The Beijinger Blog - Noodles

Capital Bites: Revisiting STAY, New Pies & Mr. Hong Comes to Beijing

thebeijinger — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0800

I've been reading a lot about noodles this week. Mostly due to an initial bout of Googling the question "Who made noodles first", which I've discovered via the Beebs that yes, they're from China. Wonderful! My Italian friend now owes me a fiver. Not that noodles really have much to do with today's post, unless you're liking the look of the above – as tasty as it was pretty. Read on to find out where it's from, and other less noodly dining news.

Wokipedia Holiday Special: Nice Noodle Guide #5

tomomalley — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0800

Ropes fray. Cables melt. Hair turns white and falls out. It’s tragic, but all long, worm-like things come to an end. Especially earth worms – they live for barely six months. Nice Noodle Guides, fun as they are, are not exempt from this absolute. Next week, normal blogging services resume, and this daily column will be but a long, twirly memory. Until then, feast on the final pair of noodles in our spread of ten. Today's Wokipedia takes a look at two lesser known dishes in Beijing, courtesy of Hubei and Jiangxi.

Wokipedia Holiday Special: Nice Noodle Guide #4

tomomalley — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0800

Greetings, eaters! As the holidays draw to an untimely close, we’ve steered our rickety old noodle wagon all the way down south. Two provincial neighbors at the bottom end of China - Guangxi and Guangdong - are on show today, both with rice noodle-based dishes, naturally. One of these is world famous, the other a bit of a bally old secret, chum. Enjoy.

Wokipedia Holiday Special: Nice Noodle Guide #3

tomomalley — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0800

Cold? Nope, me neither. But would you pass on the promise of a warming dose of north west hospitality? Thought not! Gansu and Xinjiang Province take centre stage for today’s Xibei-skewed Nice Noodle Guide instalment. One soupy; the other saucy. Both delicious.

Wokipedia Holiday Special: Nice Noodle Guide #2

tomomalley — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0800

Use your noodle. That’s a daft phrase, right? Does it mean noodle as in ‘head’ or ‘brain’, in which case the shape is all wrong (unless you’re talking about mao er duo – 'cat’s ears', so vaguely cranial). There’s a bar in Hanoi, Vietnam called Half Man Half Noodle. I bought a T-shirt there. But all this is just filler - starch, if you will. And now, the second instalment of our Wokipedia Noodle Guide! Like Dylan we’re bringing it all back home, with Beijing’s very own zhajiang mian, along with with the Sichuanese favourite of spice-addled Beijingers, dandan mian.

Wokipedia Holiday Special: Nice Noodle Guide #1

thebeijinger — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0800

Hello. Hello? HE-LL-OOOOO!? Is anyone out there? Oh, there you are. The lonely laowai who decided to stay put for the holidays. I feel your pain. Should have looked into those tickets to Thailand well in advance, huh? Don’t worry; you can always join the snaking, two-hour long queues for the National Museum (I checked). Or, you can read the first of our Nice Noodle Guides! I’ll be posting every day this week at 4pm, presenting you with a grand spread of ten noodle dishes each from a different province, where to scoff them in Beijing, and what makes them positively yum-some according to folks from that province. First up, our confusingly pinyin-ed Northern cousins… Shanxi and Shaanxi.

Not-So-Skinny-Dipping: Pop-Up Ramen

thebeijinger — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0800

This is the first of several reports about Wangjing’s Ramen Pavilion.

Tsujita is a famous ramen brand with four branches in Tokyo – and now, a pop-up stall here in Beijing. The most important thing to know about Tsujita is their specialty: dipping (tsukemen) ramen. It’s not a soup noodle in the conventional sense. Instead, you get a bowl of thick noodles (boiled, drained, rinsed, cooled) and a smaller bowl of sauce to dip them into.

Instant Ramen's Gonna Get You: Late-Night Noodle Misadventures

thebeijinger — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:00:00 +0800

Three sleepless, oily nights into a week of all-nighters, enough was enough: there would be no more McDonald’s deliveries (or mailesong, as they like to call it). Partly due to Jamie Oliver’s “Anatomy of a Chicken Nugget” episode on his Food Revolution show, partly because you know it’s gone too far when you’re on facial-recognition terms with McDonald’s home delivery boys. In lieu of a midnight McFeast, I stumbled down to the convenience store to peruse the offerings: stale Bimbo, crumbly Oreos and a veritable goldmine of intriguing instant noodle options.

In my work-addled haze, three flavors seemed noteworthy: “Curried Tobiko,” “Goji Berry and Chicken Soup (buckwheat noodle)” and the “spin-out good taste!” option of “Cucina Della Nissan Seafood Marinara.” Unable to face them at 2.30am, I opted instead to sic them upon the Beijinger’s unsuspecting editorial team …

Chungking Success: Dandan Noodles That Drip With Authenticity

thebeijinger — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:00:00 +0800

Please, don’t laugh. For while many of you would never consider a stall in a basement food court worth writing about, there is always an exception.

Holiday Savior: 24-hour Noodle Heaven

JenL — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:00:00 +0800

It's holiday season, and for those of us far away from home, it's likely that we'll spend the next week or so drinking and dancing the night away rather than partaking of cozy family time. So at 1am (or 6am), after another night of holiday drinking festivities, we all have the munchies, and it's decision time. The obvious bets would be to grab a Stadium Dog, or perhaps a jianbing or some chuan'r from a street vendor. But as for me, nothing feels better for a late-night, post-drink chowdown than a giant bowl of noodles.

Yellow River (Huanghe Shui) Shaanxi Noodles is a 24-hour noodle heaven, right at Gongti East Gate. The jolly chefs there make giant, greasy and immensely satisfying bowls of noodles around the clock.