Tag Archives: hand made
8 January 2014 The end of the La Mian World
So this is the last post on La Mian World. Maybe.
It has been a great journey. The world’s first blog dedicated to the art of hand pulled Chinese noodles was launched in 2011. With one post per month and fabulous finds of places, restaurants and noodle artists it is the ultimate source of wisdom for all la mian lovers. So or in similar ways goes the usual praise for ones own blog.
Anyway I just had a good time exploring different aspects of the La Mian World, Asian food and countries, taking photographs and last but not least eating and enjoying heaps of amazing, fresh hand pulled la mian.
I hope you enjoyed it as well. Thanks for reading and keep on eating la mian at your local la mian chef’s joint! And of course you can come back and re-read some old post every now and then. It doesn’t hurt.
Tags: China, Chinese noodles, hand made, hawker, La Mian, lamian, lan zhou la mian, noodle, 拉面
30 August 2013 noodle variety
You should always have ambitious targets in life. My latest target is to try all the Chinese hand-made noodle varieties that I found out about.
I stumbled upon a cooking class in Beijing which offers to teach you how to do a whole lot of different noodles from the provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi. Some of them I had never heard about. So now I am out for the hunt to try them out.
This is the list and the current status of ‘found it, ate it’:
Honeycomb-shaped naked oat noodles you mian kao lao lao
Fish-shaped sorghum noodles gao liang mian yu
Knife cut noodles dao xiao mian – found it here and there, delicious!
Hand pulled noodles la mian – of course, the queen of hand made noodles, my favorite of 2011 and of 2012. Of course there are sub-varieties of the actual La Mian from super thin angel hair to triangular, round and fat to flat La Mian. In Singapore you can try those at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao outlets.
Dragon whiskers noodles long xu mian
Chopstick sorghum noodles ti ba gu
Pinched noodles jiu pian
Shaved noodles ti jian
Cat eared pasta (Chinese orrechiete) mao er duo
Sorghum buckwheat noodle strands he le
Shaanxi chewy belt noodles shaanxi you po che mian – this is very nice and chewy!
Only how will I find all the other different shapes?
Tags: China, Dao Xiao Mian, food, hand made, La Mian, lamian, lan zhou la mian, noodle, soba, 拉面
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- Posted under PR China, Singapore
6 May 2013 night and day
If you think of Asian mega cities what comes to your mind? Buzzing markets, hordes of people crowding the streets, unbelievable traffic jams and a city life that never stops, twenty four hours around the clock?
This might be true for some places or some areas of these Asian megalopolises. However, take a closer look. Although many cities boast some more or less famous night markets with rows of exotic food stalls, meal times for many are actually early. In Singapore restaurants are jam packed between six and eight in the evening. Finding restaurants that still serve dinner after ten p.m. can be a challenge.
But here comes Swee Choon Dim Sum Restaurant to your rescue. It opens from six to six. That is in six in the evening to six in the morning. So, whether you come at your regular dinner time, whatever that might mean in your cultural environment or after a night out, they will be there for you. Swee Choon Dim Sum in the new trend area of Jalan Besar serves excellent dumplings of all sorts and of course boasts a La Mian chef pulling away the dough during the night. This place is as good for food as for people watching at the wee hours.
After night comes day. Thanks to one reader of this blog I could see light in the La Mian scene in Singapore after heading all the way West to Clementi. Just behind the usual over-air-conditioned shopping center is the HDB lined food court, wet market and community shopping area.
Most likely I am lacking some language skills here but why you would call a food court Bgain 442 Eating House does not become very clear to me. Maybe Bgain is short for bargain?
In any case the Xinpeng La Mian Xiao Long Bao stall must be considered famous in Singaporean terms since it for sure had the longest queues to be seen around there. I can confirm that it is worth waiting in line. The expertly stretched La Mian are spaghetti thin and have excellent al dente consistence and taste!
Swee Choon Dim Sum Restaurant, 183-191 Jalan Besar, Singapore
Xinpeng La Mian Xiao Long Bao, Bgain 442 Eating House, Blk 442, Clementi Ave 3, #01-121, Singapore
Tags: clementi, dim sum, food, food court, hand made, hawker, hawker center, hawker food, jalan besar, La Mian, lamian, noodle, restaurant, Singapore, swee choon dim sum, xinpeng, 拉面
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- Posted under Singapore
15 April 2013 what’s left of the la mian world
It seems that La Mian has peaked in Singapore. Anyway an endangered species in China where it originates from, it looks like that it is going downhill with the art of hand-made noodle pulling in the Lion City.
