Slurp the warmth: Lanzhou hand-pulled noodle soup makes a splash in Christchurch
Wednesday, 5 June 2024
A newly opened noodle house on Christchurch’s Riccarton Rd has caused quite a stir in the community, selling over 500 bowls per day.
“We did not expect it. The queue was long, stretching 10m outside the door. Many diners waited for almost an hour for a bowl of hand-pulled noodles,” said Pengfei Song, owner of Jinweide Beef Noodle restaurant in Christchurch.
Song’s restaurant, which opened two weeks ago, sells Lanzhou beef noodle soup, a popular hand-pulled noodle dish from Lanzhou, a city in Northwest China after which it’s named.
“We are the first to sell Lanzhou beef noodle soup in the Garden City. The popularity is overwhelming,” the 38-year-old architect said.
Song studied in Lanzhou “about 20 years ago”. Like locals in the capital of Northwest China's Gansu Province, he usually started his day with a hot bowl of beef noodles.
It’s said about 2 million such bowls of beef noodles are sold daily in Lanzhou, a city with a population of 3.8 million. This means that, on average, one in every four people in Lanzhou enjoys a bowl of beef noodles each day.
A traditional bowl of Lanzhou beef noodles “includes five elements - clear soup, white radish, red chilli oil, green coriander and leek, as well as beef and noodle”, Song said.
“Your eyes actually savour the dish before you even slurp the noodles. It presents different layers of colours and tastes.”
About 20 herbs are used to make the broth.
“A big aluminium pot is used to stew the beef shin, beef leg bone, and aged free-range chicken all together for at least a day.
“Aluminium is an excellent conductor of heat, which ensures even and consistent heating and keeps the broth clear instead of creamy,” Song said.
Thin slices of white radish, known as a heat herb in traditional Chinese medicine, are placed atop the boiling soup to “bring warmth to your body” and “beat the chill in winter”.
“Garlic chives are used to garnish the soup, but as they are not so common in New Zealand, we use shredded leek instead. The tastes are quite similar.”
Jianfeng Song is the noodle master in the bustling restaurant. It's the first time the 43-year-old has worked overseas.
Lanzhou beef noodles can be divided into 10 categories based on their thickness and shapes, with each type having its own unique name, from hair-thin to belt-wide.
Each portion of dough used for making the noodles weighs the same — 460 grams before pulling. “The way you press the dough and the number of times you pull it makes the difference.”
For belt-wide noodles, he first presses the dough flat, pulls it three times, flings it into the boiling water, and lets it boil for less than one minute.
While for hair-thin noodles, the master pulls it “eight times in total”, then flings it in the boiling water for just 15 seconds.
“As a noodle master, you need to have a lot of patience and know your dough well. It's a balancing act of achieving a chewy, firm, and soft texture,” the seasoned chef said.
Jinweide is a chain of Lanzhou beef noodle restaurants in China and more than 40 other countries around the world.
It is the first Chinese enterprise to impart training in the preparation of Lanzhou noodles. Its training centres educates 4000 people worldwide every year.
Pengfei Song said he planned to open the restaurant earlier “on some cold days” during winter.
“So noodle lovers who used to have a hot bowl of beef noodles for breakfast, like me, can have a place to go,” he said.
* Jinweide Beef Noodle Restaurant is at 104 Riccarton Rd, Riccarton.