EC1 Noodle Express

Cheap and cheerful Chinese tucked away off Clerkenwell Road near the Zetter Hotel.

My takeaway lunch last week was not notable but I suspect at some point I will still return here given that the food is served up speedily, the prices are right and so is the restaurant's proximity to my place of work.

Expect standard fare like chicken in black bean sauce and fried rice as well as slightly more interesting offerings like Malaysian laksa, Singapore noodles and stir fried udon.

Really good lunch spot. Super quick service, especially for takeaway. The vegetarian laksa is amazing. And it comes with the soup and noodles in separate containers so you can mix them together later and the noodles don't get all soggy. Plus it's a huge amount of food for a good price. We have smaller bowls back at the office and I get 4 bowls out of it.

A no-nonsense feed that was in the right place at the right time and not too pricey. That's what we came here for, and I suspect most other visitors end up here for the same reason!

Having initially walked past and scoffed at how empty this place was, we soon found that all the busier restaurants around the corner had no free tables so were forced to turn tail and return here. It was late on a Wed eve after a drink-heavy food-light yelp event with no other options in sight - so we decided to take a gamble.

The tastiness of the food was matched only by the brusqueness of the lady in charge (and subsequently, our giggles!). We basically felt like naughty kids for most of our visit - having said we'd like to eat in, we were essentially shouted at that they were closing in half an hour, then sent to the furthest table from the till. We had to laugh, especially when we then heard her telling off someone in the kitchen...

But hey the food came out quickly, the ingredients all tasted fresh and my chicken udon was generously-sized and delish. My mate also enjoyed his veggie ho fun (though the seaweed starter less so) and they happily brought him out extra chilli to add to his taste. All for a very reasonable price too, so no matter how grumpy the manager may be you can't argue with that!

Not the cheapest place, but for the portions you get it is one of the best value Asian noodle and rice shops I have been to!


I tried the EC1 special ho fun (stir fried rice noodles), and it was pretty delicious and tasty, although it was a bit too sticky. The portion was so big that on a normal day, it would have been enough to feed two of me. On that day, however, I was super hungry from having skipped breakfast.


Service is very fast, you sit in long tables Wagamamas style, and the toilets are pretty clean. What more could you ask for?

Very good place for noodle dishes. Very fresh and large portions at cheap prices! Will have leftovers fir another few meals. Very clean and the staff very friendly!

Looks like I'm alone in this, but this is my favorite noodle joint in town. The EC1 Ho Fun with chicken, prawn, egg, squid, crabstick and more is amazing. I have never had chicken this yummy at a noodle place in London- it is seriously good. Sometimes I switch out the ho fun for udon, and guess what- still great.

This may even be outdone, however, by the Laksa. Holy goodness, it is amazing. Worthy of the Malaysian flag flying out front. A massive bowl of the spicy coconut curry goodness will sort you out during a chilly winter. Full of noodles and fish, it is seriously tasty.

Start off with dumplings and prawn crackers, and you're cruising. It's all good value for money, and definitely worth searching out if you work near Farringdon.

Eight of us shuffled in here yesterday for a hasty work lunch on the run. As a very impromptu decision we worried whether they would have enough seats to fit us all and if they would manage to get our food out in time before we had to be back at work. As it turned out, we needn't have stressed about either of these issues- a table of eight was waiting for us as we arrived and our food was with us in (slightly disturbing) record time.

Noodle Express' menu is exactly as you would expect- lots of noodles, a few laksa's and some fried rice to boot. Controversially I went for the house rice option. Approximately 40 seconds later, it was sitting in front of me. Looking back now I think I can still hear the sound of the microwave in the background. Ping, grub's up!

Having said that, it was actually quite tasty. Although I couldn't really taste the prawns, generally I would say it wasn't bad. Food envy kicked in pretty quickly though when everyone's elses food started to arrive. Sticky stock noodle soups and spicy prawn laksa's made my rice look so very middle of the road. To analogise, it was the Embrace support slot to their Foo Fighter's headline set.

Nonetheless, given how cheap the food is at Noodle Express it feels a little ridiculous to moan. For 8 of us, including service, drinks and prawn crackers, the bill came to £60. Around this neck of the woods these prices are unheard of and so I have no doubt that I'll be back. Next time though it will be noodles all the way.

Overly sauced and light on veg and tofu. Was hoping to have found a real gem but now understand why it's in a small alley space hidden from higher traffic. Surprised by the other positive comments so I added a star for the possibility that my particular entree was just a big miss.

Agree with the other posts... the laksa is fantastic....
Great depth of flavour, cheap and plenty of it.

If you're coming for lunch... get here early... the place was rammed by 1pm.

Cash only..

The laksa here is one of the better ones in London. I haven't tried anything else because kinda hesitant due to reviews of other dishes. There is a better buzz here at lunch than for dinner. Cash only so be prepared.