I’m back from my two weeks and a bit work and holiday trip to Beijing (those last three posts were scheduled before I left in anticipation of being behind the Great Firewall of China). Those two weeks felt like two months as each day, I narrowly escaped death each time I crossed the street; no one warned me about the terrible traffic in that city – seriously, green does not always mean go for the pedestrian and yet red always seems to mean go for any driver. And the city is humongous. Walking anywhere is near impossible and yet the alternative, taking a taxi, can be ridiculously stressful too as you watch in fear as your driver cuts in front of yet another speeding lorry. Luckily, the sites were quite something to behold (photos are going up on Flickr daily) and the food more than made up for it all. We ate extremely well – at high end restaurants or at little random restaurants or even out on the street, everything was good and sometimes it was utterly fantastic.
We did plan a few meals but left a lot of it up to chance too – this turned out to be a good plan as it was often difficult to get from one tourist site to the restaurant on the other side of town (traffic was always bad at meal times and sometimes taxis were impossible to get). This meal was a planned one – I had read about Noodle Loft on both Appetite for China and World Foodie Guide and was keen to have some homemade noodles here to build up our energies again after a long day at the Great Wall (at Huanghua).
Getting here was half the fun (not!). We took the metro to Dawanglu and had to push our way out rather violently to get out of the train; there was some fear that Blai couldn’t get out but we both managed in the end! The twenty minute or so walk down to the restaurant wasn’t entirely pleasant as it involved crossing a number of major roads and essentially we were walking down the side of a minor motorway. We made it there eventually though and the food turned out to be worth the walk!
The two storey restaurant had an open kitchen downstairs and a very pleasant dining room upstairs and we were sat in the latter. The room filled with affluent young couples and businessmen – all of them enjoying the various noodle dishes and non noodle dishes available. Like a lot of the higher end restaurants we ate at, Noodle Loft has a picture menu with names in both Chinese and English. For the two of us, we ordered two noodle dishes and a vegetable side.
The first noodle dish was a simple stir fried handmade noodles with pork and cabbage. Rather unexpectedly, there was a hint of vinegar running through this dish which was surprising but delicious. And gosh I love the chewiness of handmade noodles.
Our second noodle dish was one I’ve wanted to try ever since I saw a photo of it on Flickr ages ago – kaolaolao – Shanxi noodles made with oat flour steamed in a honeycomb pattern. We had ours topped with a pork and vinegar sauce but you can also order them plain and they’ll come with dipping sauces instead. These had a lovely nutty flavour that paired well with the heavier sauce. The vinegar was much milder in this dish.
Our vegetable side was a delectable stir fried Chinese kale (just the stems) with fresh walnuts. This was just delicious with the vegetables retaining their crunch while the nuts were green and tender.
For London standards, the meal was inexpensive – about 100RMB (or £10) with a couple drinks – but it’s certainly not cheap by Beijing standards. It’s a nice place to try different kinds of noodles though; apart from the ones we tried, they also have knife shaven noodles, one chopstick noodles, cat ear noodles, etc. Any idea why they brought a little plant to the table when we paid? Is this so they know we paid?
I’ve not got their official website below but instead the link is to a Beijing directory listing where you can find the name and address in Chinese.
Noodle Loft
20 Xidawang Lu
Chaoyang District
Beijing, China
Sun, 3 Oct, 2010 at 03:23
Nice! I’ve never seen Oat Noodles before!
Sun, 3 Oct, 2010 at 17:33
The Kaolaolao looks amazing! I wish I could try it, if only it wasn’t 12 hours plane ride away…
Sun, 3 Oct, 2010 at 21:50
I love the food in Beijing which I visit (too) frequently but have never tried Noodle Loft – thanks Su-Lin 🙂
Sun, 3 Oct, 2010 at 23:51
I’ve been waiting for your Beijing posts! A great start and an intriguing choice of noodle with the oat noodles!
Mon, 4 Oct, 2010 at 05:16
Hey Su-Lin – I’ve got something for my next trip to Beijing. Strangely, I thought driving in Beijing wasn’t that bad, compared to other cities in China, and ummm… Vietnam and Cambodia comes to mind. I look forward to your future posts!
Mon, 4 Oct, 2010 at 13:53
Some good looking noodle dishes.
Lots of people mention the traffic in Beijing but it didn’t stand out to me. I’m guessing as I’d been in China for 5-6 weeks before I’d got to the capital and so I was numb to Chinese traffic by that point.
Mon, 4 Oct, 2010 at 13:55
Looking forward to more Beijing posts! Glad you managed to cross all the roads safely and came back to London in one piece. I’ve never been but have always been curious!
Tue, 5 Oct, 2010 at 16:00
Glad you made it out to Noodle Loft! A fun delicious place, no?
Love it that we made completely different choices while there; if you and your readers are interested, here are a few more offerings from their (giant!) menu! http://bit.ly/co8qmu
Did you try the Beijing metro? Cheap and widespread thanks to the runup to the Olympics. Flat fare of 2 yuan per ride while we were there. Saved Babs and me a lot of taxi heartache. Luckily we were well practised with crossing streets in Moscow, India and Vietnam by the time we got to China — Beijing was more manageable by comparison. Very glad to have you back in London in one piece though 🙂
Tue, 5 Oct, 2010 at 21:23
Wow – that kaolaolao looks awesome! Great photos, Beijing is such an intriguing place. HF xx
Wed, 6 Oct, 2010 at 15:46
what fantastic looking noodles, I haven’t heard of kaolaolao either, the name is fun to say too… and I love the photo of the wall, an awesome way to work up an appetite.
Thu, 7 Oct, 2010 at 22:39
[…] of China and restaurants in Beijing to eat these dishes are listed after each chapter. For example, Noodle Loft was recommended as a place to try Shanxi noodles (like the kaolaolao). We used this book one […]
Mon, 11 Oct, 2010 at 15:06
Ivan: Neither had I! I wonder what other grains are normally used to make noodles. Oat was the only new one I saw on this trip.
Dana: Yes…there’s that. I love visiting Asia but that whole on the other side of the world thing makes it difficult!
paul: Ah! Do you go often for work or play?
Mr Noodles: Ah, you’re too kind! I definitely had a fun time while I was there – I’m waiting for my own street food post!
Kirk: Yikes! I’m scared of Asian roads!!!
Joshua: Oh man… I’m just going to visit tiny little villages next time. 😛
catty: I think it’s definitely worth a visit. If I ever return to China though, I’d like to visit the smaller towns and villages rather than another big city.
GoingWithMyGut: Noodle Loft was definitely fun… and so delicious! We did try the metro and it was perfectly pleasant at all times except rush hour. The problem is that rush hour seems to last quite a few hours! And yes, flat fare of 2 RMB!
Hungry Female: It’s quite intriguing. I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of culture shock but things are certainly done differently there!
foodhoe: I loved the Great Wall. I’d also love to see it at its main starting point in the east. Dunno why. But yes, it’s a serious walk!
Mon, 7 Feb, 2011 at 20:37
[…] Update: While surfing the web, came across another blogger’s experience with the Noodle Loft here. […]
Tue, 26 Feb, 2013 at 06:05
oh wow, this is awesome, sounds like noodle paradise with all the different versions the have on offer. I would love to try those Kaolaolao. Could not find those anywhere so far….