I’ve been on the hunt for a great spot for some Chinese food for a while now, and while the current situation in the country is not the perfect climate to be going out for dinner, I figured it’s always good to have a place in mind when I get that sudden craving. Also, I don’t mean the traditional chicken's feet or whatever unconventional dishes that came out of that part of the world. I mean the wholesome local Chinese take-out food we’ve all come to love. 

Nom Nom Chinese Food Truck, a fairly recent venture recently started by Uditha Sunnadeniya, is found on the smallest corner of the Bloomfield grounds, serving our local take on Chinese food. 

Location & Ambience 
Frankly, I think the spot they’ve chosen is great. Found directly on the main road, the restaurant provides easy access for people passing by to stop and order take out without having the hassle of getting down from their vehicles. It even has a few seating options with tables set out right next to the food truck which has a deck above it for the folks who love a small view while eating. Quite a relaxing vibe to it.

Food
ur Chicken Soup (Rs. 700/-). If I’m being honest, the only “hot” part about the soup was that it was just off the stove and there was a sneaky little undertone of pepper. It tasted like a very rich tomato soup with chicken and egg; a dish for a rainy day at home. A very happy dish. The title had me slightly confused, and yet the dish left me quite content.

When eating Chinese food, I think there’s definitely one dish everyone goes for; Hot Butter Cuttlefish(Rs. 850/-). It wasn’t the crispiest, but it was flavoured just right, without going overboard on the oil. The one thing I wish they would do (and this is something I found in quite a few places) is reduce the copious amounts of vegetables that they add to the dish just to add volume but unfortunately, that’s a pipe dream. 

They have a selection of meats to choose from, with a choice of which sauce you want to pair your meat with and I was quite excited but was sadly a little disappointed by the flavours. The Black Pepper Beef (Rs. 950/-) was a little too salty to taste anything else.  

They also offer combo meals, which I find is well worth the price. The Two Meat Combo(Rs. 900/-) meal comes with a sizable portion of Egg Fried Rice which I found was cooked perfectly. Fluffy and light, it’s perfect to pair up with any selection of meat. Unfortunately, the pork was tough to taste solely because of the excess amounts of soy sauce and what I’m guessing is a handy amount of salt. The Sweet and Sour Chicken, on the other hand, was lovely. Not too sweet and the meat was not overdone. 

Then came the Seafood Chop Suey Noodles (Rs. 1,100/-). When I saw the name of the dish on the menu, I really just expected a normal noodle dish. To my surprise, the noodles were thin strands of almost “Papadam” like crisps mixed into cuttlefish, prawn and yes, you guessed it, a whole load of veggies. I must mention though, the prawns in the dish were the most finely cooked prawns I’ve come across in a while and if you’re prawn crazy, I recommend you try it out.

Service
The service at the restaurant is great. They are very accommodating and quite approachable. It’s a great thing to see when new places like this are also open to hearing your feedback, so feel free to tell them what you thought about the food!

Overall, the menu they offer is pretty well rounded with quite a lot of options to choose from, and with a little bit of tweaking here and there, I feel the range of dishes have quite a lot of potential.   

The Nom Nom Chinese Food Truck is located on Prof. Stanley Wijesundara Mawatha and they operate from 11 am to 10 pm. You can reach out to them on Instagram (@nomnomchinesetruck) or Facebook(Nom Nom Chinese Food Truck). They even have a promotion on PickMe Food where if your order is between Rs. 1500 and Rs. 2500, you get free soup! Anything higher and they offer you a free Chicken Dish. So go ahead and check them out!

text Vihan Wickramasurendra 
photos  Nimalsiri Edirisinghe