After travelling to see the Jigokudani snow monkeys (see Snow Monkeys and Soba Noodles) in the Japan Alps, we returned to Yokohama to repack our bags before leaving early the next morning for Kyoto, Japan’s old imperial capital.

Planning the three days was harder than I thought. I had to drop many of the items on my wishlist, including day trips to nearby Osaka and Nara. It would also have been wonderful to spend the night at the Buddhist temple on Koyasan (a World Heritage site) and sample shojin-ryori (Buddhist vegetarian cuisine). Most of all, I wanted to return to Kobe, where I had one of the most memorable meals of my entire life, a simple but spectacular dish of Kobe beef. In the end though, rather than rushing about trying to fit in multiple locations, I decided to plan a relaxing three day stay in Kyoto. It’s easy to forget how exhausting travelling can be.

Kyoto Day 1:

Arashiyama is a renowned area of natural beauty to the west of Kyoto and popular in the autumn for viewing the changing leaf colours. Best of all, it’s just a 15 minute train journey from Kyoto station. As the ryokan check-in time wasn’t until 2pm, I thought it would be a good idea to arrive at Kyoto station, leave our bags in coin lockers and head out to see the famous symbol of Arashiyama, Togetsu-kyo, the wooden (and concrete) ‘Moon Crossing Bridge’, and wander through the bamboo forest.

I had planned a shojin-ryori lunch at Tenryu-ji Temple (￥3000, ￥5000 & ￥7000 set lunch menus, plus a ￥500 admission fee to the temple grounds), however they were fully booked when my friend called to make a booking a month in advance. I then briefly considered Nishiki and their kaiseki bento lunch box as well as Sagano for their yudofu (Kitcho, with its recently awarded three Michelin stars, offered unaffordable kaiseki at ￥35-40000 /£232 – £265 (prices from a few years ago)). In the end, I decided to just turn up and see…

Arashiyama turned out to be very touristy, with teenage schoolchildren everywhere. The best part was the bamboo forest, which would have been even more magical without the rickshaws and the Japanese tour groups. I took one look at Togetsu-kyo and was most unimpressed. A simple lunch of kitsune udon, zaru soba and zaru udon saved the day. There are many restaurants lining the road where Tenryu-ji Temple is located, but somehow we managed to find one that didn’t have a single domestic or overseas tourist (Aratozuki, Tel: 075 882 9884, towards the Togetsu-kyo end). Incidentally, the addition of a creamy raw quail’s egg into the dipping sauce really made a difference!

Dinner had been booked weeks in advance at the 120 year old kaiseki restaurant Rokusei Nishimise, just a few minutes away from the hotel, so that was another reason not to splurge on lunch. Kaiseki ryori is the haute cuisine of Kyoto and if you’re visiting the city, it shouldn’t be missed. Kaiseki restaurants usually offer lunches which are a more affordable way of sampling kaiseki, perhaps in the form of a bento box or set lunch menu. Many of the luxury ryokan also offer kaiseki dinners. The formal meal follows a rigid structure, with multiple small dishes following each other in a traditional order. Fresh, seasonal ingredients are emphasised and much time is spent on each creation, hence the steep prices.

The Rokusei menu was analysed in depth and translated for me by three different sources before we settled on the Teoke Kaiseki set menu (￥7350 / £49) and the Hana set menu (￥8400 / £56). The ‘real’ kaiseki dinner menus were out of our price range (from￥12,600 /£83.50 to ￥31,500 / £210), given that we had to stick to our two week budget. Strict instructions had also been conveyed to the restaurant regarding the husband’s dietary requirements.

So it turned out that he had the better meal and better dining experience, whereas I was felled by a dish early on in the meal, of chawanmushi (egg custard) with suppon (soft shell turtle). I have to say, it was one of the most bitter and foul-tasting dishes I’ve eaten in living memory. I felt like Mr Bean when he ordered steak tartare by mistake and was literally looking for places to dump it. In the end, I swallowed half of it before conceding defeat and abandoned the rest. That one dish overshadowed the rest of the meal and I left still reeling from the shock. The husband was beaming though! However, please don’t let my description of one small dish affect a visit to Rokusei that you may be planning. Everyone I mentioned it to had heard of it, whether in Kyoto or Tokyo, and I would still highly recommend it. My favourite part was the food served in the teoke (a pail made out of cedar), which I think is how Rokusei used to deliver their bento boxes in the old days. Just don’t nod when the server asks if you can eat chawanmushi with suppon!

Kyoto Day 2:

Higashiyama (the Eastern Mountains) is said to be one of Kyoto’s most charming & well preserved areas. Although there is no getting away from the tourists and schoolchildren (the above photo is most deceptive!), I must admit I rather liked Higashiyama. We certainly spent enough time in the area, eating both lunch and dinner there. The streets Ninen-zaka and Sannei-zaka on the way up to Kiyomizudera temple are packed with restaurants and small shops selling specialist food products (Kyoto is famous for pickles, snacks (rice crackers, cream puffs & a million and one types of wagashi (Japanese sweets served with tea) and arts & crafts. I stocked up on shichimi togarashi, my favourite Japanese seven spice pepper, and also yuzu with pepper at a specialist shop, established in 1655, that only sells shichimi togarashi, called Shichimiya or Shichimi Shop (2-221 Kiyomizu). The little packets make fantastic presents as well.

Lunch had been booked at Okutan, a famous yudofu ryori restaurant with a branch near Nanzenji temple and one near Kiyomizu. We chose to go to the latter branch (Tel: 075 525 2051, at the junction where Ninenzaka meets Sanensaka). We had no idea where the restaurant was, and by coincidence stopped in front of it to check the characters of its name in the guidebook, looked up and we were there!

Yudofu is tofu simply cooked in a pot in a kombu (kelp) broth, then eaten in small bowls with hot soy sauce and chopped spring onion. It has become a Kyoto specialty because good quality tofu requires good quality water, which Kyoto happens to have. We ordered the yudofu course (￥3150) and the special tofu course (￥4200). The only difference was that one consisted of a very silky-smooth tofu while the other had a slightly rougher, but still incredibly smooth, texture. Preceding the yudofu courses were yam soup (as light as foam), sesame tofu with wasabi, grilled tofu with sweet miso and vegetable tempura. Okutan is all tatami mat seating and is a veritable maze of dining rooms, some private, and we were fortunate enough to be seated by the tranquil Zen garden.

After that delicious and healthy lunch, we went to visit 400 year old Tenneiji temple. The temple belongs to a friend’s family, and so we were shown around not only the spectacular gardens, which are open to the public, but also the interior, which is only open to relatives of those who are buried in the temple grounds. We relaxed over a bowl of frothy matcha and marron wagashi (chestnut sweet) and the temple owners also gave us tickets for the night opening of Kiyomizudera temple. The temple is usually closed at night, but we had just arrived for a special few weeks of night openings at various temples, to enable visitors to admire the autumn leaves in beautiful temple settings.