The still beloved Noodle Star opened several outlets during the past year but soon stopped having a life La Mian chef in its Jalan Sultan restaurant and never had one in the Bugis one.
Imperial Treasure La Mian Xiao Long Bao in Marina Square seems to have closed for good and so does Crystal Jade in Suntec City. Now we all know that the Pearl Center is marked to be torn down this August. This will see another two La Mian stalls go.
La Mian World needs YOU to support your local noodle chef! Go out and visit a La Mian Restaurant today wherever you live.
Maybe try the ever popular Ju Hao in Lavender Food Square or hop over to Jakarta to try Imperial Treasure’s La Mian Xiao Long Bao restaurant there. It is located in one of Jakarta’s most glitzy shopping malls, the Plaza Indonesia. It looks and feels almost like in a Singapore shopping center with only a bit more traffic to get there.
Imperial Treasure La Mian Xiao Long Bao, Plaza Indonesia, 1st Fl Unit J 113, Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav. 28 – 30, Jakarta
Tags: bugis, chef, crystal jade la mian, crystal jade la mian xiao long bao, food, hand made, Imperial Treasure, Indonesia, Jakarta, La Mian, lamian, noodle, pearls center, pearls centre, restaurant, shopping center, Singapore, 拉面
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- Posted under Jakarta, Singapore
4 January 2013 noodles at noodles
Who would think that you could find a La Mian stall in a business hotel on Orchard Road in Singapore?
The Orchard Hotel features the noodles restaurant in one corner of its lobby floor. It was opened already in May 2012 and is more a bar or bistro than restaurant. I did not take notice of its existence until today.
Recently they hired the new chef Xu Ai Min for noodles from Beijing and put in some advertising effort which successfully reached out to La Mian World. Well, I stumbled over it by coincidence while googling.
I was a bit sceptical about the setting, but it is actually quite nice and bright inside the huge glass facade of the hotel. The place is as simple as it gets with a menu concentrating on the most important La Mian dishes like beef La Mian, Dan Dan Mian, minced pork La Mian and a couple more fancy ones like one with Abalone. Interiorwise noodles features only the bar with the La Mian chef, one friendly waiter and some bistro tables.
I went to have You Po Mian and my lovely companion ordered the La Mian soup with vegetable and pork dumplings. You have four choices of noodles: either the classic round, super thin, flat or egg noodles. Both dishes were ordered with flat La Mian. The expert chef went to pulling and hitting the dough as I was snapping away at his fast motions. Some perfect La Mian noodles emerged from his hands and submerged into the boiling water.
The meal was served in no time and looked fantastic on nice white china. I must admit that I would have wished my La Mian to be a bit more chewy but in essence both the dishes were excellent.
Which way will the art of La Mian making go? Is it a dying art or will we have La Mian outlets mushrooming up soon at every corner like Starbucks cafes?
noodles, Orchard Hotel Singapore, 442 Orchard Road, Singapore 238879
Tags: art, bar, chef, food, hand made, hand pulled, hotel, La Mian, lamian, lan zhou la mian, noodle, orchard hotel, restaurant, Singapore, you po mian, 拉面
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- Posted under Singapore
23 December 2012 Join the revolution
Did I mention before that La Mian World is not a food blog?
Actually I intended to start a world-noodle-revolution.
Since the invasion of Sushi in the 1990s in the USA and the 2000s in Europe I kept asking myself, why can La Mian not do the same. It is great, healthy food. Freshly handmade and a real art, just like Sushi.
Maybe it takes more to become a La Mian chef than to be a Sushi master? Maybe noodles are not exotic enough? Maybe La Mian did not find the right promoters yet?
The La Mian World blog managed to prove that La Mian is not at all mainstream but indie, underground, gothic even. The circle of readers is exquisite and shy.
On the other hand it might be attributable to my failure to ride the wave of social media successfully.
Where am I getting at here? I need your support to start the real La Mian revolution! Come and join me!
Tags: art, chef, food, hand made, hawker, La Mian, lamian, lan zhou la mian, noodle, pulling, revolution, sushi, 拉面
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- Posted under Uncategorized
拉面 La Mian World 