Dragon Warrior Noodle

Sadly, this restaurant appears to not have survived the pandemic, but Chef Jason still pops in to make some bomb ramen from time to time.

Within the culinary world the term fusion cuisine is a term that refers to the combining of multiple cuisines and techniques to form a new cuisine. Some food writers and individuals in the culinary world argue that because the term Asian fusion “has become the catchall way to describe any restaurant using Asian ingredients that charges more than $20 per person” (Garbes, 2015), it is time to retire the phrase. While I (@knrottet) cannot comment specifically on whether it is time to retire the phrase (for now I’ll leave that to the culinary professionals), when I search Asian fusion near me in McAllen, Texas Dragon Warrior Noodle appears in my search. And good news- they didn’t charge us $20 per person.

Recently though, we had a chance to visit Dragon Warrior Noodle in McAllen, Texas. This type of food is right up my alley, but perhaps not as much of a favorite of my better half. Having said that, she was a trooper and found a chicken ramen dish to try, and agreed that another visit was warranted. This made me, the lover of almost all things ramen, very happy.

From my perspective – the #SpicyWarrior was legit. The pork belly was very flavorful, as was the broth. And because I can’t seem to soft boil eggs correctly for my at home ramen dishes, I also appreciated the egg in the dish. The bean sprouts and veggies had the right amount of crunch for as much flavorful broth as they were stewing in, and I loved that while the broth itself wasn’t overly spicy, it made my nose run a bit. 🙂

There are a few other noodle houses in the RGV that we will most certainly try for comparison, but I am most definitely looking forward to going back and exploring the rest of the Dragon Warrior Noodle menu.

And truth be told – I don’t really have a current opinion on whether or not the term Asian fusion should be retired.