An evening with Nawamin X Naked Noodle

For a special dining experience to showcase the power of food and culinary art, Naked Noodle joined forces with Masterchef legend Nawamin Pinpathomrat, who back in 2018, wowed the nation with brilliantly designed and improvised Thai dishes.

Our dining experience was set up in Lambert’s Yard, themed with red and gold festive lanterns, floral patterned paper umbrellas, blossom wreaths and bamboo plants, immersed into a faux Thailand within Leeds.

 The menu for the evening consisted of five courses, each of which dish was prepared with a Naked Noodle pot. The mastermind behind the menu was of course Nawamin, who had been challenged to create five courses with a twist where street food meets fine dining.  

With a speech from head chef Nawamin to kick off the evening, we learnt about his inspirations for the tasting menu right through from his experience on MasterChef, to Thai traditions and his own enthusiasms for the culinary world. Presented on the taster menu were five finely tuned dishes, each of which brought an element of intrigue, interest and bewonderment. the main question being, how would the Naked Noodle pots complement Nawamin’s vision, and vice versa.

The Naked Noodle Taster Menu

• Naked Noodle Duck and Hoisin spring roll – Noodle and Confit duck leg spring roll, cucumber and spring onion and hoisin sauce 
• Naked Noodle Green curry stuffed baby squid – Noodle and prawn stuffed in a baby squid, green curry sauce and salmon roe 
• Naked Rice Japanese curry arancini with pork croquette – A skewer of Japanese curry arancini and melt-in-the middle pork croquette on the bed of shredded cabbage 
• Naked Noodle chili beef, ox cheek and Thai basil – Beef ramen, 8 hours cooked ox cheek and aromatic broth 
• Naked Noodle Red curry biscuit, fresh lychee, coconut ice cream – Coconut ice cream, fresh lychee and red curry crumble 

It was a thing of beauty of how each dish subtly incorporated the favours and textures of the noodle pot alongside fresh ingredients. In many situations, the noodles were soaked into a paste that could then be stuffed or binded into the main features of the dish.

Personal highlight were the baby squids which had been stuffed with the fragrant paste of the green curry noodles and sauce and the duck spring rolls where the flavours from the pot really shone through.

Most surprising course of the night though was the dessert which included the noodles within the biscuit and crumble. The delicate hints of the curry were balanced well with the sharp lychee and creamy coconut ice-cream. A real bedazzler.

The entire night was mind-blowing experience. The food was divine and seeing how a pot noodle snack with fresh ingredients can be combined with exciting, yet all of this combined with the rather humble Nawamin narrating and hosting was spectacular.Although I haven’t quite tried being as innovative with the Naked Noodles pots as we had on the taster menu, the pots have made for lush snacks so far and given me ideas of how you can take simple snacks like these and convert them into typical home cooked meals.

And just as a final finisher, Nawamin is an absolute sweetheart. Pure, passionate and a truly humble person.

I may be a tiny bit in love.

Have you ever tried the Naked Noodles, or even in general combining a snack like this into your cooking?

Charlotte xox

PS. I was invited to this special Naked Noodle taster menu in return for an open and honest review.