A few weeks back, we found out that one of our local Islington restaurants, Prawn on the Lawn, was closing after 13 years in London (and nine years in that particular location). The last time that site was vacated (when chicken restaurant LeCoq closed), it took four months before we knew what would be taking its place. But things have moved much more quickly this time around and a new restaurant has already opened there.
Originally, we had heard that it was to become "Urban Noodle", from husband-and-wife team Fengying Ran (who runs Mi Canteen in Chinatown) and Qinggguo Zheng. There, they specialise in Chongqing supreme flat noodles in spicy hotpots.
However, somewhere along the way it had a name change and it's now called Noodle Theorist. It's certainly a name out of left field, and we're pretty sure they are actually serving noodles, and it's not just some sort of noodle discussion group.
We managed to get a look at the menu and it's one that's led by a big selection of noodle dishes. So you'll find various biang biang noodles, including soy-braised beef and braised beef flank as well as various La Tian Zi options like tomato & scrambled egg, pepper chicken or aubergine. They also have plenty of beef soup noodle options, both in standard and "spicy and numbing" options. Alongside those are snacks like salt & pepper tofu, sesame shrimp on toast, handmade wontons and more.
They've opened with very little fanfare and it doesn't look like they've been properly discovered by locals yet. But there's nothing like it in the area (it couldn't be more different from next-door Trullo), so as the word gets out, we can see this becoming a big local hit.
More about Noodle Theorist
Where is it? 292-294 St Paul's Rd, London N1 2LH
When did it open? 22 September 2026
Find out more: Follow them on Instagram @noodletheorist
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