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June 30, 2016

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Satisfy your hunger with refreshing cold noodles

By Xu Wenwen | June 30, 2016, Thursday | Print Edition

COLD noodles are a staple of summer cuisine across China, including Hangzhou, where noodles became a local staple during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). This dynasty made Hangzhou its capital, and the northern Chinese who moved into the city during that time brought with them their flour-rich foods.

Nowadays, there are plenty of restaurants across Hangzhou which serve up cold noodles. Today, Shanghai Daily introduces you to four of the most popular places to sample this quintessential warm-weather refresher.

Wang Yi Tang

Twenty-something Wang Chenghao inherited this noodle restaurant from his parents a year ago, and was determined to give it a creative make-over.

First, he started offering crayfish during the summer and autumn, and noodles in the winter and spring. This summer though, he hit upon a novel idea — combining crayfish and noodles into a single cold noodle dish.

But this combination is anything but simple. Tender crayfish meat is the main ingredient in this hearty meal, which also features cold black squid-ink noodles, a specialty of nearby Wenzhou.

It’s served in a sauce made with diced beef, shitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tofu and preserved peas fried with grounded crayfish shell powder. Sugar, plum and hawthorn are added to enhance the smell and flavor.

Wang said the secret to the dish’s early success has been its sauce and smooth al dente noodles, which are cooled in ice water after boiling.

An order of crayfish noodles costs 56 yuan (US$8.42).

Address: 63 Jinjiangxi Rd

Ping Le Noodles

One of the most well-known noodle restaurants in Hangzhou, Ping Le, never fails its loyal customers — either with cold noodles in summer, or soup noodles in winter.

Its noodles are made with local grains and eggs from free-range hens. After boiling in water for 90 seconds, the noodles are rinsed in cold mineral water.

You can’t go wrong with the classic summer favorite: cold noodles with creamy sesame sauce and shredded cucumber.

There’s also cold noodles with jelly fish. Like other meat toppings, the jelly fish is served warm for optimal taste and texture.

Diners can add the same meat toppings to both the dry cold noodles and soup noodles.

Another recommended topping is the fried shrimp, which goes well with eel soup noodles. The eels are killed upon order and then fried and boiled in soy sauce, giving them a salty umami taste. The shrimp are peeled by hand and cooked after ordering.

 

Address: 118 Wangjiang Rd

You Yi Jia

While a college student in southern China, Wang Yigang from Yanji, capital of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin Province, started selling his hometown’s specialty Yanji rice at a food stall he set up on campus. After graduation, he decided to continue his culinary career in Hangzhou.

His small restaurant, You Yi Jia, now provides authentic Korean-style cold noodles. Buckwheat noodles are boiled in beef soup. After cooling, vinegar and fresh pear and apple juice are added.

Other topping are refreshing shredded cucumber, cabbage, kimchi, tomato and sliced beef. A sweet-and-sour sauce is made with fermented pear using Wang’s secret family recipe.

 

Address: 165 Zhongshan Rd N.

Come Home

Another restaurant that specializes in crayfish noodles is Come Home, a sub-brand of local franchise Lao Tou’er.

Crayfish are also used in the sauce, cooking oil and toppings. The crayfish oil is abstracted from finely-chopped crayfish meat, celery and carrot; the sauce is made with crayfish meat, crayfish oil, onion and scallion; and the noodles with flour from Inner Mongolia.

“We sell over 200 bowls of the noodles each day,” said Fu Yueliang, manager of the restaurant.

Cucumber with pepper is recommended as a suitable summer side dish.

 

Address: 1/F, Well City, crossing of Wenyi and Wantang roads

Hangzhou


 

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