Happy Noodle - Chatswood

I have been coming here for the past 2 years. To me the food here is comfort food - food cooked by mum in the kitchen. I can't vouch for all the dishes as I have a low tolerance for spicy food but my korean friends love the Topokki and said the 국(soup) dishes are very similar to that back in Korea.  This is my go-to place in Chatswood when I crave for something that is soupy and hot and easy on the wallet. Disclaimer: I am not korean nor am I related or affiliated to the owner in any way.

One of the worst food I had so far! The name of the restaurant is not justified at all. It should be sad noodle. I do not understand how this place still survives!

Happy Noodles is located in the tiny Orchard Arcade just at the top of Chatswood mall. For me, I've walked past it a million times and always wanted to try it as it gets quite busy with local Korean diners. It's appealing because its appears family run and the kitchen it restaurant itself are very small. I have always been hesitant to go because Korean food is (in Chatswood anyway) notoriously over priced for what you get.  There is a specials board as you walk in and it appears well priced with lunch noodles around $12-13. I ordered the Homemade Noodles with Seafood and that's where the happiness ended. There were two small plates of kim chi that arrived with the noodle and the noodle itself looked very plain and there was no seafood in sight. The soup was slightly thickened which meant that the noodles were cooked in the broth itself. You wouldn't even do that at home. The noodles were 100% NOT homemade and was more like out of a packet being thin and manufactured. The soup base was good but didn't resemble any seafood flavour which was excusable to an extent as it was rich in chicken stock. The seafood consisted of 2 pipis, 3 mussels, and 4 thinly cut pieces of calamari. The first restaurant I have ever been to to call a dish seafood without having any prawns or shrimps. It would have to have been the most underwhelming noodle I have had in my life and commend the bravery of the owners to call this dish a seafood dish and charge accordingly. Perhaps it would have been a 'Happy Noodle' in North Korea but is absolutely disgraceful in all aspects. Not only were they skimp on seafood, the noodles only contained shreds of carrot, cabbage and potato. Had it not been for the lady owner to give me a glass of water during the meal and smiling, I was about to walk up to the counter and complain! I have no idea how this business has lasted so long and please, if Korean native is reading this educate me on you have a high level of tolerance for over priced food offering so so little. I do not take joy in criticising a business especially when its run by a family but for god sake they are charging people for their food so at least put some effort into it.  Yet another Korean restaurant that continues to reaffirm how stingy they are when it comes to portion control and how outrageously ambitious they are to charge prices that don't make sense.

Happy Noodles is located in the tiny Orchard Arcade just at the top of Chatswood mall. For me, I've walked past it a million times and always wanted to try it as it gets quite busy with local Korean diners. It's appealing because its appears family run and the kitchen it restaurant itself are very small. I have always been hesitant to go because Korean food is (in Chatswood anyway) notoriously over priced for what you get.  There is a specials board as you walk in and it appears well priced with lunch noodles around $12-13. I ordered the Homemade Noodles with Seafood and that's where the happiness ended. There were two small plates of kim chi that arrived with the noodle and the noodle itself looked very plain and there was no seafood in sight. The soup was slightly thickened which meant that the noodles were cooked in the broth itself. You wouldn't even do that at home. The noodles were 100% NOT homemade and was more like out of a packet being thin and... read more

I have been coming here for the past 2 years. To me the food here is comfort food - food cooked by mum in the kitchen. I can't vouch for all the dishes as I have a low tolerance for spicy food but my korean friends love the Topokki and said the 국(soup) dishes are very similar to that back in Korea.  This is my go-to place in Chatswood when I crave for something that is soupy and hot and easy on the wallet. Disclaimer: I am not korean nor am I related or affiliated to the owner in any way.