This unique restaurant has been at this location about a year. It’s a casual Chinese restaurant popular with students that’s easy for ‘grown-ups’ to overlook. But don’t. The food is interesting, with many dishes that will be unfamiliar but worth getting to know. The owner is part of the Joy Luck Chinese Buffet family, hailing from the Fujian province.

The interior has kelly green light fixtures and metal chairs—not particularly conducive for date night—but the food is enticing, especially the hand-pulled noodles. There’s a glassed-in kitchen area where diners can watch the dough being worked and stretched into the longest noodles you’ll ever find—at least they’ll feel like it when you try eating them with chopsticks!

These are house-made and like all freshly made pasta, delicious. Plus, a generous bowlful of noodles (topped with your choice of beef, chicken or shrimp) is $8.99. You don’t get tons of meat, but that’s OK, since the star here is the noodles—and the sweet ‘house sauce’ they’re tossed in.

The other house-made noodle offering, shaved noodles, comes as thick noodle wedges, doughy and chewy in texture. Our Stir-fried Hand Shaved Noodle with Veggies ($8.99) was delicious, with bits of broccoli, carrot and onion in a thin, sweet sauce that let the noodles shine.

Also exceptional are the bubble teas and flavored teas. I had green tea with mango and boba ($3.75). The tea choices will be overwhelming, but just dive in or ask the waiter for a recommendation. My selection was grand: caffeine-laden, cold green tea with mango syrup (not too sweet) and boba (caramel-flavored tapioca balls) at the bottom. Outstanding.

If you like eggplant, do not miss the Dragon’s Favorite Eggplant ($12.99), delicious Japanese eggplants sliced amid a thick, sweet, oily brown sauce. Amazing! Another irresistible dish is the Deep Fried Garlic Sauce Pork Rib ($12.99). Very crisp and dry-fried, small pieces of pork rib bone with meat clinging to them offer a garlic-y, salty treat.

As a starter, we ordered the Chinese Pancake ($5.99)—or at least we meant for it to come before the meal. That didn’t happen; all came together, so if you want ‘courses,’ make that clear. The pancake was crisp and flavorful, mostly just dough dotted with scallions, then fried in oil.

Less exciting was our fish dish, Spicy Fish ($13.95), which had an unappealing texture. On the menu it appeared to have a red sauce that adhered to the fish, but when it came, that wasn’t the case. The tilapia was way too soft and it seemed to be ‘velveted,’ a floured treatment that imparts a soft, mealy texture.

Dessert was excellent—and unlike at most Chinese places, there were tons of options (shaved ices topped with fruit, tapioca puddings in fruit flavors, etc.). Our Sesame Balls with Red Bean Filling ($5.99) had a pleasant sesame flavor similar to Middle Eastern halavah, and inside each was a dab of sweet red bean paste. Yum.

amuse bouche
the scene | Casual Chinese restaurant with unusual fare
the owner | Ivan Wei
the prices | $1.25-$8 appetizers, $9 noodle dishes, $11-$14 entrees, $3.50-$6 bubble teas
the favorites | Hand Pulled Noodles, Sesame Balls with Red Bean Filling, Flavored Tea with Boba, Dragon’s Favorite Eggplant, Deep Fried Garlic Sauce Pork Rib

6623 delmar blvd. | 314 .727.2402

Pictured: Hand Shaved Noodle Soup with Beef Tripe