Noodling Around

If you’ve prowled the food stalls of Southeast Asia, you know the appetizing scrape and sizzle of a wok as the cook stirs up some glorious dish. You also can hear it--at least when the customer noise level is low--at Menjin International Noodle House on Beverly Boulevard.

This is a place for takeout or a quick bowl of noodle soup, not a leisurely dinner. The ambience is minimalist, apart from a couple of nice Asian antiques. The tables are so small and the plates so large that when a friend and I ordered more than two dishes, we had to commandeer a neighboring table for the overflow.

This dilemma is inevitable here unless you’re dining alone. On the other hand, if you are alone and don’t relish your own company, Menjin has a communal table, which couples and groups also seem to enjoy.

The food is nicely done Japanese-Asian fusion. Recently, Menjin has started providing little bowls of marinated bean sprouts as a complimentary appetizer. The menu ranges through Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malaysian, Korean and Sri Lankan cuisines. It also promises Italian-, Russian- and Hungarian-style noodles, but I haven’t seen them yet.

There are surprises. For instance, yam sam-o, based on a Thai pomelo salad, has a Japanese dressing, rather than the spicy Thai sort. Japanese-style beef stew is not the typical bowl of beef and vegetables; the beef is removed from the cooking liquid, arranged on a plate and laced with sauce. Like most entrees, it comes with mesclun salad instead of rice or potatoes.

Hong Kong crispy noodle with seafood is so gorgeously presented that people waiting for seats peered over my shoulder and asked what it was. The deep-fried noodles form an airy golden brown puff at one side of the plate. Pouring from this is an assortment of seafood and vegetables including scallops, shrimp, squid, baby corn, carrots, bok choy, nappa cabbage and long beans. A cerise clump of pickled ginger adds color, like a rose pinned to a woman’s dress.

At lunch, there’s a wonderful combination of chicken salad and garlic noodles. In place of mayonnaise-loaded chicken, Menjin serves thin chicken slices arranged alongside salad greens, all in the house vinaigrette. On a separate plate come the noodles, tossed with bits of garlic, onions and carrots and splashed with sweet rice wine.

For takeout, choose noodle dishes like this one, rather than those in more liquid sauces, especially if you’re not going to eat right away. Another good takeout choice is zha-zha mien, Cantonese-style ramen topped with ground pork and miso paste. The noodles only look dry and flavorless. They have plenty of seasoning.

Pan-fried soba with wild mushrooms is a pleasing vegetarian dish; the buckwheat noodles are mixed with kaiware (radish sprouts), green onions and fine strands of nori seaweed--and hot pepper. The restaurant will make any noodle dish meatless if requested and will add extra toppings for a small fee.

Although Menjin identifies itself as a noodle house, it also offers rice bowls, salads and side dishes that include cha siu (barbecued pork), barbecued duck and fried shiu mai dumplings. Amazingly, the Japanese beef stew is listed as a side order, though it would be a perfectly ample main dish--and an inexpensive one at just $4.50.

Also in this category is an attractive rendition of Mongolian beef. Thinly sliced beef coated with teriyaki sauce comes with the usual green salad. What makes the plate stand out is the garnish: two crisp wonton skins standing on end in a mound of mashed potatoes--which, unfortunately, are tasteless and cold; I suppose if they were hot, the wontons would soften and collapse.

The same cold potatoes appear on the least successful dish I’ve had at Menjin, crisp duck salad. Far from being crisp, the duck was dry and chewy. The fried rice sticks that should have made a fluffy garnish, a la Chinese chicken salad, were like wire.

The menu doesn’t explain that beef curry on rice is a Sri Lankan curry. Probably Menjin’s hottest dish, and highly aromatic with sweet spices, it is quite a change from the restrained, artful style of most of the cooking.

Menjin has one dessert, a luscious, creamy tapioca pudding mixed with diced fresh mangoes, that is reminiscent of the Chinese sago and fruit desserts. The nicest beverage is hot tea, simply because the teacups are so attractive.

BE THERE

Menjin International Noodle House, 8393 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 782-0039. Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Closed Sundays. All major credit cards. Lot and street parking. No alcohol. Dinner for two, food only, $9 to $15.

What to get: Hong Kong crispy noodle with seafood, Japanese-style beef stew, sauteed Mongolian beef, curry rice, chicken salad with garlic noodles.