After a quick dinner at Kamanza on Ninenzaka (Tel: 075 531 1719) – namafu dengaku (wheat gluten grilled with miso paste), yuba set course (yuba is the skin by-product of tofu and heavenly when served fresh) and unagi don (grilled eel on a bowl of rice) – we wandered back up the hill to Kiyomizudera temple. At around 8.30pm, it wasn’t particularly crowded, and anyway the temple complex and grounds are so enormous that it was quite easy to wander around and appreciate the views without feeling claustrophobic. Another good time to visit Kiyomizudera is at 6am when it opens, to avoid the tourists.

Kyoto Day 3:

Located in eastern Kyoto, the Philosopher’s Walk is a 1.8 km leisurely stroll down a cherry tree-lined canal from Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion) in the north to Nanzen-ji in the south, with various temples along the route. As our ryokan was located closer to Ginkaku-ji, we started at that end, fueling up on a couple of custard and matcha cream puffs made with brown rice (and a warm rice cracker made with shichimi togarashi). And before we started the walk, an elderly Japanese man on his bicycle approached us and gave us a lengthy description of how to find Honenji, with peaceful temple gardens that are free to enter, before apologising for his (perfect) English! Naturally we followed his directions and it was most definitely worth a short visit (there are signs if you want to go too). The Philosopher’s Walk was easily one of my favourite parts of the Kyoto trip, as it was magically tranquil (I could just imagine how unpleasant it would have been with hordes of tourists). After all, the time should be spent philosophising while strolling down the canal and admiring the scenery…

Nishiki Market is Kyoto’s famous food market, located one block north of Shijo-dori, running from Teramachi-dori on the east to Takakura-dori on the west. There are over 140 stalls selling everything from fish, tofu products to pickled vegetables and Kyoto’s chefs all shop at Nishiki, as do locals. The well-known Aritsugu knife shop is at one end of the market (a friend said that when she gets married, she wants her father’s wedding present to be a set of Aritsugu knives!). The market is covered and there is just a narrow path down the middle. Again, when we visited (Saturday around noon), it was just some locals doing their food shopping. There are also restaurants and stalls selling snacks such as okara (soymilk) doughnuts.

We ended up having lunch at Katsukura, a famous tonkatsu chain (although I didn’t know that at the time when I found it by chance near one end of Nishiki market). I ordered 70g of the Yonesawa Sangen fillet cutlet (I prefer fillet to the other option, loin) (￥1280) and the husband had yuba and vegetarian croquettes. We had to make our own tonkatsu sauce (no Bulldog brand here!), by grinding roasted sesame seeds in a pestle and mortar and adding a variety of condiments – yuzu in a thinner sauce, the standard sauce and a rich, thick one. This was then poured onto the tonkatsu, which was unbelievably tender and succulent. Finely shredded cabbage could be topped up at any time, and there was a jar of pickles on the table to eat with rice. This was an excellent meal considering it was unplanned!

After lunch, we did a spot of shopping around Shijo Kawaramachi, the shopping area located along a stretch of Shijo Dori and Kawaramachi Dori. I was pleased to come across the main branch of the famous Yojiya, a cosmetics shop at the corner of Hanamikoji-dori and Shijo-dori. Founded in 1904, its best-selling product is aburatorigami or facial oil blotting paper dating from 1920, which actors and geisha traditionally used over their thick make-up. I stocked up on these as well as yuzu-flavoured lip balm.

I also developed an obsession for furoshiki or Japanese wrapping cloths and must have bought around 10 or 12 on the trip, mostly from a small chain called Raak (there is also Enveraak). Each shop sells different designs, so furoshiki fans, be warned! There are a myriad of ways in which furoshiki can be used, such as to make tissue box covers, water bottle holders and bags, and they can also be framed.

In terms of food shopping, we came across Eirakuya, an elegant shop dating back to the Edo period, selling wagashi and tsukudani or preserved vegetables and fish. The manager invited us to sit down for tea and to sample the products we were interested in, namely yuzu jam (which incidentally is sublime! Eirakuya is a perfect place to select food gifts and souvenirs. We also bought some apple-based wagashi for friends.

The day concluded with a stroll down Pontocho Alley, a traditional geisha entertainment area, and lined with tempting restaurants (for the next trip) before making our way back to Kyoto station and returning to Tokyo, tired but happy…

A few things I didn’t get to do but were on the list:

Owari-ya is one of the oldest soba-ya (soba restaurant) in Kyoto. Located near Kyoto Imperial palace, it’s recommended by Durston and also fellow foodie Simon P, who ate there recently. It is open from 11:00-18:30 and closed on Wednesdays

Toji Temple market is supposed to be the best for vintage Japanese crafts, and also offers street food. It takes place on the  21st of each month.

Fushimi Inari shrine (2 hour hiking trail) – located just outside JR Inari Station, the second station from Kyoto on the JR Nara Line. The train ride takes 5 minutes and costs ￥140 from Kyoto Station.

Practical Information:

Travel -

It is expensive to travel from Tokyo to Kyoto if you buy standard tickets (￥13,200 (£88) one way), but we had bought Japan Rail Passes (£191 for a 7 day pass) from the UK to cover all the other train journeys on our trip, so the travel budget was effectively taken care of. I used Hyperdia to research train times and reserved the seats after activating our Rail Passes at Narita airport. The journey takes around 2 hours 40 minutes on the Hikari shinkansen (the Nozomi is the fastest train by about 20 minutes but isn’t covered by the Rail Pass). We travelled from Shin-Yokohama, so the journey was slightly shorter.

There are different ways to reach Arashiyama from Kyoto, but for us, the quickest route was from Kyoto Station to Saga-Arashiyama on the JR Sagano (or Sanin) line. The journey takes 15 minutes and costs ￥230 one way. Central Arashiyama is just a short walk away.

Hotel -

As Kyoto was added to the schedule at the last minute (six weeks is last minute for me!), I had a minor panic trying to find a hotel as most were fully booked for the two nights that I wanted. The ryokan I had my eye on were also expensive, but on the other hand, I didn’t want to stay in a business hotel. It was a relief when The Three Sisters Inn Annex informed us that they could accommodate us. Run by three sisters, it’s a five minute walk from Heian Shrine, with no meals included, plus a private bathroom (essential for us). The annex caters for non-Japanese visitors only, while the main inn has been around for 14 generations, although I only discovered all this after making the booking (see Japan Times article). Two nights cost ￥36340 (£245) total for 2 people.

