Internet-Famous "Flying Noodles" Make Their American Debut

Cue the "flying spaghetti monster" jokes: Flying noodles are on their way to the U.S.

(Of the non-monstrous variety.)

For the uninitiated, the flying noodle trend has been popular for a while now. The appeal is easy enough to understand: Noodles, suspended from "floating" chopsticks that are actually held up by a small pole (c'mon, you would've figured it out eventually), really do look like they're floating in mid-air. After Singapore's Hana Restaurant succeeded in making the dish Internet-famous, people began lining up for hours just to get a taste. It wasn't long before dozens of vendors popped up across Asia.

Now, Neptunes Raw Bar in Artesia, California has found the magical dish a home in the States. As of March 22, three kinds of "flying noodle" dishes grace the pages of their menu, available for $16.99 each: garlic shrimp, deep-fried soft shell crab, and chicken katsu. Except, in this version, it's not soba noodles that are floating; it's Neptunes' garlic noodles. Just as with its noodly brethren across the pond, though, you're not supposed to use the suspended chopsticks to eat the noodles. In California, forks are provided; in Asia, you use a different set of chopsticks.

Meanwhile, there's another noodle-based dish that's been making waves on the web, though this one's not an import; it's an American original. The spaghetti doughnut, which will make its debut at Smorgasburg this weekend, is an upgrade (or downgrade, depending on how you look at it) on the now-classic “spaghetti pie." The only difference is that this one's easily portable and, of course, it looks like a doughnut.

Between #PastaDoughnut and flying noodles, we're pretty sure there's going to be a lot to gawk at on Instagram over the next few months. At least it's all delicious.