I’m finally continuing the handpulled noodle journey!!! I mean, I was all into banh mi for a while, but with the cold weather here, I’m moving onto soup noodles. Okay! I let my new friend/lunch buddy pick which place; Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles was chosen due to its proximity to our office. A brisk walk later on one of the warmer winter days we’ve had so far, and we were seated inside.
First up, for comparison’s sake, fried dumplings!
Not bad, but not wonderful either. Eh. I like Lan Zhou’s fried dumplings WAY better.
I don’t remember what my lunch buddy aka Spicy Ninja ordered. I do remember, however, his emphatic statement that the broth was weak and, well, horrible, and even requested I photograph him dumping Sriracha in his broth liberally. (I did take the photo, but it was so pointless, I don’t want to share it.) Yeah… LOTS of Sriracha.
I ordered fishball noodle soup, because I really wanted to try this special type of fishball…
The noodles were okay, nothing amazing or great or … well, I wasn’t a big fan, let’s just say. They clumped together too fiercely and I was just not too into them or the weak broth.
I was excited to try the pork-stuffed fishballs, though! And if this is a ‘bad’ one, I can’t wait to try ‘good’ ones… a little meaty pork nugget buried inside the springy fishball, bursting with umami deliciousness. That was pretty damn good – I have to find the frozen ones so I can stock them in the freezer… yummm. But really, everything else was a total wash – it was nice to have veggies included in my bowl of noodles, but they were totally and completely overcooked to mush, which I hate.
Yvo says: I can’t imagine why this place is even around – except I do know why. It’s on the ‘clean’ side of Chinatown, the touristy side where everyone goes as opposed to the real gritty side where only daring people tread. Whatever. I’ll pass on this place and take my chances wandering through the ‘bad’ part of Chinatown, looking for the real deal, totally delicious hand pulled noodles elsewhere. Ergh. Yes even though this place is super cheap, because they are all super cheap!
not recommended
ailin says
there are so many different kinds of the pork stuffed fishballs. love them. ive bought them at hks.. a vacumn sealed package.. something mamas brand. that one is pretty decent. although they’ve had changes in their ingredients. it used to be extremely yummy and the texture was right then for a year it was really awful and the texture was chewy and now theyve reformulated it , it seems. its better now but not what it used to be. my mom says she buys them fm a woman who makes them herself and i love that one. must find out where she gets them. will let you know if i find out. my moms answer usually consists of , it’s in teeny store in flushing and then she cant describe where its at nor the name
Aimee S. says
Fish Balls, Fish Balls, Roly Poly Fish Balls…eat em up YUM!
Tiffany C. says
You must try Lan Zhou Pulled Noodles (21 Division Street, NY)! They also have pork stuffed fishballs and the spicy beef noodle soup (noodles sliced knife style) is FANTASTIC. Vegetables aren’t crisp, but the noodles have the correct firm texture and the broth is delicious. They used to also sell bahn mi also but unfortunately, the restaurant does not sell them anymore =(
James says
I’m glad to see someone else agreeing with me on the weak sauce that is Tasty Hand Pulled Noodle’s broth. I thought I would go back and check out some other items on the menu after my first visit, but with Sheng Wang and Eastern Noodle around, this probably won’t happen.
Jolyn says
That insight would have saved us a lot of effort early on.