Beijing’s answer to Kentucky’s Colonel Sanders, Mr. Shi is expanding his collection of backpacker- and laowai-friendly Chinese dining restaurants, with a foray into the world of hand-pulled noodles. His new noodle shack, Mr. Shi's Noodles, has replaced his previous venture, Mr. Shi’s Spot, which, as a bar selling imported European beer, didn’t really suit his trademark friendly-laobeijing brand. But can his noodles command the same loyal following as the jiaozi?
With so many backpacker-bar hallmarks in his two Baochao Hutong digs, it would be easy to assume that locals steer well clear – especially with wily old Shi’s inflated prices. But most times we visit – especially at his newer and larger Cheniandian Hutong branch – the dumplings seem pretty popular with the local market.
But Shi, immortalized in smiling cartoon form outside his restaurants, may have a harder time convincing seasoned Beijingers with the noodle offerings. You’ve got a choice of six classic takes on the hand-pulled wheat staple. We’d recommend the Shaanxi youpo noodles (RMB18), which are oily, garlicky as hell and possessing a satisfying lick of spice. The zhajiangmian (RMB18), a straight-up laobeijing of a noodle dish, is good, but has little to elevate it above nearby competition. The same is largely true for the remaining items: eggplant and pork noodle soup (RMB18), beef noodle (RMB22), egg and tomato noodle (RMB20), and noodles in a clear broth (RMB18). The noodles themselves are pretty robust, but we did find a large bit of plastic, possibly splintered off an old biro, in our zhajiangmian. Not ideal.
Price
RMB18-22 for a bowl of noodles
Who’s Going
Backpackers, fresh off the boat newbs
Good For
Chinese noodles 101
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