SEAReview
photo credit: Nate Watters
Reckless Noodle House
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Updated January 4th, 2022
Sometimes you have a day that just feels wonderful from start to finish. You wake up and notice your hair is looking particularly good, and then, on your way to work, you realize you’ve finally finished the punch card from the expensive coffee place down the street. You wrap up a big project and your boss says you can take it easy and leave a little early. You don’t hit any traffic as you take to the open road with your favorite song on the radio, and no one even sees your awkward car dance moves as you drive off towards home.
A meal at Reckless Noodle House, a Vietnamese fusion spot in the Central District, is just like this: thoroughly enjoyable, from the homemade ginger beer mules you’ll drink at the beginning to the sticky salted duck fat caramels you’ll eat on your way out.
photo credit: Nate Watters
The menu here is excellent pretty much across the board. The starters—like caramelized pork belly fresh rolls, spicy papaya salad, and crispy duck rolls wrapped in lettuce leaves—are fantastic and satisfying without being too heavy (they also go really well with the aforementioned homemade ginger beer cocktails). But the entrees are even better. The fried rice with turmeric, coconut, chili jam, basil, and cubes of pastrami, for instance, is one of those things you never knew you needed in your life until it showed up. Then there’s the wheat noodle dish with braised beef cheek, Sichuan chili oil, and sour mustard greens—it’s so tasty that you may find yourself wanting to put physical distance between yourself and anyone who tries to steal a bite. There are occasional small missteps, like a five-spiced duck confit that’s on the dry side, but considering the overall quality of the food, these are easy to forget.
The space is small and dark-ish, with hanging lanterns, decorative empty coffee bean sacks, and a whole wall covered in fish jawbones. It would be great for a small group dinner, or even a birthday, although given the size of the space, you might need to have multiple staggered meals to get all your friends involved (we’re assuming you have a lot). The outdoor, dog-friendly patio is also one of our favorite places to post up when we’re meeting our friend who brings their rambunctious lab wherever they go.
After is all said and done, even your wonderful, good-hair-and-free-coffee-filled day has to come to an end. But luckily for all of us, you can have an awesome plate of food at Reckless Noodle House any time you want. Preferably several, actually.