The Three Sisters Annex
89 Irie-cho
Okazaki
Sakyo-ku
606-8322 Kyoto
Tel: 81-(0)75-761-6333
Fax:81-(0)75-761-6335

Guidebook -

I was last in Kyoto over 20 years ago, and with hardly any recollection of it, decided to buy Diana Durston’s Old Kyoto, a guide to all the traditional artisan shops, ryokan (traditional Japanese hotels) and restaurants that are unfortunately dwindling in a fast-changing city. Although it was written in 1986, it was reprinted a few years ago and many travellers to Kyoto swear by it. I found Rokusei and Okutan through the book.

Useful links -

• Kyoto Guide – a most informative guide to Kyoto, and where I found our ryokan & transport tips

• Kyoto Foodie – regarded by many as the definitive guide to all things gastronomical in Kyoto

• Chubby Hubby’s Kyoto Guide 2009 – although all their restaurant recommendations were beyond our budget, it was still a useful guide to take with us

• Financial Times: Kyoto’s Haute Cuisine – an informative article on kaiseki cuisine

• Japan Planning – my original post on researching the Japan trip

• Snow Monkeys & Soba Noodles and Tokyo Stories – the other two posts from the Japan trip

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

This short trip from Tokyo to Yamanouchi town in Nagano prefecture, the Japan Alps was the first section of the two week trip to Japan that I planned. The husband had a yearning to see the Jigokudani snow monkeys (wild Japanese macaques) that keep warm in the freezing winter months by bathing in their own outdoor onsen or natural hot spring, and this is apparently the only place in the world where they do this. I initially thought that humans and monkeys bathed together, but more research revealed that this is not the case, although it has been known that a monkey or two will occasionally join humans in a nearby outdoor onsen for humans…

Jigokudani, known as Hell Valley because of its sulphurous and volcanic activity, is not the easiest destination to reach, and our one night at the 400 year old Kokuya ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) in Shibu Onsen was expensive. The trip was, however, worth every minute and every Yen and I would highly recommend it. If you ski or snowboard, then Shiga Kogen ski resort is nearby and Jigokudani could be added on as a side destination.

Shibu Onsen is a traditional and famous onsen spa town where people in their yukata (cotton robes) stroll down the old, narrow cobbled streets after bathing at the various public bath houses to relax at a izakaya (pub) or to return to their ryokan. Dotted around the area are tiny temples and it’s most atmospheric in the evening. Also not to be missed are the onsen tamago or boiled eggs, which taste different to normal boiled eggs because of the minerals present in the onsen water.

Kokuya ryokan is a three floor maze of rooms and baths. Although 400 years old, the building has been added to over the years to its present size, but guests are encouraged to wander and explore. Our room, Fuyo, was located on the third floor and there were fresh baked soba and sesame mini cookies, wagashi (Japanese sweets) and green tea to welcome us. We were told that we could wear our yukata or cotton robes around the ryokan as well as up and down the street (the yukata must always be worn left over right, as the other way is only worn at funerals).

Of course the star attraction of the room was the private bath on our balcony, screened off by bamboo to ensure privacy, but only partially covered so that guests can enjoy the contrast of being in the cold while soaking in the extreme heat of the water. Apparently the Japanese like the water at 50°C, but as it was our own private bath, we could add as much cold water as we wanted. My favourite spot was by the cold tap! In case you haven’t been to an onsen before, you have to shower, then rinse off the soap suds so that you are squeaky clean before entering the water. You have to be naked, although you can use the small towel provided to cover your bits. While you are soaking, this towel sits on your head (with men at any rate). We must have had four long soaks in total, before and after dinner and before and after breakfast, and it still wasn’t enough.

I have to mention that while we were admiring the view of the mountains from the bath, we noticed a snow monkey running across the rooftops! It was such a surprise because the snow monkey habitat is at least fifty minutes away on foot. It was a really special moment…

Dinner was in a private dining room (of which there are two) on tatami. There was a small sheet of paper in English and Japanese explaining the dishes (this changes regularly according to the fresh and seasonal ingredients that they can source) so that we would know what the fourteen dishes were, which just kept coming and coming. I won’t attempt to describe each one as it would require a separate post, but highlights were baked rainbow trout pie, simmered sea bream with grated daikon or Japanese radish, vinegared crab with radish, handmade soba noodles and the freshest rice we’d ever eaten – ‘first rice crop of the year’. It was also fun listening to an elderly Japanese couple enjoying their dinner in the next private room, like we were in a Naruse or Ozu film…

Breakfast was an unexpectedly huge affair, all laid out for us in the same private dining room, with various dishes of grilled salmon, pickles, rice, soup, tofu and onsen tamago (from just outside the ryokan). I can confirm that onsen tamago are the best soft-boiled eggs I have ever eaten – fresh, creamy, delicate and pure heaven. As the husband doesn’t like eggs, I had two!

After breakfast, it was finally time to to see the snow monkeys. From Kokuya, it’s a good fifty minute walk (2.5 km) and we had planned to walk, but as it was pouring with rain, we went by taxi with borrowed umbrellas and wellington boots from Kokuya (and a present of homemade umeboshi onigiri or riceballs for our journey!). En route, we discovered that the walk would have been extremely difficult as most of it is uphill along a steep narrow road through the forest, followed by another steep and slippery walk from the carpark to get to the monkey area (￥500 entrance fee per person). I can’t imagine what it must be like to do that walk in the winter with heavy snow!

There are an estimated two hundred snow monkeys in the area, and we saw about eighty or so. The advice that I read was not to feed them, and more importantly, not to stare at them because this is considered to be a sign of aggression. However, they were incredibly relaxed around humans (admittedly there were only four humans in total because of the weather, as opposed to coachloads) and at one point a baby and its mother were right next to me. Crouching down to take photos made me even smaller and less threatening too.

When we had taken enough photos of snow monkeys, it was time for a spot of lunch. Rather than turning up at a soba-ya to sample the region’s famous soba (buckwheat) noodles, we turned up for our soba class (￥2000 / £13.50 per person), pre-arranged by Kokuya. Mrs Sato is the sweetest and friendliest teacher ever and if you go to Shibu Onsen, then you must go and meet her. Although she didn’t speak a word of English and my Japanese is terrible, we or rather the husband, managed to make some delicious soba noodles, which we ate cold with her homemade dipping sauce, along with her own pickles, the freshest young corn on the cob and red apple, all grown by her.

Mrs Sato also gave us an apple and some buckwheat seeds to take with us and told us to grow buckwheat in our garden. I’ll have to do a separate photo essay post on the soba class in the near future so that you can see the technique. You can also stay with Mrs Sato and help out with harvesting and so on, so we plan to do this next time after a couple of nights at Kokuya.

