I suppose that Lanzhou Noodles here would be a more appropriate addition to a list of 101 Nifty Details About Gansu Province but I don’t care. There are Lanzhou noodle joints everywhere in Shanghai and I am pulled to the Arabic script of their cookie-cutter identical signage and the Technicolor wall menus and identikit posters of mosques and rolling green fields.
I love the fact that they are always crowded and bustling with noodle-eaters, that the noodle pullers are always busy stretching huge lumps of floury dough, that the big pot of broth is simmering away all day and becoming richer and wilder in flavor, that they have huge bowls dedicated to chopped cilantro, green onions and fried eggs.
I could happily live on a diet of dao xiao mian (the ribbons of sliced dough) or la mian (the long, pulled threads of noodle) or jiaozi (the dumplings).
I could eat them with slivers of beef or with bok choy or with eggs. I load my bowl with chili paste and aromatic vinegar and after the noodles are gone, I drink all the broth. It clears out the sinuses better than any decongestant.
Favorite noodle joints are:
The one on Shanxi Nan Lu at the corner of Jianguo Lu in the former French Concession, on the right as you head south
The one opposite Tongji University’s North Campus, just around the corner from the Zhongshan Bei Lu line 1 metro stop, exit 1 (turn right after the escalator, then right again for half a block).
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