Sunday, November 17, 2013

Magic Noodle 大槐树 [Chinese]

We have been ignoring uptown new offering recently and have been sticking with some old favorites. So sticking with our ramen addiction, we went for some traditional Chinese hand-pulled noodle 拉麵 instead (Chinese Ramen).

We arrive at Magic Noodle 大槐树 for lunch on a Sunday and it was packed with quite a wait but the service and turn over time was pretty quick. We got our table within 15 minutes which was very acceptable in my opinion.


Cold Flavored Assorted Vegetables $3.25
We saw most table ordering this and decided to give it a try. It was just slightly pickled veggies which was sweet and slightly tangy which was a perfect side to the noodles.


Sliced Pork Foot in Soy Sauce $4.99
Another cold dish but I have to say that I'm a bit bias on this since I like mine hot and melt in your mouth version but cold ones are more "al-dente"/springy in texture. But this was very flavorful and Ben did love it.


Sizzling Tofu $1.50
Not sure why it's called sizzling but it was just your typical Chinese BBQ skewers (they have a few meat options). Love the sweet sauce here together with the typical Chinese skewer dry rub mix.


 All the noodles are made fresh constantly where you could see the process through their open kitchen which they didn't allow me to video or take picture thou :(
They have 2 types of noodle here, the regular hand-pulled ones (Lamian 拉麵) and the hand cut noodle which is where they hold a large piece of dough and slice it with a special cutter over boiling water/broth.


Hand Pulled Noodle with Beef - Small $6.99 Large $7.99
We decided to go with the most basic one since it's our first time here and it was amazing with perfectly cook noodles, pho like soup and tender slices of beef. Just like pasta, you can definitely taste the difference of fresh hand-pulled noodles.



 Sliced Noodle with Traditional Braised Pork - Small $6.99 Large $7.99
 The sliced noodle are thicker and here doughier (almost like rice cake) which I love while Ben prefers the noodle. This one didn't have soup but was tossed in the braising liquid instead which can end up being rather oily for some people but I do find it perfect with the thicker noodle while I can't imagine it with a soup which may end up being rather bland for this. And let's not forget about the pork which was packed of flavors of soy sauce, spices like anise and  cloves.



Fried Pancake with Leek $2.99
 Made fresh and served pipping hot, this was perfect for these cold winter days with the perfect crisp exterior to the moist filling of leeks, egg and bit of vermicelli.


 Verdict :
Love everything and will definitely be back real soon, maybe for take out to avoid the the crowd.
Super affordable, authentic and delicious
Perfect for our stay-uptown weekend
Service are almost non-existent just like most Chinese eateries but here they expect a 10% or less tips

P.S - Cash Only


Magic Noodle on Urbanspoon

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