We returned to Tokyo in the early evening tired but extremely well fed and happy…

Practical Information:

Travel - It costs ￥7,970 (£53) one way to reach Nagano station from Tokyo station on the JR Asama Shinkansen (222 km, approximately 90 minutes), but we had bought Japan Rail Passes (£191 for a 7 day pass) from the UK to cover all the other train journeys on our trip, so the travel budget was effectively taken care of. I used Hyperdia to research train times and reserved the seats after activating the Rail Passes at Narita airport.

From Nagano train station, we took the local train, the Nagano Dentetsu (Nagaden) to Yudanaka station (33 km, approximately 47 minutes). This part of the journey is not covered by the Rail Pass, and costs ￥1,230 (£8.20) one way express (or ￥1,130 (£7.50) on the slower train). Train times were also checked using Hyperdia. A helpful station employee helped us buy our tickets using the ticket machine. Tip: sit at the very front of the train to see the amazing view. We only found out after we arrived!

We were then picked up at Yudanaka station by the Kokuya ryokan shuttle bus (the arrival time was timed so that it would coincide with the check-in time, as pick ups can only be arranged around this time). Otherwise Kokuya is just a short taxi ride from Yudanaka.

Hotel – As soon as I read about Kokuya, I knew I wanted to stay there, regardless of the cost. I must have spent hours going through their website, thankfully in English as well as other languages, before finally settling on the Fuyo room, one of ten large rooms with a private open air bath on the balcony and can accommodate up to four or even more people. The cost is listed per person per night (for the Fuyo, it was ￥25,000 (£167) per person during low season) and includes the multiple course kaiseki dinner and a traditional Japanese breakfast, one of the largest I’ve ever had.

There are also six other natural hot spring baths for guests, four outdoor and two indoor, with a further two that can be reserved for private use (which would be useful for guests not staying in the rooms with private open air baths). Finally, I would not have been able to organise this 36 hour trip without Kokuya’s help and I’ve lost count of the number of emails we must have exchanged over the months preceding the stay. If you do travel to Shibu Onsen, this is the ryokan to choose for some luxurious pampering! We’re definitely returning, but to stay for two nights so that we can relax more and of course eat more…

Kokuya
Shibu Onsen, Yamanouchi
Shimotakai-gun, Nagano
Japan 381-040
Tel: 0269-33-2511 Fax: 0269-33-4597
info@ichizaemon.com

Useful links -

• San Francisco Chronicle article – more details about the snow monkeys, and where I read about Kokuya ryokan

• Zeno’s Guide to the Yudanaka – Shibu Onsen area, which helped me immensely with the planning of this little trip (details of the soba making class can be found here)

• Japan National Tourism Organization – more on what to do in Nagano prefecture

• Japan Planning – my original post on researching the Japan trip. The entire Japan series will be archived here under Food & Travel.

• Kyoto Tales – the second of the Japan posts

• Toyko Stories – the third and last of the Japan posts

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

When I was researching restaurants to visit in Hong Kong last year, I came across passionate debates on Chowhound and other forums on where to eat the best Cantonese wonton noodles, focusing on crucial details such as the size of the wonton, the silkiness of the skin, the taste and texture of the filling, and the all-important clear broth.

Mak’s Noodles and Tsim Chai Kee, both located on Wellington Street, Central, were most frequently mentioned as the best places to sample this classic street food, but there were others obsessively arguing that other wonton noodle restaurants were far superior. I ended up going to Mak’s Noodles because their second branch was conveniently located just down the road from my hotel.

For the princely sum of HK$28, I got four small wontons on a small bed of noodles, but I knew to expect this anyway. Despite their size, each wonton was firm and crunchy, the silky skins floaty and the broth delicious (Mak’s broth is made from powdered dried flounder, dried shrimp roe and pork bones). I ordered another bowl of just wontons as I was still hungry afterwards!

I had another bowl from King’s Palace at the airport on the way back to London. The wontons were larger and the broth tasted slightly different, but they were also rather good. More recently, I ate wonton noodles at HK Diner in London’s Chinatown, much more expensive of course when compared to Hong Kong prices, but the portion was substantial, with about five or six large wontons.

To satisfy my craving, I decided to make my own. As Ken Hom put it so aptly, ‘there are probably as many variations on the basic theme of this recipe as there are cooks‘. Although I have read that some people add pork bones and/or dried shrimp to the chicken stock, I live in a meat-free household so I rarely cook with meat (this privilege was only granted to me a few months ago, on the proviso that I have a separate set of kitchen utensils) and didn’t want to inflict the heavenly smell from hours of stock making on the poor husband. I therefore used Hom’s recipe from his classic Taste of China (his only book that I trust, because it was based on a journey through China that he made, collecting recipes along the way) that didn’t require pork bones and bought an expensive bag of fresh chicken stock from my supermarket.

Ingredients: (serves 2 as a single dish)

• 1 pack thin square wonton wrappers (made of wheat flour, egg, water and baking soda. They come in different sizes and I chose the smallest)

• 225g / 8oz thin wheat or egg noodles

• 850ml/ 1½ pt chicken stock

• salt

• 3 tbsp finely chopped spring onions as garnish

Filling -

• 100g / 4oz fatty minced pork

• 100g / 4oz raw prawns, de-veined and coarsely chopped

• 1 tsp rice wine or dry sherry

• 2 tsp light soy sauce

• ½ tsp salt

• freshly ground pepper to taste

• 1 tsp sesame oil

What to do next:

Mix the filling ingredients together in a bowl.

Place 2 tsp of filling in the centre of a wonton square. The amount of filling you use should be proportional to the size of the wrapper. It’s important not to use so much filling that the wrapper tears. Although it is quite stretchy and malleable, the wrapper is still delicate. On the other hand, you don’t want to end up with a measly sized filling and too much wrapper.

I simply folded the wrapper into a triangle, sealing the sides as firmly as possible. If you need to, dab a little water on the edges. Also remember to squeeze as much air as possible out of the wonton during the sealing process (otherwise you’ll see what happens during the boiling process!). Cover the wrapped wontons with a damp towel to stop them from drying out.

Bring two large pots of water to the boil and blanch the wontons for 3 minutes and noodles  for 3 to 5 minutes, drain well and set aside.

Bring the stock to a simmer, and season if necessary with salt. Add the noodles and wontons, and simmer for another minute. Garnish the soup with the spring onions and serve at once.

This is a convenient and easy dish to prepare, particularly as you can freeze any uncooked wontons as well as the stock, and use dried noodles. You can also add Chinese greens such as gai lan or choi sum as an extra ingredient.

I hope you’ll enjoy this!

Other Chinese recipes on World Foodie Guide can be found here, including one for Sichuan wontons.

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Whenever the weather becomes warmer, I feel like eating lighter and more refreshing dishes. After making zaru soba and sampling two delicious cold appetisers (five-spiced beef salad and spicy potato slivers) at Ba Shan last week, I was in the mood for more.

