Oodles of Noodles UnTour!

After a visit-saving Breakfast Eats tour with UnTour, I decided to give it another go with Oodles of Noodles and we weren’t disappointed!

Our tour guide Clara is originally from Brussels, but has been living across China for 20+ years and she has many stories to share. Clara greeted us in Fuxing Park and whisked us off to 4 different spots where we tried 7 different kinds of noodles. Who knew China produced so many different varieties of noodles, but I was ready to learn! Luckily, we arrived hungry. :) UnTours hunts down the best local spots: some of the longest-standing Shanghai outlets that you can rarely find an expat in, plus you know they're good when the line of locals runs out the door at lunchtime.  

(I think these are in the right order…)

Stop #1:  Seafood Noodles @ A Niang Noodles

Noodles #1: Croaker Fish noodles.  Don’t know what a croaker fish is? Neither did we! It’s this little guy & he is mighty tasty.

Noodles #2: Hairy Crab noodles. Surprisingly sweet but crabby deliciousness. (For hairy crabs, there isn’t much meat, but rather you eat “the mustard” which is quite tasty!)

with 5 dishes still ahead we were warned to get used to leaving a little in our bowl, 
unless you're Bob.

 

Stop #2: Wei Xiang Zhai

You order the noodles by “liang” which equates to about 50g of noodles. I learned this word in Mandarin but didn’t understand it’s implications. A “liang” was previously a government rationed amount at a time when food was purchased with “coupons” and every “coupon” was valid for 1 liang. While the coupons have for the most part become out-of-date, the “liang” measurement still applies.

Noodles #3: Majiang Mian or Sesame Peanut Noodles. This “dry noodle” dish exemplifies the balance of the 4 key flavors of Chinese food: Sweet, Salty, Sour & Spicy (how convenient that they all being with “S”!) And these noodles accomplish this with: Noodles, Peanut sauce, Sesame Seeds, Vinegary Soy Sauce, Chili Oil & Green Onions.

that's some steamy slurping!

the "liang" menu

Stop #3:  Ding Te Le

Noodles #4: Beef Noodle Soup. A little egg, a little onion, a little philly steak beef, and a lot of tastiness!

Noodles #5: Scallion Noodles.  Surprisingly, a crowd favorite with just noodles and caramelized scallion onions

  

To work off all the above noodle dishes we ravaged, we walked around the French Concession and popped into a “wet market” (where locals buy their “fresh” veggies & meats, more on that in another post). We also explored some "lilongs" , aka, Chinese row houses. Clara also found time to pick-up another egg tart from Lillian’s: YUM! And popped us into a Tea shop where we learned about the difference between green tea & red tea.

Lilongs

Stop #4: Lanzhou Lamian

Actually a halal establishment where they pull & prep the noodles right in front of you, how "fresh". This mom & pop shop brought the Langzhou tradition of the famous pulled noodles of the Northwest to Shanghai. No pork here! Which is surprising considering China loves pork. However, during this noodle tour I learned that 10 of the 55 minority groups in China practice Islam.  Learn a little more here

Noodles #6: Pulled noodles (the round ones typical to when we’d think of spaghetti) and flat noodles.

Noodles #7: Knife cut noodles. Made from a roll of dough a sliced off into long strips (like peeling a carrot)

the Oodle Noodle crew

helps to bring scissors

Our street-side dining entertainment. The Tractor Whistle Man

All this noodle writing makes me want some more noodles!!! 

In summary: