Lon and I haven’t been feeling that well for the past 2 days, and for me that means eating lots and lots of noodle soups. While nothing that delivers to me is like my mom’s noodle soup or Chinatown quality (or price), there’s a couple of places that are acceptable and then there are tons of terrible ones so I thought I’d fill everyone in on the noodle soup situation here. And, please feel free to recommend a place if you think I’ve missed it. I’ll be very, very grateful if it’s good.
Express Manna Kitchen
I haven’t tried any noodle soups from this place yet but their Dukk Boki is good so I’ll have to try some more stuff some time… The problem is that they’re more of a lunch place so they close pretty early.
Hamachi
This is actually a neighborhood Japanese restaurant but they have a good selection of udons, sobas, and yosenabes.
Try: Spicy Seafood Miso (It’s a noodle soup with a tremendous amount of seafood but it’s not listed on the MenuPages menu for some reason.)
Je ‘Bon
Tonight was our first try of this place and we were happy with our delivery. We ordered the Kichinabe (flavorful dumplings), the silver needles (subtle, but good flavors and textures), and the Wine Chicken. I was surprised by the authentic flavor which included goji berries and other medicinal flavors that most places outside of Chinatown don’t dare to use. It’s exactly what my mom always made me drink when I was sick, minus the broccoli (Chinese people don’ t put that in soup) and the fact that they de-boned the chicken leg.
L’annam
Yes, this is a Vietnamese place but sadly I won’t eat the pho there. The stock just doesn’t taste right. But there are a couple of noodle soups that will do for the price.
Try: Duck Black Mushroom Noodle Soup, Saigon Style Noodle Soup (I don’t like water chestnuts, but there’s good soup flavor), Steamed Grandma Recipe Soup (perfect for when you’re sick)
Pilly’s
This is actually a deli but the second floor has a seating area where they serve good Korean soups at really good prices. Keep in mind that Korean food is only served until about 7:30 on weekdays and not served on weekends.
Try: Duk Mandoo Gook, Kalbi Tang, Yookgae Jang
Republic
This place is all scene and pays little attention towards the food. I’ve been dragged here a couple of times yet I can never remember anything I ate. Enough said?
Saigon Grill
Don’t get the pho at this place either. The soup never comes hot enough and again doesn’t taste right. They don’t really have much else in terms of noodle soups.
Soba Ya
Some of my friends love this place, but I think their stuff tastes pretty bland. I’m never a big fan of soba though…
Sammy’s Noodle Shop
The noodle soups are the only items you can eat from here. The rest tastes like average dirty Chinese take-out. I don’ t like the wontons because they’re not authentic (too doughy and over-sized) but Lon does. Generally the soup noodles have good flavors but occasionally the noodles are over-cooked.
Try: Stewed Beef Noodle Soup (very concentrated), Pickled Cabbage and Shredded Pork Noodle Soup, Noodles with bean paste and miced meat sauce (not a soup noodle though)
Tokyo Lamen
This is one of the worst restaurants I’ve ever been to. I went with my cousin and my brother. All 3 of us ordered different soup noodles and none of them tasted any better than if you microwaved instant noodles or cooked one of those udon packs from an Asian market.
Don’t Try!
Vanessa’s Dumplings
We ordered from this place a couple of times. Sometimes it was great and sometimes food tasted old and I was offended by the flavor of shrimp going bad. We’ve stopped ordering from this place because of the inconsistency but if you want a noodle soup, the beef noodle soup was good the first few times.
You obviouslly do not know SQUAT about Chinese food, giving Sammy’s a bad rap!!!! It’s packed on a regular basis, WITH LOCALS, for a reason!!!! Moron……….