So I turned to Ken Hom’s recipe for a street snack, Chinese cold noodles. I own just one Ken Hom book (bought from a secondhand book stall!) as I think his style generally has become too Americanised. This one though, The Taste of China, I enjoyed reading because it was written in 1989 after a lengthy ‘traveleating’ journey around China, with informative sections on the role of food in Chinese culture and history, useful descriptions of ingredients, as well as recipes based on what he discovered.

I also chose to replicate this Sichuan-influenced recipe (not that dissimilar to dan dan mian) because he first ate these noodles at Wangfujing night market (click here to see my photos from last year) in Beijing. I used to go there too when I lived there in the mid-90s, although it must have been completely different when Hom visited, with far less culinary options. He does point out though that the night markets offered better food than most of the state-owned restaurants. To quote from Hom: ‘Like most of the food stall offerings, this dish is easily made, can be served at room temperature and is a pleasure to eat’. I totally agree!

Wangfujing Leng Mian (Wangfujing Cold Noodles)

Ingredients: (serves 4 as part of a Chinese meal or 2 as a single dish)

I’ve written the recipe out exactly as it appears in the book, but adapted the quantities.

• 450g / 1lb fresh or dried Chinese egg noodles (I’m not sure whether this is a mistake, but I only needed to use 2 portions of noodles weighing 45g each and it was plenty for lunch for two!)

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 450g / 1lb cucumbers (I used half a normal-sized cucumber)

• 175g / 6oz fresh bean sprouts (I used 150g)

Sauce -

• 1 tbsp finely chopped garlic (you may not want to quite use so much, as it will be added raw. But I did, and it was excellent)

• 1 tbsp finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

• 2 tsp light soy sauce

• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 2½ tbsp sesame paste or peanut butter (I didn’t have Chinese sesame paste, so used tahini instead. Tahini isn’t as strong though, so it’s best to stick with Chinese sesame paste)

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp white rice vinegar

• 2 tsp chilli oil

• 2 tbsp granulated sugar (I didn’t have this, but it’s used as a garnish to sprinkle on top at the end, to counter the spiciness of the dish)

What to do next:

Boil noodles according to instructions, drain, rinse in cold water and toss immediately in sesame oil.

Peel and slice cucumbers in half lengthways, and remove the seeds using a teaspoon. Cut into fine long shreds. Rinse bean sprouts and drain.

Mix sauce ingredients together in a bowl or in a blender (I did the former as I don’t like blended sauces. Also, try the sauce and adjust the flavour to your own taste. I thought it needed a little more soy sauce, so the quantity for light soy sauce might be incorrect too).

When you are ready to serve, toss the noodles with the sauce, cucumber and bean sprouts. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and serve immediately.

The fresh bean sprouts and cucumber are a refreshing contrast to the spicy sesame sauce. I hope you’ll like this little gem! It’s going to be a favourite in this household for the next few months…

More Chinese recipes on World Foodie Guide can be found here.

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Background:

Ba Shan, youngest sibling of Bar Shu and Baozi Inn, specialises in xiao chi, literally ’small eats’, from the provinces of Sichuan, Henan and Shaanxi. I’m no expert on the food of any of these regions, but I do love xiao chi – small dishes of cold meats and salads, dumplings and noodles, flatbreads and buns. At both Baozi Inn and Bar Shu, the xiao chi selection isn’t that large, whereas here they dominate the menu. As with the other two restaurants, Chinese food expert (or should that be expert on Chinese food?) Fuschia Dunlop is again consultant.

When Australian food blogger Jennifer Lam emailed me to say that she and her boyfriend were visiting Europe for a month, I thought she might appreciate Ba Shan. Armed with recommendations from Charmaine from tasty treats!, we were more than prepared for an excellent lunch.

First Impressions:

I’m a sucker for the period Chinese tea house / inn look (having watched too many Hong Kong TV drama series during my childhood) and Ba Shan had all of this and more to offer (photo below courtesy of Ba Shan). My heart initially sank when I saw the uncomfortable-looking wooden stools (Baozi Inn-style), but I really didn’t notice any discomfort during the two hours I was there. The service was both polite and helpful and more importantly, we didn’t feel at all rushed to order our food. As a result, Jen and I spent more than thirty minutes analysing the menu and making notes before ordering a single dish.

Menu:

The menu is roughly divided into appetisers (followed by small jiamo, chaoshou and steamed lotus-leaf bun sections), dumplings and noodles, with a few fried rice and vegetable side dishes. Even though it wasn’t a particularly complex menu, there was a lot to absorb before the crucial decision-making process started. Dumplings and noodles are made in-house, so they were a must.

• five-spiced beef salad with coriander and garlic (£5.00) – a small and delicate salad, which wasn’t as spicy as I imagined it would be. However, I don’t like over-spiced food and this was a lovely dish with which to start the meal

• Xian style spicy potato slivers (￡4.50) – I’ve had potato slivers before in China, and again although this was served with large pieces of dried chilli, if you don’t eat them, which I never do, then all you’ll get is a subtle kick rather than an overwhelming tongue-numbing sensation

• jiamo with cumin-spiced beef (￡2.80) – 2 pieces – I’d seen photos of this before lunch and really wanted to try it. Jiamo are filled Shaanxi crispy unleavened flatbreads, served mini-sized at Ba Shan (another friend has described them as tiny pita breads). The cumin-spiced beef filling was excellent, although a little more of it wouldn’t have gone amiss

• pork chaoshou with spiced soy sauce, chilli oil and garlic (￡5.20) – 6 dumplings – chaoshou is Sichuanese for wonton (at Baozi Inn, I think these are called Chengdu wontons). Filled with pork, they are boiled, drained, then served in a small bowl sitting in the sauce. As I’m going to be making these at home soon, I wanted to see what the Ba Shan version tasted like. These were lovely and meaty, but I wonder (being Cantonese!) if the sauce didn’t overwhelm the dumplings a little

• prawn & water chestnut dumplings served with vinegar (￡5.20) – 6 dumplings – I’m glad we tried dumplings (boiled, not steamed) in both vinegar and the spicy, garlicky sauce. They were both lovely, but I think the delicate flavour (Terry Durack called them bland but I disagree) of the prawn and water chestnut was more suited to the vinegar dipping sauce

• chicken & shiitake mushroom dumplings served with spicy, garlicky sauce (￡5.20) – 6 dumplings – these arrived a glorious purple colour. The waitress tried to explain the reason, but I’m afraid I was too busy taking photos to listen properly. However, it wasn’t the result of artificial food colouring!

