The Noodle King

The Noodle King In Guangzhou, China.

Chinese delicacies are bound to be divisive. Some people really love it and others can’t stand the food that shows up on a Chinese table. But with one dish (which is quite common to be found in any Chinese city) it’s different: the Chinese Noodle Soup.

China is the place where noodles were produced first. Marco Polo brought them back to Europe from his travels through Asia. Yet, the difference comes with the noodle production, which makes a real noodle restaurant in China so unique. The base is the same all over the globe: flour, salt and water.

As you will see in the video below, it’s important to get the right softness, otherwise the noodles will not turn out “the right way”. It really needs a lot of practise to become a real noodle chef. After waiting a while he takes a piece of dow and gently folds it into noodles just with his hands, folding and folding, as the dow gets thinner and thinner. It looks so easy, but for somebody who is not used to do it,  it’s nearly impossible because the dow cracks after the first or second folding.

The soup base (made from beef)  is boiled freshly every day. Then it’s your choice what you ad; some people love a lot of greenies, like Pak Choi or Coriander, others like to add a fried egg and some prefer the rather local version with chopped cartilage from the soup.

This dish and the knowledge of making these noodles originally comes from western China & most of the places are run by muslims. You can’t go wrong with this dish in China. It’s always freshly cooked and these restaurants all have a high turnover because locals love the noodle soup. It’s also one of the few dishes (that we) found in China which has a bit of a “western taste”. So there you have it! “Manmanchi” (I hope that’s the right translation for “bon appetit”!).