Wandering around Shanghai’s quieter streets, you may often hear a thump thump thwack! ringing out from a streetside café. If you’re lucky, it means someone is pulling noodles fresh to order, and if you’re even luckier, you’ll happen to be hungry enough to enjoy a bowl.
One of the best things to do for a quick meal in Shanghai is to head to a local noodle shop where you can watch noodles being made from scratch before they hit the table. There are two main varieties commonly on offer in Shanghai: Henan and Lanzhou lamian. If you’ve got a bit more time, why not take a shot at learning how to make them yourself? No tools required, just a lump of dough, a little luck and your bare hands.
Lanzhou La Mian
The most traditional of the shops are run by minority families from China’s far-flung northwest. Ten of China’s 55 recognized ethnic minority groups practice Islam; of these, the Hui dominate the Lanzhou area, in Gansu province, and they thus manage a great number of the popular lamian noodle shops across the country’s eastern seaboard. Hui religious beliefs mean no pork – a rarity in China – and the emphasis is therefore on satisfying beef, mutton and cilantro-infused soup broths.
With our trained eagle eye, we can generally spot these places from down the street whenever we’re hungry. Look for the pictures of mosques on a blue emblem, generally on a green and white sign, accompanied by a bit of Arabic script. The beauty here is that there’s almost always a picture menu on the wall, facilitating easy ordering. The noodle pulling stations are usually in the main dining room, making it a fun experience for the whole family, no matter what your Mandarin capabilities.
Henan Lamian
Also found throughout the city are fabulously simple noodles from China’s Henan province. Our favorite in the former French Concession area features some of the best scallion noodles (葱油拌面, cōngyóu bànmiàn) we’ve ever had. It’s a dry noodle dish in a deceptively simple sauce of scallion-infused oil and soy sauce that belies the complex flavors of this home-style meal. The freshly pulled noodles are cooked in just 20 seconds, then blanched in cold water before being tossed together, still slightly warm, with the sauce and topped with a strip of caramelized scallion, a leftover garnish from the oil infusion process. We recommend mixing a splash of vinegar and a dollop of smoky chili sauce into these slippery noodles before devouring them.
Chinese Cooking Workshop
After witnessing these noodle masters in action, it’s hard to fathom how it’s even possible for them to get the strands so perfectly even and thin using just their bare hands and arm strength. After more than six years of watching them ourselves, we finally decided to take the plunge and take a class at our neighborhood cooking workshop. Starting from scratch, we observed exactly how to make the dough and then how to work it into a stretchy rolling pin-sized lump to pull into a bowl-sized portion. Make no mistake, you’ll come nowhere near the noodle mastery seen at local noodle stands, but the experience is worthwhile. Maybe, just maybe, with a little more practice at home, we’ll hone our skills to have a viable trick up or sleeves for our next dinner party.
June 24, 2013 Ding Te Le
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May 30, 2013 Henan Lamian
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