A delightfully clean haven of healthy dishes and happy faces

SOMETIMES the urge to sit down and eat a reasonably priced bowl of noodles in a tranquil setting away from the cacophony of a dai pai dong becomes overwhelming in this busy city.

Yet despite the city's right claim to culinary diversity, it has few places that manage to fill that gap. Until recently, that is.

Enter eating plus, tucked away in a shopping mall above the airport railway station, and the perfect antidote to perching on a stool in a street cafe where the questionable hygiene is enough to make you wish you had brought your own chopsticks. Eating plus, with its capacious and squeaky-clean interior and beaming staff, offers a haven away from the Central scrum.

Inspired by slick Japanese eateries with their trestle-style tables and benches, the restaurant has made a deliberate effort to fill a rather lonely niche in the market for reasonably priced but tasty food.

On a Tuesday night, the place was barely a quarter full but it hummed with a relaxed but weary-looking crowd wanting to fill up before ambling off home.

As we settled down to scan the menu, we sipped our freshly made fruit juices ($25). One was a quirky combination of apples, oranges and grapes - a deliciously healthy mixture in which the tart flavour of the orange was superbly counterbalanced by the mellowness of the apple. The orange and carrot combo was also appealing if a little subdued in comparison.

The menu is divided into side dishes, ramen noodles in broth, other kinds of noodles and rice and risotto combinations. We were thrilled by the sight of the fried udon noodles with beef ($55) which was neatly piled in the middle of a huge white plate.