I thought I was back on Queen Street in Toronto last night. It wasn’t just that we were the only people over the age of 40. There was a buzz, a vibe, an energy, an atmosphere that you don’t see in San Miguel restaurants unless you go out at close to midnight which we never come close to doing.

There was another thing that reminded me of Toronto. We were in an Asian restaurant. In Toronto, there are almost 1,000 Asian restaurants. In San Miguel, there are maybe 15.

What I liked most about this one was, inside, it looked like an Asian restaurant, more specifically, like a Japanese restaurant. It was small, somewhat stark, with a food counter dominating the space. There were four of us. It was early. We were able to nab four stools together.

We ordered a bottle of local white and checked out the menu. The name of the place is Nudol which I think means knot. There are two other words used by the restaurant besides Nudol; they’re “pa picar” which I think might be translated as “for snacks”.

There are just ten dishes on the menu. I liked that. “Do What You Do Do Well”, went the old country song. 

The priciest dish on the menu was $240. I liked that even more.

The nice thing about having a rep as a full tilt foodie is that when you say, “Can I order appies for the four of us to share?”, most of the time they’ll be polite and say “yes”. Don Day’s Wife and our friends, Richard and Lorain, are very polite.

I went mainly for meat and chose the pork dumplings, the chicken wings and the pork belly bao, plus one veggie option, the smashed cucumbers.

There are almost as many names for pork dumplings as there are Asian countries, including baozi, gyoza, jiaozi and pot stickers. Nudol’s had mostly Japanese elements with a touch of Chinese from the Napa cabbage. Most impressive was the pork: A generous quantity, finely ground, with about a 30% fat content. It’s not difficult to finish off a dumpling in a frypan but it is difficult to finish them perfectly, getting a little crispness and char to the noodle. These were perfect.

The chicken wings were done Korean style in the fermented soybean and chile sauce known as Gochujang. The spice level was a little bold for Don Day’s Wife and Lorain but Richard and I had no complaints. The restaurant told us that they will lower the heat level upon request.

Next up was the bao buns, only my second ever bao buns in San Miguel. I think the first time I ever had foldover bao buns like the ones at Nudol was only about 20 years ago at a restaurant called Momofuku in Toronto. Good steamed bao buns should be fluffy pillows. Nudol’s were.

The melt in your mouth pork belly was sliced to a good thickness and cooked to the point just before it crisped. The moist chives and crunchy seeds were a nice complement.

Our last starter was fairly simple. If you like cucumber, you should like Nudol’s treatment. I liked the way it cleansed my palate and prepped me for the second page of the menu and my second time to make a decision.

One thing I knew for sure was that we’d be having ramen because that’s what all three choices are on page two. Was three too few choices? Absolutely not. I would put ramen in the top ten of absolutely everything to eat.

We eliminated the vegetarian choice because to us, the meat broth is the most essential part of the taste of ramen. We were down to two.

The chef/owner of Nudol is an animated, bespectacled guy called Danny Merkel. He’s a ballcap and t-shirt kind of chef, as opposed to a collarless jacket and toque chef. I found it hard to get him talking and learn more about him and his restaurant because he was constantly taking good care of his kitchen and his customers. I did get an answer though when I asked Danny which ramen he was most proud of.

“Number one. The one with the beef”, he answered.

Plaudits to Danny Merkel for what he agreed to next, something not a lot of restaurants would do; Danny Merkel said OK to serving a single order into two separate bowls. Plaudits, too, to his choice of heavy ceramic tableware. I’d never before in my life seen a bowl with holes in the side to rest my busy, overworked chopsticks.

That number one ramen is called Yakiniku, a word which, in Japanese, means grilled meat. The overall flavor of the ramen was very similar to shoyu but the fire-cooked beef did add a nice touch to the taste.

We also shared an order of the third ramen on the list. It’s a Shio, one of the world’s four most popular ramens (along with shoyu, miso and tonkotsu). Shio has one of the lightest ramen tastes but it is definitely one of the best. I loved the way it worked with the slices of pork belly.

To many at Nudol, the pleasures to the ear are as important as the pleasures to the tongue. At the rear of the restaurant are twin turntables. At the turntables are guys who treat vinyl like it’s more precious than vanilla.

Now Don Day’s Wife and I have fairly strong opinions about music in restaurants and, when it’s rap at a level 8, we have been known to hip hop right out of there.

Nudol played music to our ears, music that we grew up with or, at least, grew middle-aged with. The jockeys spun The Police. The jockeys spun Dire Straits. It was time to do the walk of life.

We asked for the cheque. The food portion was just over 1,000 pesos for the four of us. Very affordable. Even for four old age pensioners. I asked Don Day’s Wife, Richard and Lorain for their impressions of Nudol.

“When are we coming back?”, said Lorain. 

“Well there’s other new places I think you should check out first” I replied.

“After we come back here”, said Lorain.

Nudol is located at Salida a Celaya 51A in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The restaurant is open from 5:00 to 10:00 pm, Wednesday and Thursday; 5:00 to 11:00 pm, Friday and Saturday; 5:00 to 9:00 pm, Sunday.