炸酱面 zha jiang mian ($4.50) @ 好面王 Wang's Noodle & Dumpling House!
Zha jiang mian, $4.50, from 好面王 Wang's Noodle & Dumpling House: handmade wheat noodles under a savoury minced pork bean sauce with a pile of julienned cucumber.
炸酱面 (zha jiang mian) from 好面王 Wang’s Noodle & Dumpling House, $4.50. 🍜😋
What we had ($4.50):
- 炸酱面 zha jiang mian, $4.50
Wang’s is a hawker stall run by a chef who cooked in Chinese restaurants before going out on his own, and the thing that sets it apart is that the noodles and dumplings are made by hand in the stall rather than bought in. That shows up in the bowl. Almost everything on the menu sits under $6.50, which for handmade noodles is a bargain.
Zha jiang mian is the northern classic: noodles under a fried bean sauce with minced pork, and you toss it all together yourself. Here the noodles were thick, round and pale with a good springy chew, the kind that holds its bite instead of going limp under the sauce.
The sauce came spooned over one side, a deep reddish-brown mound of minced pork cooked down in fermented bean paste until it was glossy and a little oily at the edges. It is savoury and salty rather than sweet, concentrated enough that a spoonful goes a long way once you mix it through.
Over the top went a generous heap of julienned cucumber, cut into long thin matchsticks, cold and crunchy and watery in the best way. It is not a garnish here, it is a real part of the dish, cutting through the salt of the sauce and keeping the whole bowl from feeling heavy.
Mix it all up so every strand picks up sauce and cucumber, and it is a satisfying bowl for $4.50.
Overall: 4 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Chewy handmade noodles, savoury bean sauce and plenty of crunchy cucumber. Would re-order.
