Message: | So I've been addicted to noodles lately, and I need help finding more places to go. Especially after the Monterey Park noodle and Naengymon noodle threads below.
So: what are the various noodle textures of this world? Where are the best examples? Why do we love them?
Some initial thoughts of my own:
After becoming addicted to fresh, hand-made pastas back in Boston NY, the thing that really satisfied here was Northern Chinese hand-cut noodles. Toothsome! My favored spots are the ones I found in the Gold book: Mandarin Deli, and Mandarin House.
Naengymon: I've been to Hamhung, on Ardmore in K-town, which I adored. Noodles like I'd never had before - springy, gelatinous, almost impossible to eat, in a sweet, tart sauce. But which according to the more experienced-seeming poster in the recent Naengymon thread, these were poor. I went to Chung Ki Wa, which others seemed to prefer, where I found the noodles also delicious. Why, posters, do you prefer Chung Ki Wa? And is there any humanly possible way of eating these things without messing yourself, your companion, and the people at the next table?
Chow fun: I used to know a place in SF that did great chow fun, where you could actually taste the rice. No such known place here.
And: I have no idea what they were called, but at Yongusan, the haute Korean place, I ended my dinner with a course of these *soft* cold noodles, that seemed to dissolve into beef stock as soon as they went into my mouth. What the hell were these?
Other thoughts? Other great noodle varieties? Does anyone with expertise have any noodle-classification system?
-thi |