Bowltiful
Noodles nine ways in no time.
Bowltiful Swanston Street
Chinese$
The Hui people of north-west China have been making some form of Lanzhou noodle soup for millennia. Thousands of kilometres away and a few variations later, you can peer through a window in Melbourne to watch dexterous chefs nonchalantly hand-pull noodles into nine different thicknesses.
Bowls arrive within minutes holding herby broth, delicate sliced beef and house-made pickles. From the dry noodle line-up, the crowd favourite is lamb rib braised until melting off the bone. Pros know to say yes to coriander, and to immediately mix in the mountain of toasty sesame-loaded chilli oil to avoid noodles sticking. Dining solo? Perch at the partitioned bench to slurp in privacy.
Fluffy beef and onion buns are a textural counterpoint, while icy honey hawthorn tea delivers a palate reset before you dive head-first back into noodle nirvana.
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