the noodle club

had a quick early dinner here last sunday evening.
we occupied the first table of the night. after perused if the menu, we settled with orders of beef noodle soup with extra fine noodles, a small dish of crystal salted duck, a braisedporkbelly and a pig head jelly.
all dishes nearly came to our table at the same time. braisedporkbelly was the hero. it was tenderised, non-greased and melted in my mouth. pig head jelly was as refreshing as usual. beef noodle kept the consistence but crystal salted duck was absolutely a let down. it was heated up but blend with all bony pieces😥.
rating: 3.5/5
previous rating: 4/5 july 2021; 5/5 oct 2020; 5/5 jan 2019; 4/5 nov 2018

the noodle club is a new establishment in the thriving runcorn plaza dining scene. the restaurant specializes in chinese mid-west cuisine with a particular focus on hand stretched noodle dishes. we were there for weekday lunch and ordered their signature lanzhou beef ramen & lamb combination noodle soup. 

they have a well displayed cold appetiser fridge containing chinese classics such as boiled peanuts,porkskin jelly & varieties of pickled vegies. for $3 a serve, we ordered their boiled peanuts & shredded tofu skin.

whilst waiting for our food, i had a sense of déjà vu. the entire interior design of the previous “gourmet collection” was left untouched. even chairs and tables were directly transferred over. ownership swap on a budget this is.

first dishes to arrive are the appetisers. the boiled peanuts with diced pickled vegies were on the crunchy, salty & flavourless side. shredded tofu skin seasoned with dash of soy and sesame oil was quite refreshing with a strong almost concentrated tofu taste. overall the appetisers were underwhelming. 2.5/5

the lanzhou beef ramen was up next with hand stretched thin noodles in white radish beef stock garnished with beef cubes & coriander. the strong beef and radish scent from the ramen was very appetising but the problems start to appear when you dig in. the beef cubes provided was soo fatty it ruins the overall balance of the ramen. the soup itself was over seasoned with salt and msg which leaves your palate dry with a metallic aftertaste. the only positive was the perfectly cooked hand stretched thin noodle. 2.5/5

lamb combination noodle soup was last to arrive. containing hand stretched wide noodles, sliced lamb, chinese mushrooms & cloud ear fungus all in a white milky broth. the noodles in this are wide, chewy & cooked just right. the meat was on the dry and flavourless side. the broth on the other hand contains a strong (almost unbearable) lamb taste. with a big dash of black vinegar & chilli oil, we were able to finish majority of the noodles. 3/5

service was ok at best with staff speaking limited english and confusion with orders at times. i observed the table beside us was given the wrong order twice. 3/5

hint: their specialty lanzhou beef ramen is not worth trying. suggest to give their handmade shaved noodles a go. if you anticipate this to be an authentic chinese mid-west/xin jiang restaurant, you will be disappointed.

delicious noodles and dumplings

we visited this restaurant specifically to try their hand-pulled biang biang noodles (youpo mian) and they were delicious. the noodles were freshly made and the sauce (we chose to get the sauce with beef) was delicious. theporkand prawn dumplings were delicious too. we weren't that excited about our cucumber salad though - it might have been a little bit past its best. the service was fast, the portions are generous and the prices are very reasonable!

tasteless soup(only had red oil on top of the noddle) i've ordered theporkintestines spicy noddle soup. won't recommend this restaurant to those who loves strong flavors

they’re delicious. handmade and pulled, thick and long. they say they’re like a belt. a bloody delicious belt. they’re simply put with chilli, garlic, vinegar, soy and greens but you can also add beef if you want. i went without as i also ordered theporksteamed dumplings!. turns out that youpo noodles are actually what the peasants used to eat (lucky them) many, many years ago. they were a basic dish that grew in popularity.

i was down at runcorn plaza a couple of months back and saw the massive breakfast queue... coming back recently and much earlier in the morning there was a little more room available available in the dining room.

atmosphere: clean and welcoming. there is the usual assortment of chinese families and seniors.

service: order and pay at the counter, then it is brought to your table. breakfast menu attached: you will find it has quite a comprehensive selection of chinese dishes from various regions.

food: i choose the set meal b. my congee was clean in taste and could have been cooked an extra couple of hours. it had an ample amount of century egg but only one small sliver of pork.
with my congee i also choseporkbuns. it contained a generous meatball inside as well as a delightfully fragrant wine based sauce. the pastry of the bun was fine, fluffy and lightly sweet.
i also ordered an extra fried doughnut (yaou jaa kway). it was freshly cooked with a strong gluten structure inside.

verdict: good value for money and resonable portion size. delicious. simple but well done.

i go here with nanxi infrequently. it's in the runcorn plaza shopping centre so parking is ample albeit hazardous.

the cooking is homestyle northern chinese and not really to my taste but is well received by my chinese friends. every person i've shown these photos is immensely interested as well as homesick, the taste is very authentic apparently. they do an extensive range of cold salad items, which i'm not a fan of but are also extremely popular judging from the huge amounts people buy.

i went here for hand pulled lamb noodles, they used a fatty cut of lamb that was smoky, greasy tender tastiness. it was a greasy dish for sure but surprisingly delicious. the noodles were all different sized and had a great chewiness to them. there was a lot of onion and capsicum slices there too but there was equally as much lamb!

nanxi insisted i get the hot and sour beef soup. a slightly medicinal flavour with lots of shredded bits that i couldn't identify. i would say beef, black cloud fungus and other bits. i had a few tablespoons and stopped, mostly as i was very full eating other things for breakfast.

we got a egg and green onion pancake plus aporkbun each. the egg pancake was light and flakey, ive not had something like that for breakfast before so i've got no option on it. theporkbuns were very large! a thin layer of dough and a large disc of juicy mincedporkwith a strong ginger flavour. almost too juicy! beware the splatter!

i got a marinated egg too. no grey ring, solid soy flavour, would get again!

the real high light for me was the freshly made you tiao! we were told there was a 15-20 minute wait cause of how many orders there were at 7am on a saturday morning! the line never got less than 8 people queueing, plus people taking home giant cardboard boxes of them!

they were so good! light, despite their oil frying, airy, chewy and huge to boot! the size of my forearm aka a woman's size 9!!! i slowly picked at my you tiao and took the second half home. my mum found it and she said it was delicious too, high praise!

all in all, go for the you tiao, everything else is average for me but your mileage may vary if you're a homesick chinese person.