Battle of the Brooklyn Noodle Soups

Yes, I know this is my second post in a row involving noodles - what can i say, I love mian tiao. I've made a few trips to the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn over the past few weeks. One time I was in the neighborhood picking up some groceries (ok, I was stocking up on rice), and I just happened to drive by a hole-the-wall noodle shop serving hand-pulled noodles. Hand-pulled noodles are made by stretching and twisting a solid chunk of dough into strands of thin and delicate noodles. It reminds me of a game of cat's cradle, except no string or children are involved. Just dough and old Chinese men. The noodle shop I'm referring to is called Lan Zhou Hand-Pulled Noodles and is located at 60th street and 8th ave.




























Aside from the beef and noodles, the soup also includes spinach, cilantro and a spoonful of preserved vegetables. The noodles are soft and chewy at the same time. The broth is flavorful, without being too salty. I am generally not a fan of preserved vegetables, but this time it added extra flavor to the soup.

My second trip to Sunset Park was caused mostly in part by a raving review of a Yunnan Noodle Shop I read on Chowhound. I had Yunnan rice noodles (mi xian) once in Bejing and I was curious to see if this place was truly authentic. Yunnan is a province located in the southwestern region of China. Their noodles are made with rice flour and are whiter and plumper than your average Chinese noodle.














Yunnan Snack Shop, another hole-in-the-wall restaurant located at 49th street and 8th avenue, similar to the Lanzhou Hand Pulled Noodles set-up. The soup looks pretty much the same too, but the flavors and textures are completely different. The Yunnan rice noodles are much chewier and kind of hard to swallow. I had to swallow a lot of them whole because I was having trouble biting down. This broth is also very spicy and more salty. Interesting flavor, but I'm not sure if I'll go back again. I definitely prefer the hand pulled noodles over the Yunnan rice noodles.