On a previous drive through downtown Puyallup we had seen My Lil’ Cube, an Asian café on South Meridian. It looked interesting, so we decided to try it out. We parked in front about a quarter past noon. The parking lot is small . . . tiny, easy to get into, but difficult to get out of (back out onto Meridian?). Next time we’ll park on a side street. We stepped into the restaurant and soon had a table by a window. It’s not a huge place, as you can probably tell from their name. There were probably thirty customers inside.
Looking at the menu, we were slightly confused by the heading of “Tapas.” That’s generally appetizers for Spanish food, but My Lil’ Cube is an Asian restaurant. Maybe this is something new? We looked over the offerings and decided on the Boiled Dumplings. They were ten for eight dollars, but they were all out, which seemed a little strange for an Asian restaurant at lunch time on Friday. An Asian restaurant being out of dumplings would be like a Texas BBQ being out of ribs.
We looked over the Tapas menu again and asked for the Ginger Pork: Pan-fried marinated pork tenderloin with homemade ginger sauce. It was delicious. We will definitely order that again.
We also ordered the Vegetable Tempura: Assorted vegetables with dipping sauce. We ordered this appetizer at the same time as the pork, but it came much later with the soups. The tempura was beautiful and excellent.
The major miss of the lunch were the Udon Noodles. There were two Udon bowls on the menu. I think we got the Nabeyaki Udon, which traditionally includes chicken, kamaboko (fish cake), mushrooms, and vegetables such as spinach, long green onion (Negi), and carrot. This bowl had mostly noodles and green onions.
The second bowl was the Miso Seaweed Corn Ramen. We enjoyed everything in the bowl from the miso to the corn kernels. I would have this again. Definitely.
There was a constant stream of people in the building from babies to adults. (All babies and children were accompanied by their parents.) We had never heard of My Lil’ Cube, but enjoyed their food even though it was hit and miss. Out of dumplings? Erratic service and non-delivery of published menu items could hold them back. People seem to be loyal, and they certainly had customers. We will return in the hopes that they improve. Their website is actually a Facebook page and lacks menu and basic information – m.facebook.com/My-Lil-Cube-Ramen-and-Asian-Cuisine-1492551467679634/
