Top Noodle House — Restaurant in Melbourne

Apparently the owners are a Burmese couple who spent some time in Malaysia learning how to make classic Malaysian noodle dishes. They have learnt well. There is close to nothing that will separate what they serve in this restaurant with what you get in Malaysia.

Pan Mee (with soup and thick noodles): 4.9/5. Part of the charm of this type of pan mee is the rustic nature of the hand torn noodles. These noodles were probably rolled out with a pasta machine and cut with a knife which is an acceptable alternative if you don't like the inconsistency of hand torn noodles, but then that is supposed to be part of this dish. I realize it's a matter of preference so I am deducting a tiny 0.1 from their 5 stars. The rest of the dish was fantastic.

Pan Mee (dry with medium noodles): 5/5. They totally nailed it, except that the noodles were served without a side bowl of soup. The soup that you see in the pictures was a side dish that we ordered.

Fish balls and Pork balls: both were very good. Fishballs are close to the best and it would be THE best if not for the fact that Baba Chef sells better fishballs, but you will not be disappointed.

This place tastes of Malaysia. Fantastic achievement...

Have heard amazing thing about this place. Finally able to go. It was rather hidden behind the the big road, near the train station. From outside it didnt look like anything special, but inside is more spacious than what it looked like outside. Tried their noodle with razor clams (no idea what razor clams are, so just tried). Food came pretty quick, I have to say broth wasnt as flavourful as I expected. It was more on subtle and simple flavour. I asked for chili oil but they don’t have it which I was a bit surprised. They offered banh mi chili sauce which I was willing to try but it was super spicy I didn’t dare to put in my soup 😅. The soup came with separate ?soy sauce with chili slices. So I just pour that one into the soup and it was better. The razor clams were interesting, not sure if I would order that again, but I was glad that they were generous with it, not only giving like a few pieces of it. Overall it was a comfort food, good when you probably feel sick or during winter months, but pretty subtle taste. Might come back to try...

Friendly staff, surprising food! So, let’s break it down…

Atmosphere: ** Small little place, but the interior is excellently decorated with cultural decor. The layout of the tables utilises the space well and large open bay windows to really lift the lighting inside. Great work.

Customer Service: * We were greeted well and with a smile, take away orders were taken promptly, cooked under 10 minutes and we were thanked for our custom. Excellent!

Food (why we are here): ** Yee Mee Fried Noodle with Chicken. The noodles seemed a little bland to me when I tried them on their own, but then I added the chilli-herb sauce and it was such a tasty and spicy game changer. So yummy, I only added half as it would have been too spicy for me. The sauce is hot! Be warned!

Overall: **

The whole experience was great, service, atmosphere and food. It just felt it needed a little something extra, something felt like it was missing - however you will not be disappointed trying this place out. Thank you Top...