*Disclaimer – I ain’t no food critic, just a foodie giving her personal opinions*
I’ve been out exploring some more food places in South London! Oodles is an Indo-Chinese casual dining chain. Their branch in Tooting is quite new and this was the first time I’d had the opportunity to experience their food.
I was so excited to try this place out! There’s nothing better than a good fast food Asian fusion, especially one with such reasonable prices. Me and my flatmate went between 11am-3pm where they do a lunch offer to get a large box for £7 with a free drink. It was a great offer for the amount of food you get.
The Food
What I ordered in the £7 lunch deal:
Vegetable noodles
Singapore rice
Chicken in black bean sauce
Salt & pepper chicken
Diet pepsi
* My flatmate got the exact same but switched out the rice for spicy chips
The way this menu works is you choose a base (rice, noodles or fries) and you can select either one or two of these. Then you choose one saucy dish and one dry dish. It’s really a decent amount of food for the price and neither of us were able to finish our boxes. They also provide suggestions of popular combinations in case you’re overwhelmed by the choice and can’t decide!
The chicken was very tasty and tender in both of the dishes I chose. The salt and pepper chicken was the main dish I was excited about and it didn’t disappoint. It was the right amount of spice, slightly crispy and well-flavoured. The spicy fries were also delicious. The Singapore rice was very spicy and the staff made me aware of this when choosing the option, so don’t pick it unless you can handle the spice. Overall with everything in the box together you get a beautiful taste explosion.
Value For Money
I’ve already mentioned this, but I found the price to be very reasonable for the amount of options you can select for your box. You essentially get two base options, a sauce and a side option. I really loved the amount of choice they had. The lunch time offer in particular with the free drink was really great!
Service
The staff were very friendly and helpful! Their menu can seem quite overwhelming for a first time visit. They asked us if we’d been before and if we needed the menu explaining to us (which we did). The staff member did a quick overview and ordering was very simple. Once we had ordered we were given a number and about ten minutes later our food was ready to collect from the counter. All very quick and easy.
Atmosphere
They have a good amount of seating if you want to dine in, but when we went we were the only people there. Some customers and delivery drivers came in to pick up food, but ultimately we had the whole place to ourselves. This could have been a combination of factors including the time on a weekday we went, as well as the fact it has only just recently opened. It’s a really pleasant place to dine in though. It’s very clean and has a modern feel about it.
Overall
My overall rating shouldn’t be a surprise considering how much I have raved about it above. I honestly struggled to fault it. I really enjoy this type of quick service food, and it has been a while since I have found somewhere that was as tasty as Oodles. I’m looking forward to going back to try different things on their menu, which I’m anticipating will be equally delicious.
Dietary Requirements
Oodles openly advertise themselves as halal, which is great as sometimes trying to find out if a place has a halal meat or not can be unnecessarily difficult. A quick note on the menu saying if things are or aren’t halal is always useful!
For vegetarians and vegans, there are some really great meat free options available.