Coming Saturday: Noodle Fest 2019 at Ward Village

All kinds of ono noodles, live entertainment, eating contests and free admission

March 27, 2019

Cavina Quach,

Get ready for oodles of noodles: The second annual Noodle Fest presented by Sun Noodle is Saturday, March 30 from 3 to 9 p.m. at Victoria Ward Park. Remember the Ward Village Light Garden by the Ward Theatres last holiday season? That’s where Noodle Fest is happening.

What you can expect: 20 of your fave restaurants will be serving up their signature noodle dishes, from ramen to spaghetti and pho. Featured throughout will be different bowls of saimin, an homage to Hawaii’s plantation history. Nori’s Saimin and Snacks is even flying in from Hilo with — what else? — its famed saimin and snacks. Plus there’ll be booths by Ward Village merchants, cooking demos, a Samyang Nuclear Fire spicy noodle eating challenge and a Tsurutontan udon speed-eating contest. Did we mention admission is free? And Frolic is a sponsor, so come say hi at our booth!

Scroll on if you’re impatient for the food pics. Meanwhile, here’s the lineup of live entertainment:

3 p.m. Noodle Fest begins
3:10-3:30 p.m. Taiko drumming by Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Hawaii
3:30-4:45 p.m. Ukulele performances by the Ukulele Hale keiki, Ukulele Hale Ukulele International Contest Finalists and Team Hale Youth Leadership
4:45-5 p.m. Ukulele performance by Honoka
5-5:20 p.m. Cooking demo with Chef Mavro: fresh pappardelle noodles with wagyu fricassee, chimichurri, breadfruit, warabi, pickled mustard seeds
5:20-5:30 p.m. Donation check presentation from Sun Noodle to Hawaii Foodbank
5:30-6:30 p.m. Entertainment from Brown Bags to Stardom
6:30-6:55 p.m. Lion dance by the Asian Lion Dance Team
7-7:30 p.m. Ukulele performance by Karlie Goya
7:30-7:55 p.m. TsuruTonTan Udon Noodle Eating Competition: First contestant to finish a bowl (including the soup) of TsuruTonTan Deluxe Udon wins the bowl and a trophy
8-8:30 p.m. Musical performance by Eden Kai
8:30-8:55 p.m. VH07V Spicy Noodle Eating Competition: First contestant to finish two bowls of Spicy Ramen wins a trophy, VH07V T-shirt and $100 VH07V gift card
9 p.m. Noodle Fest pau

Signups for eating contests begin at 6 p.m. at the info booth next to the stage. Only one contest per entrant and it’s first come, first served.

Event parking is plentiful with more than 3,400 stalls around Ward Village, from Hale Ohana and Ross to theater complex parking to South Shore Market, Ward Centre and Ward Warehouse. There’ll be a Lyft ride share drop off/pickup area next to the festival. First-time riders can use code NOODLEFEST for a $20 credit. Current Lyft users can use code NOODLEFEST19 to get 20 percent off rides to and from the festival.

Here’s a preview of all the carby goodness coming your way:

Big City Diner

Garlic shrimp pasta, spaghetti and meatballs or spaghetti marinara, all served with toss salad and garlic bread; garlic shrimp salad, lemonade, li hing lemonade

Burgers on Bishop

Pork adobo teriyaki garlic noodle and egg

Chili noodles with fried egg, avocado and sour cream sauce

Dillingham Saimin

Won ton min, beef stick, hamburger. Also for Saturday: regular saimin

Goma Tei Ramen

Truffle ramen with two slices of tender chicken breast and shimeji mushrooms

Truffle cold udon noodle with housemade hollandaise sauce, shimeji mushrooms and soft poached egg

Truffle gyoza, cooked to order

Gyozilla HNL

Parmesan garlic noodles, bacon-wrapped mochi and gyoza in original, lamb, okonomiyaki and garlic flavors

Hawaiian Honey Cones

100 percent organic, gluten-free handmade cones (made in Hawaii)

JCI Honolulu

Chicken shio ramen with sous vide char siu chicken

Laverne’s Catering Hawaii

Chicken long rice

Lucy’s Lab Creamery

Ramen ice cream

Maile’s Thai Bistro

Pad thai chicken, pad thai vegetable, yellow curry beef with jasmine rice bowls, Thai tea and Thai coffee, rice paper rolls with noodles and choice of chicken, shrimp or tofu

Mega-Load Burgers

Ramen burger, pineapple bowl with pancit bihon and teriyaki chicken, crispy pancit palabok noodles

Nori’s Saimin and Snacks (from Hilo)

Cold saimin salad

Foie gras roast pork saimin

Also: Noodle Crunch cookies (a special Noodlefest-only creation), Nori’s Koko, chocolate mochi cookies, Nori’s chocolate mochi cake, lemon peel butterflies

Pho 3.14

Phomen salad. Also for Saturday: Pho noodle pot pie

Pig & The Lady

Pho sot vang

Hanoi-style cha ca la vong rice noodles

Also for Saturday: Vegetarian farmers pho, Mama Le’s won ton with egg noodle, bun rieu rice noodles with minced paddy crab, assorted banh mi sandwiches

Shige’s Saimin Stand

Regular Shige’s saimin. Also for Saturday: Shige’s fried saimin, both with housemade noodles

Sun Noodle

Garlic butter shrimp saimin in a hot dashi specially prepared by Santouka, topped with green onions, fishcake, luncheon meat and garlic butter shrimp — a Noodle Fest exclusive not sold at Santouka restaurants

Sweet Creams

Ramen roll bowl with choice of cold brew coffee or barley tea broth, homemade mochi kamaboko, chocolate candy egg, coconut candied green onion and Pocky chopsticks

Wahoo’s Tacos

Carnitas cold soba. Also for Saturday: fish tacos, fried baja rolls

Zach’s Event Catering

Ginger long rice with kalua pork and lomi salmon

VH07V (retail)

Apparel and official Noodle Fest event tees — proceeds from $25 navy-colored Noodle Fest shirts will go to the Hawaii Foodbank

… Plus these restaurant vendors

Allegrini Mozzarella — menu TBD
Tatsuo’s — menu TBD

Noodle Fest Hawaii presented by Sun Noodle
Saturday, March 30, 2019
3 to 9 p.m.
Victoria Ward Park (old Marukai site), Ward Village
Free admission
http://noodlefesthawaii.com/