• Shaanxi noodles with pork, beancurd and hot and fragrant sizzling oil (￡6.80) – I tried a spoonful of the soup broth and spluttered a little. This would be good for those who like a kick to their food, and of course Shaanxi noodles are world famous (with many ways of making them, including knife-cut, single chopstick and scissor-cut)

• noodles with red-braised beef and carrot (￡6.50) – these noodles tasted relatively less spicy, although the broth was practically the same colour red. My only gripe with this is that there weren’t enough pieces of beef and each piece was no larger than a sugar cube. The beef was meltingly tender and flavoursome, but I wish there had been more, much more, of it!

Tips:

Before we left the restaurant, the manager offered to show us around the restaurant, otherwise I would never have known that Ba Shan was made up of so many different sections. When you make a reservation, you can also request to be seated in a particular section, for example the shadow puppet theatre, the farmer’s cottage, the snack restaurant and so on, all themed (but not in a tacky way). There is also a private dining room called the grand official’s residence, that seats 10-12 people at a round table where the minimum spend is £350. We sat in the snack restaurant, which is the first section that you will see on your right as you enter, while the other sections are hidden away up and down various corridors and stairs. I particularly liked the shadow puppet theatre area…

The verdict:

I waddled out of Ba Shan and one hour on, was still feeling extremely satisfied. Out of the three restaurants Ba Shan, Baozi Inn and Bar Shu, I most definitely had the best meal and overall experience at Ba Shan. Some of the dishes at Bar Shu are seriously expensive and there are very few xiao chi to choose from, while Baozi Inn does not provide a serene or relaxed environment in which to enjoy a meal as Ba Shan does. I was also relieved to see plenty of vegetarian options (Sichuanese spiced cucumber, spinach with sweet potato noodles, lotus-leaf buns with pressed beancurd and slivered vegetables, to name but a few) for the next meal with the most fussy of eaters, the vegetarian husband. It’s not often I leave a restaurant feeling this buzzy and content, and Twitter certainly felt the impact of my happiness that afternoon…

Lunch for 3 people cost £61.00 including service charge. The price also included three drinks at around £3.90 each, including the delicious Tang Dynasty Concubine, made with lychee juice.

NB I was surprised to see that Ba Shan is located at number 24. It’s the most unlucky number you can get (as it sounds like ‘easy to die’ in Cantonese) and when I saw the number right next to the entrance, I was taken aback. However, it seems to not have affected business so far!

10 – Perfection, 9.5 – Sensational, 9 – Outstanding, 8.5 – Superb,
8 – Excellent, 7.5 – Very Good, 7 - Good, 6.5 - Above Average, 6 – Average

All the London restaurant reviews on World Foodie Guide

Contact details:
Ba Shan
24 Romilly Street
London W1D 5AH
Tel: 020 7287 3266

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Here’s a really simple recipe for zaru soba, cold Japanese soba or buckwheat noodles served with a soy-based dipping sauce. This isn’t for making soba noodles from scratch (although we do have buckwheat flour to make the flour blend!), but for preparing the dipping sauce. Although you can buy the dipping sauce in bottles, it’s very easy to make your own and I think it tastes much nicer.

I love eating zaru soba, particularly in the summer time. On a hot, sticky day, there’s nothing nicer than slurping down some cold noodles!

Ingredients: (serves 4)

• soba noodles (the higher the buckwheat percentage, the better)

• 4 cups basic dashi stock

• 1 cup light soy sauce

• 1 cup mirin

• 1 tsp powdered wasabi

• nori, cut into small strips

• spring onions, very finely chopped

What to do next:

There are different ways of preparing the dipping sauce, but this one is really easy and one I’ve used many times over the years. Follow the simple method to make fresh dashi stock – it takes about 5 minutes. Let it cool.

Meanwhile, cook the soba noodles according to the instructions on the packet. I cooked mine for about 6 or 7 minutes, as they should be al dente and definitely not overcooked and soggy. Drain and then rinse under cold tap water, which removes the starch and sliminess from the noodles. I then left them in a bowl of cold water while I prepared the dipping sauce.

Finely chop some spring onions and cut a sheet or two of nori into small strips.

In Japanese restaurants, zaru soba is usually served on a small bamboo mat on a tray, with the dipping sauce in a small bowl. Wasabi and spring onions are often served on the side, so that you can add as much or as little as you like.

Pour the dashi into a large bowl, then add the mirin and soy sauce. I also added the wasabi at this stage, but if you prefer, you can serve this separately, as not all your guests may like the same amount of wasabi.

Divide the dipping sauce into small serving bowls. Drain and serve noodles on four separate plates or in bowls. I placed the nori and spring onions on the side of the noodles, to be added to the dipping sauce. Enjoy while cold!

See more Japanese recipes on World Foodie Guide, while this post on 8 Useful Japanese Ingredients may be helpful.

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

The monthly summary for March.

A bout of food poisoning meant having to miss out on a few planned events, but it was still a busy month revolving around food. I volunteered in the hectic kitchen of The Underground Restaurant, which was a real eye-opener. If you haven’t visited yet, I would recommend making a booking ASAP (it’s only open on Saturday evenings and is extremely popular). The Underground Restaurant is also about to run cookery classes – visit MsMarmitelover’s blog for more details.

I had a lovely breakfast with Jonathan from Around Britain With A Paunch at The Providores and Tapa Room and returned to food blogger favourite New Tayyabs for a huge food bloggers’ ‘meat-up’. Lunches and dinners were valiantly consumed, including a meat fest at The Butcher’s Block in the Malmaison London Brasserie and heavenly razor clams and blood orange and gin jelly at Hix Oyster & Chop House. On the other hand, a revisit of Arbutus was so disappointing, I won’t be returning…

In an effort to update last year’s post Where To Eat Dim Sum In London, I drew up a plan to visit and revisit various dim sum restaurants, starting off with Golden Palace in Harrow and Peninsula in North Greenwich. I’ll be eating my way through the list of about ten venues over the next few months and will report back. Meanwhile, I asked readers and Twitter users about their favourite dishes in What’s Your Favourite Dim Sum? and received many, many responses!

At home, I managed to make Manju Malhi’s Karahi Lamb Chops, delicious Sichuan Dan Dan Mian (both meat and vegetarian versions) and simple Chinese Tofu With Thousand Year Old Egg. I’ll be teaching myself to cook more Chinese dishes over the next few months!

Thanks as always for reading! Follow me on Twitter if you’ve recently joined – @foodieguide

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Reading Eileen Wen Mooney’s Beijing Eats a short while ago inspired me to start cooking more Chinese food. I chose to start with dan dan mian, a Sichuan snack dish or ‘xiao chi‘ (small eats) of ‘noodles dressed in a mixture of sesame paste and peanut sauce with a little chilli oil’. According to Eileen, the dish is also known as ‘over the shoulder noodles’ because of the ’street vendors who served the dish from their portable kitchen dangling off a stick balanced on their shoulders’.

