Aldgate Area Guide

Somehow noodles manage to be a fairly healthy option, supremely comforting to eat, utterly delicious and great value for money all at the same time. What’s not to love? I’m excited by the ever-increasing number of restaurants focusing on specific regions and cuisines rather than an entire country or continent. These restaurants are opening up new flavours and rich, varied experiences for us all. Here are some of my favourites. Liu Xiaomian Head here for the Chongqing Xiaomian, thin wheat noodles served in a spicy, aromatic broth - I particularly like the minced pork and chickpeas, but the spicy beef is also a good shout. The addictive 'ma la' flavour combines the physical numbing, tingly sensation from Sichuan pepper, heat from chillies and complex spice notes like cinnamon, star anise and cardamom. Find Liu Xiaomian downstairs at the Jackalope pub which is tucked along a quiet mews in Marylebone, or at their Kingly Court site in Carnaby. Marylebone, Carnaby Website Chew Fun A simple mix-and-match menu makes this good for noodle newbies. Select your main dish (the duck is good here), side dish, soup option and sauce to accompany your classic Guilin rice noodles, although you can switch to wheat or sweet potato noodles if you prefer. The easiest of these choices is the sauce; it’s their ‘secret’ sauce, hands down. Spitalfields Website Kung Fu Mama This collaboration between Chris Hsu and Ottolenghi co-founder Noam Bar brings us street food with a lighter touch. Sun-dried Taiwanese noodles (which you can buy packaged to cook at home) come with toppings like chicken with ginger & sesame or 12-hour beef with Sichuan pepper. The bao are pretty good too. Covent Garden Website Noodle & Beer Choose from a good selection of both dry and soup noodles; you can opt for either rice or wheat. You can’t go wrong with the Super King Braised Beef Ribs with Blanket Noodles, which is blanket-level comforting and will equally well set you up for, or help you recover from, the booziest of nights. It’s a very generous portion, with a chunk of beef rib served on top of the noodles and the meat cut off the bone for you at the table. There are branches in Spitalfields and Chinatown, with the Chinatown site open until 4am from Wednesday to Saturday for the party people. Spitalfields, Chinatown Website Song He Lou If you’re looking for a more sedate dining experience, then directly opposite the Chinatown Noodle & Beer is the very first Song He Lou site outside China. Join the locals for a taste of centuries-old Chinese Jiangnan cuisine, Suzhou-style noodles: thin and delicate noodles in a dark, sweet and spicy broth, with your choice of toppings. Chinatown, Soho Website Yun Cross-Bridge Rice Noodles Crossing-the bridge noodles is a traditional Yunnanese soup noodle dish; expect a bowl of piping hot chicken broth, surrounded by individual bowls of rice noodles, meat, prawns, spring onions, mushrooms, chillies and more, and condiments to build your own bowl. Brick Lane Website Murger Han This was the OG Xi’an-style restaurant in London, opening over 20 years ago and still a firm favourite. Famous for introducing the murger to London (pork belly in flatbread, aka a Chinese burger) they also do a mean bowl of noodles: classic hand-pulled biang biang or spinach noodles, along with LaTiaoZi, thick and chewy wheat noodles traditional to Uyghur cuisine and known as laghman. Euston, Mayfair, City, Elephant & Castle Website Xi'an Biang Biang Enjoy the theatre of watching the hand-pulled noodles being freshly made, named Biang Biang after the rhythmic noise made as they are slapped against the worktop or table. These thick belt noodles have a satisfyingly chewy, springy texture; I like the cumin lamb version, but they are all good. You can also get Chongqing noodles here, and liangpi, seductively soft and slippery cold skin noodles. Covent Garden, Aldgate East, London Bridge, Gloucester Road Website Master Wei Chef Guirong Wei runs this restaurant serving up both hand-pulled biang biang and liangpi noodles alongside other traditional dishes from the north western Chinese city of Xi'an and the wider Shaanxi province. She also co-owns Xi'an Impression, opposite the Emirates Stadium. Highly recommended. Bloomsbury, Hammersmith Website Note: You can't talk about biang biang noodles in London without mentioning Noodle Inn, but I confess I've never eaten there; I'm impatient when I'm hungry and, as we've seen, there are so many alternatives that don't require queueing along a busy street. Maybe once the hype dies down. Lanzhou Lamian Noodle Bar This tiny noodle bar may be modest and a bit cramped but it’s one of a mere handful of places in Leicester Square actually worth eating in. Choose between la mian - thin, hand-pulled noodles - and dao xiao mian - thicker knife-cut noodles. Portions are generous, flavours are rich and satisfying, and it’s open until 2am on weekdays and 5am on Saturdays. Leicester Square Website Mamapen This one is a little left-field, but if I’m giving you a list of my favourite noodles in London then it needs to include Cambodian chef Kaneda Pen’s Tattie Mince noodles. These are Cambodian/Scottish fusion noodles created by happy accident whilst cooking with his Scottish girlfriend (Mountain restaurant's pastry chef, Jo Garner) and served to happy diners thereafter. Sun & 13 Cantons, Soho Website

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