When I saw the name Kirita Japanese Noodle Laboratory, I was very intrigued. Originally, I had wanted to go to the nearby place called Restaurante By The Sea because that was somewhere we went to on our very first trip to Madeira. I wanted a seafood festival of my own before going home, but a laboratory of Japanese noodles, well that deserves a visit.

After a week of Madeiran food and Nepalese momos, my body told me it was missing the rice and noodles.

Only slot we could get was 8pm on a Saturday night. You need to book. There are not many covers. 

We ordered the Kakiage ramen, Shoyu udon and three onigiri.

Ramen is the thinner noodles, maybe slightly yellow, with a bit of a bite. Udon are the thicker chewy white noodles. Onigiri are triangles of rice with a filling, wrapped in a seaweed sheet that acts as something you can hold whilst biting into the rice.

The broths that came with the noodles are very rich and well seasoned, meaning a bit salty, but you don’t have to drink it all. You might see photographs of people tipping the bowl into their mouths but be careful on the salt content. That’s just marketing. Or it might just be me and my high blood pressure. Enjoy it your way.

I really enjoyed my bowl of ramen and then I helped Angela finish her udon. Both equally delicious and on another day, I could have had one followed by the other.

The onigiri were freshly done and so they were nice and warm.

The owner is the third generation from a family tradition of noodle making and regularly goes back to Japan.

https://kirita.pt