couldn’t. The mango and prawn rice rolls also take their inspiration from Vietnam. They are a translucent delight, the flavours and crunch reminiscent of Japanese food. Denice put the rolls on the menu thinking they would be a big hit with Chinese customers but it is the English who have taken to them. It costs £4.50 for four.
For an extra 10p, you get a plate of spare ribs in plum sauce, with some pickled veg, that struck me as being pretty much unbeatable. Fish, mushrooms and ripe red peppers are lightly fried in Japanese breadcrumbs for the Minmin’s special skewers. Finish them with a dip in peanut sauce or wasabi mayonnaise.
There is a tempting menu of crisp salads, stir fried noodles, rice dishes, curries and roasts (duck, char siu, belly pork, soya chicken). Deep flavoured, slow-cooked beef brisket, marinated in five spice, came with udon. The melty meat was offset by a dish of salt and chilli pepper squid.
But our favourite dish was the wonton lo mein. Moist shrimp and pork wontons are served with thin, dry egg noodles and irresistible XO sauce. Fortunately, we had a good spread of dishes or things could have turned ugly as we jabbed with chopsticks at the wontons.
I really do hope Minmin takes off. It’s sod law to go out on a limb about a place, but what the hell: Minmin rock-rocks. Bring on the ramen.