Noodles!!

It was my experience while traveling in Japan years ago, that noodles in soup often formed one of the cheapest options for dining on a budget. It remains the same twenty years later and in a different Asian country. Since I am sort of on a budget, and I still like noodles very much, I keep looking for places to go and eat them. I thought that I would tell you a bit about eating noodles in Shanghai.

My first foray, as per a suggestion from JCS, after a review of a great blog written here in Shanghai, was to Brother Ah Niu's. This blog also provides a really good map of the restaurant, and usually includes a couple of shots of the outside of the premise- a good aide since addresses are sometimes invisible. His review of the sweet and sour soup sounded good enough to follow, so I jumped on the subway and went a couple of stops, walked a couple of blocks and found it thanks to the photo (and the notes I made to myself on a large post-it). I decided that since the menu was likely to be all written in Mandarin, I would have the same thing that he did. It was really tasty and I have since then, returned for more and guided a couple of other people there for a cheap and tasty meal. We went next door and bought three cans of beer to accompany our dinner. It cost us 23 RMB, so a little over $3.00USD for three of us to eat (probably another 18 RMB for the beer). Check it out here.

My latest adventure took place a couple of days ago. At the suggestion of JCS, and a link to another local blog, I fetched the map, wrote down the information on yet another post-it, and headed off on foot. I forgot to check my watch before I left, but I would have to say that it probably only took about 20 minutes to get there from the apartment. I have to admit that the address numbers on the street were not sequential, and I had thoughts (very brief) about turning back in defeat. Since I was truly hungry and intrigued, I continued on and found it almost immediately. It is not a charming place- this is strictly a utilitarian place where go come in, get your food, eat it and leave. No fancy napkins, no clean tables, and no drinks. However, it is attractive because you get to choose for yourself what you want to eat. No need to worry about language barriers. You walk in, take a plastic basket, load it up with skewers of vegetables, dumplings, meat, some noodles, and then just take it to the counter for them to count up. They send it to the kitchen to add to the broth (which is a Sechuan derivative- it has that numbing spice in it)and give you a number. They even made an assumption that I did not know my numbers in Mandarin and simply took my number and gave me my soup when it was ready. It was delicious and cost me 8.5 RMB (about $1.00USD and some change). I did not take a photo due to sudden shyness, but you can read the same blog entry I did, here. There is a place that is just like it down my street, so I think that I will have to go and check it out- for comparison purposes, you know....



In the cold of this past winter, when I did not feel like going out, I resorted to making my own noodle soup. I bought some dried black rice noodles, some chicken bouillon and things to add to the soup. I had a couple of variations, but my favorite was the addition of the egg (cracked over the boiling water, and swirled to make strings), the fried tofu, the chopped bok choy added at the last minute, and the peanuts put on top like garnish. So tasty, that I might of had it every day for a couple of weeks!