Got there for the first time. Hu Bei Restaurant is run by a Wuhan owner and chef.
Hubei person’s opinion: Unripe, and hard lotus root was used. Ripe lotus root was supposed to be creamy and soft. A true hubei lotus root soup will boil the creamy lotus root into a mushy texture so the ‘soup’ would be like a dilute paste with the sweetness of the root infused. This soup won’t be drunk in Hubei.
My opinion: Lotus root pork rib soup. Soup was sweet, but not from the lotus root where the sweetness normally comes from when the root is picked ripe, but likely from sugar. Lotus root was a bit hard and unripe. Tasted like a Cantonese soup to my Cantonese palate. Despite having eaten a fair share of lotus root in my life, I don’t think I’ve ever had one in that texture, likely because I’ve always lived far away from the source. A Cantonese taste obviously is a wrong taste for the Hubei soup.
Beer duck:
My opinion: Loads of duck. Quite a bit of heat. Noodle Talk Los Altos’ version was cooked with more nuance. Though of course its in a totally different class of price (double and 1/3 the amount of duck).
Hot dry noodle had a little bit of heat. The noodle was very soft, almost have a mushy texture, and overcooked as well. Probably the better dish of the bunch.
The yellow crane tower on the wall.
