I remember Sha Lin Noodle house being one of the first restaurants to offer Chinese handmade noodles. Of course, this was quite a few years ago, and since then, there have been numerous handmade noodle joints that have popped up in the city.The restaurant is located on Broadway, in the block between Cambie and Ash. It's a very unpretentious, utilitarian sort of place. Like a lot of smaller Chinese restaurants, you don't come here for the atmosphere.
Shane ordered Ja Jeun Mein (around $7), a dry noodle dish with a pork sauce and topped with julienned cucumbers. Shane choose the 'pushing noodles'-- you have a choice between 'dragging' (long, thin strands), 'pushing' (slightly thicker and irregular), and 'cutting' (larger noodles, which are sliced off a piece of dough). The noodles were perfect--chewy and with a great texture; the sauce was also really good--the meat was tender and the thick sauce coated each strand of noodle in savoury brown deliciousness, and the cucumbers gave a delightful fresh crunch to the dish. The only thing that is a bit of a flaw was that the sauce was a little too salty. Shane liked this a lot.
I had the chicken soup with dragging noodles. Again, the noodles were wonderful and well-cooked, but what I wasn't expecting was how utterly flavorful the soup was. Most of the time at Chinese restaurants, the stock isn't much of a highlight, but this soup had a clear and delicate chicken flavour. I'm a soup person, and I loved this dish. It is the perfect bowl of noodle soup for me.
We also ordered a side of pork dumplings with chives ($6). Instead of the meat being boiled along with the dough, the pork was actually cooked (stewed?) beforehand, and had the shredded texture of a really good pork bun filling. The chives gave the dumplings a really nice, herb-like, 'green' taste, which was really great.
Our meal at Sha Lin is definitely one of the best meals we've had in a long time. And to top it off, it is incredibly cheap and a great value.Highly recommended and we'll definitely come back.
looks so yummy
ReplyDeleteyou probably saw this already, but i thot of you when i read it: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/dining/07camera.html?th&emc=th
ReplyDeletegracias, tv. I hadn't seen the article, but it looks to be up my alley. People kind of look silly when they're photographed taking pictures of food, don't they? ahem...
ReplyDeletewell, yeah, the article is a bit weird; trying a bit too hard to suggest a psychology of food-photographing. you're in a different league...
ReplyDeleteInteresting, you had almost the exact meal I ate there! Although I generally liked the meal at Sha Lin, I've heard that Peaceful Restaurant a couple of stores down is better. I'm still waiting to try that out.
ReplyDeleteHi Sherman, funnily enough, those dishes seem to be the most popular ones the time that I went to the restaurant. I've tried Peaceful Noodle and like Sha Lin much better, though I haven't compared the same dishes. That Sha Lin broth is wonderful. And the dumplings!
ReplyDeleteYah, I have to admit the chicken broth is pretty darn tasty. Those dumplings are surprisingly savory despite their bland appearance.
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