eating out.

Tom-ace and I went to Noodle Kingdom on Chooseday, when, after much deliberation, I decided what I really really wanted for dinner was the Mandarin House Shantung Dumpling Noodle Soup. But since that was 800km away, Noodle Kingdom sounded like the best plan b, even though it was very very hot and smokey outside, and a $5.20 (and I thought the Adelaide public transport was bottom rubbish) train ride away.

The platz had been recommended to us by Eryn, who lived in China for a while, and gave the thumbs up to their hand-stretched langzhou noodles. Eventually we found it, after wandering around the Box Hill shopping/transport complex a bit, and a quick trip to the toilet when I realised I had left the house with my dress on inside out.

We ordered a bowl of the Authentic Langzhou Beef Noodle Soup each, and shared a side of boiled pork dumplings, and a litre of plum drink, which all cost about $26. Also, we were the only non-Asian people in the place. I thought that this was probably a good sign.

The plum drink was...interesting. Quite nice once I got past the fact that it just didn't taste like what I expected, and certainly $5/litre = total bargain. But it can't've been that good because the leftover in the fridge hasn't been touched. As for the food, I would have to say that the broth and the dumplings were a pretty good approximation of the soup I was craving from Mandarin House, but not quite as flavourful. And there was no bok choi or chinese mushrooms. But the noodles were...noodelicious! Doughy and moist, almost like fresh pasta, and with the added bonus that occassionally there was a big fatty one that slipped past the consistency control manager. arm num num.

So in conclusion: if it's Chinese beef noodle soup you want, Noodle Kingdom will do the trick. If it's noodles you want, Noodle Kingdom will totally pull the rabbit out of the hat.