Launched in 2001 as a food truck in Victoria, BC’s Chinatown, Noodlebox has grown exponentially, opening in Barrie and the Northern Ontario region.
Sault Ste. Marie’s Noodlebox restaurant opened in July 2023, when manager Ronica Sequeira moved from her Barrie location to Sault Ste. Marie. She says word of the new business spread quickly and the city welcomed it with open arms. The restaurant has been busy with new visitors and a group of regulars.
“I think Noodlebox is something different. When we opened, there were a lot of local Chinese restaurants, but there is a difference. Our food is prepared on site, nothing is stored beforehand,” Ronica explains.
Noodlebox staff prepares the food daily. They receive fresh produce every 2-3 days and cut everything on site. The restaurant also adheres to the 2000-year-old tradition of wok cooking: all their dishes are cooked this way.
Everything on the Noodlebox menu comes in a “box” format, from the Teriyaki Box, to the Ginger Beef Box, to the Butter Chicken Box, to the Bombay Mac and Cheese Box. Everything in these boxes is customizable to fit the customers’ dietary needs and preferences. The restaurant offers options like light carbs, doubling up on vegetables or protein, and using zucchini noodles instead of regular noodles.
“We offer a lot of different options that you might not find as easily elsewhere,” says Ronica.
Ronica’s favorite boxes are the butter chicken and the Yangzhou fried rice, the latter of which comes with pork, shrimp, a fried egg and lots of vegetables.
Customers tell Ronica they’re happy to see the food prepared in front of them. The food is essentially made from scratch when you order, rather than being left behind or arriving pre-packaged. When the business first opened, there was a lot of excitement, which led to delays as staff rushed to keep up. But, Ronica says, the community got it.
“People have been very kind and very understanding. That’s how it is in Soo.”
Generosity goes both ways. The Noodlebox team is currently collecting canned goods to be donated to the Sault Ste. Marie Community Soup Kitchen. They began accepting donations in May and will continue until the end of June.
This focus on the Sault Ste. Marie community comes from the fact that the business is locally owned. The three owners of this Noodlebox, who own other Noodleboxes in Northern Ontario and the one in Barrie, have lived in Sault Ste. Marie for over 25 years.
From Victoria’s Chinatown to Sault Ste. Marie, the business has grown. But the Noodlebox team sticks to a simple recipe: wholesome ingredients and a love of community.
Visit their Facebook page for more information.
