restaurants

甘记兰州牛肉面Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar

Finally tried the hyped Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar on Elizabeth St, and it didn’t disappoint! The venue isn’t big but it’s pretty spacious, with high wooden benches and a large window at the back to watch the noodle-makers do their magic. It’s a casual, self-serve restaurant - the prepared side dishes and drinks are in a cabinet at the front where you can grab yourself to pay. The menu consists of both beef noodle soups and dry noodles, and they are customisable - including choosing your type of noodles. I decided to get the Lanzhou Handmade Beef Noodle Soup with wider noodles. The soup was so tasty and flavourful! Topped with plenty of leek, coriander and chilli. The beef is so tender and fall-apart. But the star is the handmade noodles - cooked perfectly with a bite, and a very generous portion too. The Braised Beef Noodle Soup was also really good - it’s hard to say which one I like more. The braised beef is even softer, more tender, juicy, and hearty. The Pickled Cabbage Beef Noodle Soup was similar to the original, but with an added sourness from the pickled cabbage which made the broth more complex. For sides, we grabbed some black wood-ear mushroom and chicken giblets with peanuts. Both were very delicious, cool and refreshing - perfectly complementing the hot noodle soups. Overall, we had a really good meal at Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar, and I’d definitely recommend it.