DTLA: Noodles at Buddha Belly

 

I recently checked out Buddha Belly at the new Corporation Food Hall in Downtown Los Angeles. I tried one of their specials, the seafood pad ke mao. The drunken noodles were just the right amount of spice for me. Seafood included shrimp, fake crab, squid and fish.

 

 

 

Buddha Belly has a sense of humor!

The next time I went over to Buddha Belly, I had the seafood pad thai. This pad thai was too sweet for me and there wasn’t any fish. I’d go back to the pad ke mao any day. My friend had the banh mi the first time we went and liked it. She did try to order tots but they were out that time. And then she ordered chicken satay that were burnt and definitely not worth $9 for the tiny portion. I was a bit bummed for her. We agreed we prefer Sticky Rice over at Grand Central Market for our noodles fix next time.

 

 

Some thoughts on Corporation Food Hall:

One of the vendors has already left the hall after 2-3 months of opening. They failed to pay rent.

They are in a good location and much closer to my office than Grand Central Market. However, it doesn’t feel very authentic and organic. It’s almost as if a “corporation” (duh) decided which vendors would be trendy and hot and got them to sign up. Well, the pizza/ Italian spot obviously weren’t doing well when there was a crazy “fun” pasta place a few doors down.

Still, I welcome any and all new lunch spots by me so I’ll go back to check out the other places soon. My friend is eyeing the poke shack next.

 

Buddha Belly

724 S Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90015  —  (626) 493-8445

 

© The Minty 2017