Sichuan food is very popular around the world, and in London alone, we are now quite spoilt for choice, although this wasn’t always the case. Restaurants like Snazz Sichuan, Bar Shu and Chilli Cool, to name but a few, now serve up fiery and not so fiery dishes from fish-fragrant aubergine, gongbao jiding (Gongbao chicken) to dry-fried green beans and the every popular hot pot.

I love noodles of any description, and as I’ve had dan dan mian a few times, I thought I’d try and make this at home. I also made two versions, one with pork and one vegetarian, so that the vegetarian husband could have some too. He loved the vegetarian dan dan mian at Xi Yan in Hong Kong so much that he went back for more.

The first attempt at adapting Ken Hom’s recipe in his classic The Taste of China (1990) failed miserably because I made the sauce too runny by not measuring the vegetable stock properly. In order to compensate for this, I threw the noodles into the wok, mixing them with the sauce. But I actually wanted the noodles and sauce to be served separately, resembling the Xi Yan dan dan mian in the above photo (where the chilli oil sits right at the bottom, covered with a layer of noodles, then topped with the Chinese sesame paste / peanut butter sauce), although Ken’s recipe calls for the chilli oil and Chinese sesame paste / peanut butter to be mixed beforehand. There are many, many methods of making dan dan mian, but I just happened to adapt Ken’s.

The following recipe adapted from Ken Hom’s version makes both the pork and the vegetarian versions at the same time (his version is strictly non-vegetarian).

Ingredients: (serves 2 to 3 as a single dish)

Pork ‘garnish’ -

• 225g / 8oz minced pork (I minced a piece of pork tenderloin by hand the first time, and bought free range organic mince the second time)
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• ½ tsp salt
• groundnut oil

Sauce -

• 3 tbsp finely chopped garlic
• 2 tbsp finely chopped peeled root ginger
• 5 tbsp finely chopped spring onion
• 2 tbsp Chinese sesame paste or smooth peanut butter (I used the latter, as I happened to have some, but it’s best to use the Chinese sesame paste, which is made from roasted sesame seeds)
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp chilli oil (I bought a small jar of Sichuan chilli oil from a Chinese supermarket)
• 225 ml / 8oz chicken stock (I made my own vegetable stock instead)
• 2 tsp salt

• thin dried egg noodles
• 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns, roasted and ground

What to do next:

1. I decided to use a fresh vegetable stock instead of Ken’s chicken stock. If you decide to do the same, start making the stock first so that it simmers away while you prepare the other ingredients. All I used was chopped carrot, celery, onion, one large bay leaf and a pinch of salt.

2. Mince the pork and add to small bowl along with the soy sauce and salt, mixing well. Leave to marinate for 15 minutes (Ken doesn’t mention this, but it will give the pork more flavour).

3. Heat up water in a saucepan in preparation for cooking the egg noodles. Turn off heat once it reaches boiling point and cover with lid. You’ll save valuable time later.

4. Chop up garlic, ginger and spring onions as finely as possible and set aside. Roast Sichuan peppercorns (I chose not to do this, being lazy, but it’s important to roast them as the flavours will be properly released this way) and grind with pestle and mortar. Set aside

5. Heat wok or frying pan, add oil and fry pork for about 4 or 5 minutes until crispy and dry. Ken’s recipe calls for deep-frying, but I found shallow frying worked just as well. Drain on kitchen paper.

6. Reheat water for the egg noodles. I then used another wok to make the sauce. Heat 2 tbsp oil and stir-fry garlic, ginger and spring onions for 30 seconds to a minute. Add Chinese sesame paste or peanut butter, soy sauce, chilli oil, salt and chicken or vegetable stock. Simmer for 4 minutes.

7. Cook egg noodles and drain. Divide into bowls. Add sauce, garnish with pork and Sichuan peppercorns and eat immediately.

I hope you’ll like this recipe! It took a little practice to coordinate everything, but I found it much easier the second time round. I think the vegetarian version is rather tasty, particularly if you want to give the fried meat a miss…

NB Coincidentally, when I was looking up recipes after making this on the use of Chinese sesame paste/peanut butter, I found that Diana Kuan from Appetite for China also adapted Ken Hom’s recipe, whereas Fuchsia Dunlop uses neither.

See more Chinese recipes on World Foodie Guide.

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

This is the twelth in a series of Postcards from the recent Hong Kong, Macau and Beijing traveleating trip. Rather than writing up each food experience in separate posts, which would have taken me up to Christmas, I thought it would be more fun to outline the trip in diary form, to include travel and sightseeing tips as well as food recommendations.

Days 13 &14 highlights:

• On the T97 from Beijing to Hong Kong
• Two dinners – Xi Yan & Mak’s Noodles

On the T97 from Beijing to Hong Kong:

12.00 – T97 express train from Beijing West / Xizhan to Hung Hom, Kowloon (overnight train)

Back on the non-stop train again! (click here to read about our journey from Hong Kong to Beijing on the T98). Beijing West (Xizhan) has a different checking-in system to that at Hung Hom. We arrived there over two hours before departure, not knowing what the procedure was like. You have to queue outdoors in front of the doors on the ground floor in front of the station (I can’t remember the exact name, but it refers to customs & immigration in English) until they open the doors to let you in for baggage check. Then there is more waiting inside a small waiting room until you’re allowed through to passport control. After this stage though, you can board the train at your leisure, so as in Hung Hom, there was no rush.

Our little compartment and toilet were both just as clean as on the T98, the personnel just as friendly and the food just as good. This time, they had a different vegetarian option, or rather, it was possible to have the broccoli without meat (it also came with a winter melon soup, with bits of pork, and rice, for RMB45). This supplemented our instant noodles which we had bought at Xizhan (Chinese brand this time!). Sleeping was easier travelling back down to Hong Kong, perhaps because we were more tired, and also more used to the movement. The husband also took thousands of photos, of which here are three…

To recap, I thought taking the train one way would have been enough, however the husband’s opinion is that you can never see enough of the views. It is admittedly an amazing experience, especially travelling in your own private deluxe 2 berth compartment. We had no access to the other sections of the train apart from the restaurant car, so I can’t make any comparisons with different classes of accommodation. But it’s far more exciting than flying!

Two dinners – Xi Yan & Mak’s Noodles:

Why did we end up having TWO dinners? Arriving back in Hong Kong at lunchtime, we were unpacking at Lanson Place and sorting things out (me mostly), so that by the time I’d finished, it was too late for lunch. Instead, we decided to have a very early dinner and wandered over to Xi Yan (where we’d had a late lunch a week ago), because we knew what the food was like and had no energy to discover something new.

