On a gloomy September day, I was looking forward to a nice big bowl of handmade noodles. Not too long ago, I was chatting with one of Brian’s friends and she mentioned Lao Shan Dong. The name sounded familiar and it was because one of  my friends also mentioned it. So you can’t go wrong when you hear so much great stuff about a place!

We decided to catch a movie with Bennifer – the couple who are going to be exchanging their vows in Maui next year (so excited to head back to sunny Hawaii!). They suggested we try Lao Shan Dong that evening. When we walked in, we were the only people there – not entirely sure why- maybe we came at a slow time?

Apparently the original owner had moved on and took the best chef with him – to where, I have no clue – but if anyone knows, please do tell! Bennifer were telling us the place used to be packed but not since the new owner had taken over.

I ordered the #1 small and spicy ($6.95) – which is beef flank with handmade noodles. First off, the small is a fairly big portion! It’s comparable to most other Taiwanese noodle places that serve one size (which is normally big to my standards).

The only difference is taste. The broth actually has taste here – many places seem to be so bland that it’s easy to neglect the soup – which is not the point of having a bowl of soup!! Although I’m praising the fact that the broth here is heavier and beefier tasting, I have a gripe. I ordered the spicy (as opposed to mild/regular) and it was nowhere near spicy at all. In fact, maybe she gave me a mild – who knows, but it definitely isn’t spicy. Jen was saying that with the old chef, a spicy bowl was really spicy. Weird.

The pickled radish on top complimented the otherwise mediocre taste of the beef flank. I do have to say that this was the meatiest and interesting beef soup I’ve ever tried – with barely any fat and the meat being more dense than soft. I think because it was more dense, it didn’t pick up any of the flavour from the soup or marination.

The noodles were perfect, no complaints there. It was served still chewy but soft and with a good, not too starchy taste to it.

Brian ordered the Large #20 – Beef and Pork Ball in Spicy Soup. From the one glance I took of it, it was fairly large – although a lot of people say that a large can feed two, Brian polished it off no problem…so I guess if you’re a hungry guy, maybe the large would be perfect for ya!

Next time I’ll have to try the dumplings since my friend was gushing on how great they are! This place is CASH ONLY.

Food:
I want to give it a higher mark, but my bowl was definitely not spicy! The noodles and broth makes up for this error.

Service:
As usual, it is asian service. It seems though that they have a lot of people working with very little customers – maybe 3 people standing in the back chatting.

Ambiance:
Clean and long, a quaint restaurant size.

Value:

OVERALL:

 

Check out their website and menu here.

 

Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodle House 老山東麵莊 on Urbanspoon