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2016-09-12
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According to the SCMP review for Emma's Noodle, "Beef noodles from Guiyang jumped in popularity when president Xi Jinping praised them when meeting a Guizhou delegation in 2014." I don't really know how much people here care about what president Xi praises, but I'm always excited to try new things. It's been so rainy lately that a nice bowl of soup noodles sounded like just the thing. I tried to arrive at 'off' hours, namely 2:45pm on a weekday. There are only 8 seats at the restaurant, and when
I tried to arrive at 'off' hours, namely 2:45pm on a weekday. There are only 8 seats at the restaurant, and when I arrived four of them were occupied with people and four with people's bags. When I left the whole place was full. So I don't know what to tell you about getting a seat. Cross your fingers?
According to Jacqueline M. Newman in the article "Guizhou Cuisine" on the Flavour and Fortune website:"With such a mixed population, what do most people in Guizhou eat? For one thing, particularly those in the cities of Guiyang and Xingyi, they
adore Gangzi noodles. These ultra-thin egg noodles are cut thinly and boiled, then put in or on soup with sliced or diced pickled cabbage and pork or lamb. They put in and stir several seasonings into half a bowl of this soup and none in the other half. When served each bowl looks like a mala hot pot, one side red, the other clear; and with no real divider."
This is a pretty good description of the soup that I got in a number of ways. First, the cabbage was definitely pickled and it had a good pickly taste, a strong Sichuan peppercorn flavor, and complemented the soup nicely. It was also true that the seasonings were poured in only half of the soup, as you can kind of tell from the picture. In fact, I tried some of the broth from the left hand side, and while it was very beefy, it wasn't seasoned otherwise at all, really. There are instructions at the seats telling you to stir the soup, and you should definitely follow them. There were some other seasonings as well: I found a couple star anise floating in mine, though the broth didn't seem to have a very anisey flavor.
The noodles weren't what I'd call "ultra-thin" or even thin, though they did look a lot like the noodles one sees when one googles "Guizhou noodles," so I assume they're reasonably authentic too. In my opinion, the noodles weren't all that great. They were similar to Yunnan noodles that I've had, but softer, and didn't do a good job of soaking up the flavor (like Chongqing sweet potato noodles) or of getting the soup to adhere to them (like, say, dandan noodles or Lanzhou noodles).
The beef was really tender and quite popping with flavor. You get the "diced beef" in the soup (it doesn't tell you this on the menu). There was a fair bit of it hiding in the murky depths of the soup. You could add more meats of various types for $18 (like sliced beef, cowheels, tripe, or spicy chicken), but I thought the amount already there was fine. The spice level was what I'd call "moderate." Too much for someone who doesn't like spicy, but not really daring. A lot of it had that not-really-spicy-on-the-tongue-but-burns-the-back-of-your-throat thing going on. I think this is from using tiny chili flakes that float over your tongue in the soup but stick in your gullet on the way down. Bring tissues!
My main criticism of the soup was mainly just its oiliness. Admittedly, I did get the chili oil beef noodles, but c'mon, it's the only thing listed as spicy and you can't eat non-spicy noodle soup. Well, OK, everybody else in the restaurant was doing that, but I can't eat non-spicy noodle soup. Plus, even before I mixed the chili oil seasoning into the rest, it was still very oily. To be honest, I like this Yunnan place: 桥香园云南过桥米线 (I think in English it's Kiu Heung Yuen, 91 Wellington), I think they do spicier soup, less oily, with lots more veggies, and better noodles. Emma's does have better beef though, and the pickled cabbage is a nice touch. I like that it's something different (never had Guizhou food), and I might well come back to try something else, though as I say, I think there are better noodle soup joints out there.
张贴