The food was rather hit-and-miss this time. The vegetarian husband ordered the non-meat Dan Dan noodles (spicy) (HK$52) again, which were as good as before. The grilled eggplant with cheese and soybean sauce (HK$68) arrived with slices of dried pork sausage on top. There was no mention of meat on the menu, so he was a bit upset. I had the pleasure of picking the slices off and they were delicious!

The greenhouse tomatoes in sesame sauce (HK$42) were the highlight of the meal. Served cold without their skins, they were refreshing and unusual (and easy to replicate at home, I hope!). The radish patty in XO sauce (HK$68) arrived with fried egg pieces and crunchy beansprouts. I liked this much more than the recommended crispy tangerine peel spareribs (HK$78), which were over-fried bits of meat and very below standard. After such stunning meals in Beijing, this was expensive and a little disappointing.

Which explains why I had a second dinner about two hours later. Our friend in Beijing, with whom we had stayed, arrived in Hong Kong on business (he left a day after us on the plane!), and as he hadn’t eaten, I seized the opportunity to finally visit Mak’s Noodles (which was on my original restaurant wishlist). There was a branch just round the corner from our hotel in Causeway Bay, which I walked past every day. It’s also open until midnight, which is convenient.

We were comfortably ensconced in a booth at the back for about two hours, while other diners simply ate and left, but we never felt rushed to leave (of course we would have gone if anyone had needed our table) and the staff were really friendly. The menu is in English as well (and Japanese), as Mak’s is in all the guidebooks, and beers can be bought from the 7-11 next door. We ordered:

• wonton noodles (HK$28) – which consists of a very small bowl of thin noodles in a clear soup with just four prawn-filled wontons. They were so delicious and precious! Foodies are right to describe Mak’s wontons as ’small’, but they were firm and crunchy. The friend ordered the wontons without the noodles for the same price, and got many more wontons. I’ve heard about people ordering the wontons, plus a bowl of noodles separately, so that they can create a bigger portion!

• sui gao (HK$30) – loosely translated as water dumplings, these are like wontons but larger, and filled with pork, prawn and mushroom, again served in a clear soup. I actually didn’t like the taste of these, although the Mak’s version is supposed to be very good. In fact the first one tasted so strange that I asked the friend to try one to see if there was anything wrong with it. Don’t let me put you off, I think it was just me…

• yau choi with oyster sauce, which is choi sum, and very fresh and crunchy

• lo mian with beef tendon, which I didn’t try as I don’t like tendon. But the friend confirmed that it was tasty

As I didn’t get the chance to compare the wontons at Mak’s with those prepared by its competitors, I can only say that these were extremely tasty, and the diner was full of locals (who wouldn’t pay these prices if they didn’t appreciate the food). The five dishes came to HK$136, which I thought was quite reasonable. I’m glad I made it here, and look forward to trying some other wonton places on the next trip!

N.B You’ll find all the China Postcards under Restaurant Reviews – China, and the entire set of food photos on Flickr.

Contact details:

Xi Yan – Tastes (they accept reservations)
2/F (inside GOD)
Leighton Centre
Sharp Street East
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2881 6693
www.xiyan.com.hk

Mak’s Noodles (the main branch is at 77 Wellington Street in Central & there’s another branch in Tsim Sha Tsui)
44 Jardine’s Bazaar
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2895 5310
Opening hours: 11:00-midnight

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Inn Noodle (now called Noodle Oodle) is on the most horrible stretch of Oxford Street, between Tottenham Court Road tube station and Soho Street. This section is hellish to walk through at any time of the day, as it’s absolutely packed with people going in all directions. So when I read on Chowhound that Inn Noodle serves good noodles and xiao long bao (Shanghai dumplings), it took me a good few months to finally make it there from my office around the corner.

My friend and I hit the restaurant at peak time – 1.30pm. The sight of chefs at the entrance making fresh hand-pulled noodles (la mian) and xiao long bao by hand stopped me in my tracks. I started snapping away and we soon lost our place in the queue. It wasn’t a long wait, but we had to share a table. Service was chaotic as our waitress didn’t even realise at first that we were sharing with another couple.

What I ordered:

Inn Noodle offer a small selection of dim sum, and various meats and noodle dishes, fried and soup. From the photo menu, we ordered pork and vegetable wonton la-mian in soup, char siu (roast pork) la-mian in soup, £6.30 each, and two baskets of xiao long bao (£3.50).

Things arrived slowly and erratically. The couple next to us got their food first, even though they ordered after us. I had to ask for the tea that we’d ordered 10 minutes beforehand, then for a clean spoon, then for a plate. It was stressful to say the least and I spent most of my time looking for a waitress over my shoulder. Miraculously, all our food eventually came, although not in the right order, with my friend’s noodles, followed by the xiao long bao, then my noodles.

Inn Noodle is really just a canteen, where the concept of customer turn-over is king. The saving grace is the food. It’s actually rather good. The noodles were fresh, of course, having been transformed from dough just minutes before arriving. They were thick and al dente, but the portion could have been larger, for £6.30. The accompanying char siu was a bit of a cop-out on my part, as I didn’t want to stray too far from my Cantonese comfort zone and try something too unusual! My friend’s pork and vegetable wonton, with the same noodles, were delicious, with a light silky wrapper and flavoursome filling.

The xiao long bao, my reason for visiting Inn Noodle, were not bad at all. The wrapper was neither too thick nor too thin, and there was no tearing. There was a nice amount of juice inside, but not quite enough for my liking. Having observed the chef make them at top speed at the entrance, I couldn’t work out at which stage he would have added the soup. Perhaps there was no soup and the meat filling was just much juicier than it looked. Strange…

The verdict?

Well, to summarise, if you’re not bothered about the level of service or having to share a table, or the general chaos, then do try Inn Noodle. If you like to eat in more serene surroundings, then don’t. It wasn’t that cheap either (£24.00 in total). I’ve tried the food, accept that it’s good and fresh, but probably won’t make a second visit. Lunch is important to me, and it was a little too stressful eating here.

How To Eat Chinese Noodles

You might also like these Chinese restaurants:

• Baozi Inn (Chinese) – 6.5/10

• HK Diner (Chinese) – 7/10

• Cha Cha Moon (Chinese) – 7/10

• Crispy Duck (Chinese) – 7.5/10

  10 – Perfection, 9.5 – Sensational, 9 – Outstanding, 8.5 – Superb,
  8 – Excellent, 7.5 – Very Good, 7 - Good, 6.5 - Above Average, 6 – Average

  All the London restaurant reviews on World Foodie Guide

Contact Details:
Inn Noodle / Noodle Oodle
25 Oxford Street (at the corner of Tottenham Court Road)
London
W1D 2DW
Tel: 0207 287 5953

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide