YuMe

Service was great and the restaurant is clean, nice and quiet. We reserved a table for four adults and one 8 months old baby and the waitresses could not do more to help. The food was great. We had tuna sushimi and California rolls for starters. For main I had the pork belly ramen and my friends had the beef bento, pad tai and beef noodles all very tasty and came out the same time. More importantly very good portion. It’s simple, clean and sleek eatery. Highly recommend it.

It has been awhile since I have been down to Swindon so I was pleasantly surprised to see some new companies and restaurants in town! I had been checking out the new Morrison’s and was going to walk over to the florist next door to see if I could get some floral supplies when I spotted YuMe. YuMe is right on the corner under one of the Brazilian Restaurants and specializes in Noodles and Sushi. I spotted a couple of people having lunch inside, so I decided I would have lunch here too.
I was warmly greeted and allowed to choose a seat, so I decided to park myself in the window. The décor is modern and quite minimalist, but does seem to be similar to other sushi restaurants or noodle houses. You can order for takeaway, so if you are in a rush, this might be a good stop considering it isn’t far away from the bus stop for the lunchtime link. I did notice on their website that they will be rolling out a delivery service soon! I’m not a huge fan of sushi… I know, but let’s just say it wasn’t the best meal before embarking on a heavy night of drinking to celebrate my birthday. Anyway, they do have Bento Boxes, Ramen, Pan Fried Noodles (Yaki Soba), Salads, Teriyaki Plates, and what they call «Street Market Food». Not quite sure what that means, but the «Street Market Food» mains are the most expensive on the menu. They sound delicious, but I was interested in trying their Yaki Soba. I decided to go with the Yaki Soba with Chicken and a side of Edamame.
As people were ordering drinks, I overheard that they do not serve coffee, just green tea for hot drinks. And I was looking for a cube or two of ice in my water, but they also don’t have ice. A minor issue really, although the man that was told they didn’t serve coffee did seem quite upset and didn’t drink much of his green tea. My food came out quite quickly, so again it has potential for those on a timed lunch break. The plate of Yaki Soba was quite substantial… in fact the couple at the other end of the table facing the window, ended up ordering just one plate of Yaki Soba to share. There are chopsticks on the table, but they do offer cutlery if your chopstick skills aren’t up to par.
If you have had a Chinese Lo Mein (sauteed/​pan fried noodles) then a Yaki Soba is along that line. I quite liked their Yaki Soba, it had a creamy quality about it and it was fully of veg, chicken, and tofu! I wasn’t expecting the tofu, but it is a nice addition. In fact compared to some of the Yaki Soba I have had, I would put this near the top because it was a solid, comforting plate of noodles. And the Edamame comes in a small bowl, hot out of the steamer with a sprinkle of sea salt. They also provide you with another small dish to discard the outer part of the Edamame. The problem with Edamame is that once I start, I cannot stop. One of my friends had asked what the point of salting the shell was if you aren’t eating it… my tip, instead of squeezing the bean out of the pod, use your teeth to pull the bean out of the pod and into your mouth; that way you are getting some of the salt on the outside of the pod.
They do have a small selection of desserts and I was quite interested the ice cream in flavors like Matcha Green Tea and Sesame Red Bean, but I’ll have to try it on another occasion as I was so full I didn’t finish my Yaki Soba. They also have a Panko Banana and a Yuzu Cheese Cake. I should have asked to see if the Cheese Cake was the light, fluffy, chiffon type Japanese version or a dense, creamy American version. My bill came to just over £10, but you could easily have a lunch under £10.