Noodle Express, surprisingly good in Madison, Wis.

I was in Madison for the day and met a friend who lives there for lunch. She suggested this pan-Asian place, and frankly, I wasn't expecting much. The name and the strip-mall location both seemed highly unprepossessing and the online menu didn't seem too exciting, either. It offers mainly routine Chinese-American fare (e.g. bourbon chicken and crab rangoon) plus a Vietnamese list big on bun and pho. On weekdays, there's a buffet lunch featuring stir-fries and such.

But for Saturday lunch, they switch over to a buffet that offers authentic Cantonese dishes, dim sum and more.

Today's offered several kinds of dumplings and bao, radish cakes, some exceptional pork-and-eggplant fritters, bbq ribs, Chinese broccoli, a variety of soups, salt-and-pepper shrimp, a number of pork and chicken dishes, and much more. A separate table offered an array of Korean-style banchan, with radish kimchi, seasoned seaweed and a dozen other things, including meat and fish dishes.

The tab for all you can eat, including beverages, $12. Can I say that each dish I tried measured up the best examples of its kind? Well, no. But it was all above average, and taken in aggregate quite remarkably good.

They also do what looked like an excellent hot pot on weekends.

Noodle Express
http://bestnoodleexpress.com
2817 E. Washington St.
Madison, WI 53704
(608) 216-9238

They have closed.