United Noodles — Attraction in Minneapolis

i love the noodles here. quite fancy!

For a moment, there were just way too many thoughts and ideas going through my mind, and I was just overwhelmed. I remember thinking and asking myself questions like: Should I go in and help him? Should I at least stop it and tell an adult?

But instead of following my heart, and doing what was right, I froze. I froze there like a statue, too shocked to even blink. The shouting noises seem to have faded into the background. And I seemed to have faded in my own world. I regretted that I'd ever laughed at him. The feeling of complete melancholy, the feeling of downright regret and hatred, the feeling of resentment made an alliance and loomed over me. I felt like I was gagging on salty waters, but too afraid and too bashful to use my arms and legs to swim to the surface.

He must have noticed me, for he looked up at me with all the strength he had left. He was bruised all over his face. For about ten seconds, he looked at me and I looked at him. He then mouthed the words: "Help, please."

Instead of standing up for him, I backed down.

I walked backward, further and further back until I stumbled and fell out of the circle of spectators. I looked in his direction until the gap in the crowd started to fill in. Then I walked away fighting back tears.

I wanted to march up and tell the aggressors and the spectators that what they'd done was inhumane. I wanted to tell everybody that they did not have the right to pick on a boy one-third of their size, they did not have the right to tell a boy that he wasn't beautiful, just because of a subtle birthmark on his face. I wanted to tell them that they were the definition of ignorance and failure. I wanted to tell them that what they were doing was wrong!

But instead, I walked away and let the victim down.

Three years have passed since the incident, and a lot has changed and happened. But strangely, that scene is as clear and concise in my mind as it was then. The regret and the pain sting just as much as it did then. The incident has become a scar that has formed on my heart and never seems to heal. It's like a curse that can never be broken.

I'll bet he has forgotten and hated me for what I have done. And I have hated myself for not speaking up. But I know that it's too late now and I have already lost a chance to be brave and to be myself.

So with this opportunity, I wanted to show and tell everybody that: Sometimes, the things you see about me are only the things I reveal. The things you think you know about me are only the things I let you know about. There is much more of me that I haven't revealed, of which you have absolutely no idea.

Perhaps the reason that people are afraid to reveal their true identities is that they might think their thoughts are too bitter, unlikable, unique and different. I'm a great example of that! I could have followed my heart and stood up for the boy, but instead, I went with the flow and didn't help a person in need.

I hope that people will learn from my experience and stop filtering their own unique coffee beans just to go with the flow. Please always be the person that you really are. I want to tell everyone that it's okay to go upstream. You don't always have to end up in the same position as others. And that's what makes this...

I am learning so much about Minneapolis! United Noodles is an oriental food market that sells a lot of different cuisines from Chinese to Japanese to Indian, etc. They have a ramen restaurant in the middle of the store.

You would not expect to drive by this place and know what it is - it's kind of tucked in a warehouse district, but it is such a neat experience!

For the fun experience and being able to get all ranges of Asian cuisine in a one stop shop, I give this place a 5 star. They had fruit that I had never seen before and apples straight from China!

There were a few cons with coming here. You can find some good deals but it is a little spendy to shop here. I dont think it's priced where you could do all your grocery shopping there if you wanted to. The staff were friendly but not very knowledgeable about the different products (at least in this experience). They knew where things were but not what the difference was between say a gold label and silver for seaweed. With this sort of store, it would be nice for newcomers to get more of a hands on experience and I would definitely have bought more.

The ramen restaurant, we found out, doesn't use noodles that you can buy in their store...they buy them from somewhere else. I was kind of surprised they wouldn't offer a product that they're advertising. Are their ramen noodles they're selling not good then? What are you saying to customers?

My boyfriend was raving about how good their ramen was until we had it. Dont get me wrong - the meat was falling apart tender (very impressive work with their meat and eggs!!) - which was amazing, but ramen is mostly about the broth and the broth had no flavor. It smelled amazing but when you tried it, it just tasted more like water. Maybe that's how it is supposed to be? We added soy sauce and hot sauce to it and it ended up being really delicious!! But it didnt seem to be as good as it used to as far as flavor. Their calamari bites were really tasty. See the attached pictures!

Their chopsticks that they offered were of really poor material and the wood splintered on all of the ones we opened. I have never worried about getting a splinter from chopsticks until I encountered these.

Overall, though, a really neat time and I would definitely recommend trying this place out and...

Have you ever traveled to Japan, or China, or Korea, or Vietnam, or Indonesia? Well, I have many times. If you have traveled to Asia, I am sure you're like me - always craving a certain food that you had over there and which you have simply given up trying to find here in Minnesota.

Well, my buddy said, "oh, you should check out United Noodles". "what?" says me? Never heard of it. Well......... Now I am their biggest fan! I traveled up Hiawatha and followed Google Maps to UN. At least I thought I did - it's in kind of a warehouse kind of place - parking is along the side of another warehouse. If you see the new "Coastal Seafood" location, turn into the alley in between the two warehouses. OR, follow all the Asian descent people (and crazy Caucasian people like me)! The place was a veritable zoo on the day I went there - crowded with people.

This is a warehouse filled with Asian foods, spices, cooking oils, candies, frozen foods, drinks, noodles (dah, the name), meats, produce (I took a photo of true Japanese daikon!!!!) and even cooking pots, pans, dishes and Asian toys! Truly overwhelming on the first time I went to UN. Plan to spend an hour or more just walking through the enormous warehouse-type building.

I wandered through the place, marveling at the number of authentic Japanese and Korean foods that I saw on the shelves. Unbelievable, really.

I have traveled to Japan for 125 days between 2017 - 2019. I fell in love with the foods and the culture of Japan. Now that I "discovered" UN, I can taste my "omoide" of my travels through Japan. Oh, and what food was I specifically never found in MN until United Noodles? Authentic Japanese "natto" (fermented soybeans all gooey and smelly), authentic soba noodles, and Japanese Mayonaise. Oh, and real Korean kimchi. I found all of them at UN!

I have now shopped many times at UN. If you miss your time in Asia, or you're of Asian descent and miss the foods of your childhood, get to UN. Seriously. Prices were a bit higher, but these are unique foods that are mostly unavailable in any other shopping store in MN. So unique!

5 star baby. Hontouni sugoi deshita! Aishite imasu,...