Regional Chinese cooking in Greater Boston

https://www.wensnoodle.com/contact-us is the chain’s web site. Also has a version of the crossing-the-bridge noodles story and shows address info on the two locations. Let me know what you think, if you make it out there!

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Thanks, @HungryAllTheTime! And while I have opted to maintain this map as my personally curated map, reflecting places I have tried and like (or in one or two cases, specifically don’t like), I’m always open to feedback, if there was something that you thought was terrific and you disagree with my assessment, or if you didn’t like something that I do like.

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What a fantastic resource to explore! Gratitude! My usual is MDM Noodles in Brighton. Have you ever tried?

MDM Noodles is on my list to try, but unfortunately I don’t get out to Allston/Brighton to eat much these days.

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I think this is the second time lately I’ve botched the name of something here. (Brain…not…working). Xian Rougamo is a place downtown I’ve never been to. The good hand pulled noodle place in the Longwood food court is Noodles King.

I regret any confusion I have caused with my faulty so-called knowledge!

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You rang? See

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Yay!

So glad to see you back here @fooddabbler!!!

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Equally glad to see you and p_t still here.

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according to Boston’s Hidden Restaurants, there’s a new Hunan place called My Happy Hunan Kitchen that just opened in Brighton and seems worth a mention in this thread.

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That’s a brave soul there to continue with the opening of a restaurant at this time! I wish that restaurateur the best of luck, and hopefully we’ll get some reviews in.

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A brave soul indeed. But the menu looks intriguing. It’s a bit far for delivery or a drive-by, but maybe … Thanks for tipping me off to this!

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Whoa … Chili Square in Quincy’s Chinese name is 蘭州牛肉麵 (LanZhou Beef Noodle Soup). This is a style that I stumbled across and my daughter has been wanting to try for a year now. Gotta go check that out!

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The restaurant’s Chinese name is actually Kou Kou Xiang (口口香), which translates roughly in concept to aromatic/fragrant each bite. The characters you list is their signature dish though (Lanzhou Niu Rou Mian - or Lanzhou Beef Noodles), and you are right - it’s all over their storefront and on their menus, probably even more prominently than their actual name. :sweat_smile:

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I was poking around the web trying to figure out what newish Yunnan place that @sunnyday was talking about in Wollaston in her response to your other recent thread, and in doing so I stumbled over what is apparently a brand new Yunnan place called Ten Second Yunnan Rice Noodle at 431 Cambridge Street in Allston. (Same block as Lulu’s).

There’s little info out there (in English, anyhow) about this place, though it seems like it is some sort of franchise operation. There are some photos here, it seems to have opened just recently.

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Sorry @passing_thru , I should have done some more digging as well! I just glanced at a Wechat post made by the owner and shared by a friend and didn’t think to look it up, but the name of the Wollaston place is called Shi Miao Dao (5 Brook Street).

Funny that the Allston place has the same Chinese name as the Quincy place, but one is direct translation, and one is the phonetic translation. Franchise, or everybody jumping on the Yunnan bandwagon? Yunnan Province has an amazing culinary tradition with its use of herbs and chilis and pickling/preserving unique to the region; it would be great to see a full Yunnan menu someday instead of just rice noodle.

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I will take any soup noodles I can get, but I do find it funny that there are 2 that may be opening not too far from each other at the same time. My sister who lived in HK for many years LOVES mixian, and I remember a few pretty good mixian meals when I was in Guilin a few years ago. I can’t say if any of these were iconic representations of Yunnan Mixian, or their classic “Crossing the Bridge Mixian” noodle soup dish.

If you have not watched the 2nd season of Flavorful Origins on Netflix. I highly recommend it, because I know very little about Yunnan cuisine. It was really interesting how different their food traditions can be.

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This whole thing is kind of fascinating to me. It seemed in my searching that there is a franchise by this name, because when I was searching for this I saw lots of places in Texas and Colorado with the same name and just assumed they were all under the same umbrella. But your point about one being a direct translation and one being phonetic is also well taken–thanks for letting me know about that! I wonder what’s going on here, especially with places opening up in Quincy and Allston at seemingly the same time.

I’d love to see a full Yunnan style restaurant open anywhere around here as well myself. I watched the second season of Flavorful Origins that @kobuta mentioned and was totally intrigued!

The cynical part of me thinks it’s because noodle soup is a fairly standardized product with higher margin, like how restaurants make more money on pasta dishes (supposedly)…

If you and @kobuta like the Yunnan cuisine you’ve seen, I have been enamoured with this youtube channel made by a young lady living and cooking in a rural Yunan village with her family, who is now pretty famous in the Chinese online media. It’s just fascinating to see the tropical fruits and vegetables she can grow/forage and what she does with them. It really makes you yearn for the simple life living off the land with a spoiled rotten malamute, but then I look at the amount of chili pepper she consumes and decides against it… :joy:

Here’s a video of her making the rice noodle soup we are discussing from scatch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56_Nm2ly2pg

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Sorry for derailing the thread but the video brought to mind another similar poster that is tranquil, interesting, and a joy to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJSZfrJFluw

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