Seli's Noodlebar — Restaurant in Ghent

Disappointingly the noodles in my wonton soup were handmade but overcooked ending up being mushy - the soup was not very flavoursome but wasn't too bad - could do better. I enjoyed the wonton most but they were unremarkable in any other context, the fungus in the wonton soup was a welcome textual addition though!

My partner ordered fried rice which turned up oily displaying a lack of cooking skill. It tasted ok.

As for sides we got Viet spring rolls which arrived without fish sauce (the sauce on the table is not at all what is served in Vietnam) and were nowhere near as crispy/crunchy as they ought to be; more like a Chinese interpretation of the real thing.

The Xiao long bao were just bad - thick skin with no soup inside - definitely avoid these if you're ever had the real deal, and probably if you haven't!

Overall I don't know how this place gets such good reviews - Chinese food in the UK is much better and I don't think that's any great benchmark.

Following the response from the owner:

Just to be clear: I'm not holding them to a standard of Chinese food mutated for a British audience; I've traveled in China with Chinese people eating lots of (wonderfully varied) Chinese food and found Seli's to be entirely lackluster on this basis and certainly far too expensive to warrant the quality of the product.

We left most of the noodles and half of everything else.

Given the laughable attitude of the owner and their liking of bad publicity I've cross-posted this review on Trip...

I had an incredibly disappointing experience at this restaurant and I will never order from here again. I would advise others to avoid it altogether unless it's an absolute last resort, and even then, I can't imagine a situation where it would be worth it. The fried rice with fried chicken was a total letdown - the rice was mediocre at best, but the chicken was horrendously overcooked. When I called to address the issue, the person who answered the phone rudely dismissed my complaint, insisting that it was how the dish was "meant to be cooked." As an Asian individual, I know a thing or two about fried chicken, and this was definitely not it. When I sarcastically asked if she had ever even tried fried chicken, she defensively claimed she hadn't. The lack of accountability was astounding. When I requested to speak with the manager, the staff member initially told me to call back tomorrow at noon, but then backtracked, saying she had no idea when the manager would be available. The chicken was so dry that it was practically grey in color, as evident in the photo I uploaded. I also ordered the duck and fried rice, which were passable at best - the portion of duck was disappointingly small, and the flavor was bland. Even Carrefour instant food would have been a better value. Save yourself the trouble and dine elsewhere. Not at...

I went three separate times because this place is rated as one of the best noodle bars in Ghent, and I kept hoping it would eventually click for me. But in the end I had to conclude their noodle soups just aren't very good. I got a different one every time and they were all bland :( They have their special spicy sauce on every table, which can help mitigate the blandness. But it won't fix the lack of depth in flavour profile.

I like that the noodles are homemade, but they were cut unevenly and always overcooked. When I commented on this, I was told they're like that because they're homemade. This is untrue: a skilled chef will cut handmade noodles evenly, and cook them the appropriate amount.

The wait staff was always welcoming and friendly, I really liked them. The restaurant itself is cosy and clean.

The worst part for me is that I've now discovered the owner (?) leaves unprofessional replies to negative reviews, on every review site. Instead of taking in these criticisms with dignity and grace, and trying to better the operation, they just always blame the customer. That's terrible :(

I thought this place just didn't know any better. But now I know they've been told again and again that their food needs a little improvement, and instead of trying to work on this, they...