Funny how things just incidentally happen. I had been wanting to return to Lanzhou Noodlelicious before the weather got too hot. So, I did that "Google thing" to check hours and lo' and behold, a place named Silk Road Lanzhou Beef Noodles appeared. Now how the heck hadn't I heard about this place? Could it be because it was located in what would seem to be a rather unlikely location for a Chinese Noodle House, on Mission Boulevard? I was intrigued; so I decided to pay the place a visit. I drove down on Grand and decided to park on the street, not knowing what the parking policy was for the restaurant. Which is located right next to Ralph's in the Pacific Beach Marketplace.
Any doubts I had about this being an "ABC" type restaurant went out the window as I was greeted in Mandarin! In fact, all the customers I overheard on this day were speaking Mandarin. I was the exception….except for a few words.
The menu is fairly small right now two noodle dishes and some side dishes (liang cai), along with drinks and few other items. I was really only after one thing.
I ordered the Lanzhou Lamian ($14.99)…the young man was impressed that I said lamian and I jokingly told him "my wife is form China, so I better get at least one thing right!" He cracked up. You get to order your preferred thickness of the hand pulled noodles. I went with Medium Thick, but also requested extra firm….I almost said "katame"…whew, good thing I caught myself. I also got a soy sauce egg ($2.00).
Soon enough my bowl arrived, steaming hot.
Of course I couldn't help but compare this to Noodlelicious. The broth was on the lighter side, a bit heavy on the MSG, lightly beefy, a good amount of white pepper. The chili oil is a must (just as it would be in Lanzhou) to help balance things out. I think the broth at Noodlelicious is much better.
The beef was a bit chewier than I prefer, but it was really beefy. I enjoyed that two different cuts were provided as well. Texture and quantity to Noodlelicious, flavor to Silk Road. I enjoyed the slices of daikon as well.
As for the noodles….man, this was superb, super springy, bouncy, with a great mouthfeel. Totally "QQ". While Noodlelicious does hand pulled noodles, I thought this was a level above that.
My egg didn't arrive until I was half way thru my noodles. I'll leave that to soft opening jitters. While a bit overcooked, it was nice and warm, great soy sauce flavor, a hint of cinnamon-anise.
So, it looks like at least in the case of the Lamian, I'm going to give the slight edge to Lanzhou Noodlelicious. But for a soft opening visit, this was quite good. It was interesting to see the shop slowly fill up. There were quite a few older Chinese couples….something that I don't recall seeing much during my visits to Pacific Beach.
Like Luscious Dumplings which just opened in Eastlake, I'm not sure why the ownership decided on this location. It'll be interesting to see how things go. BTW, you can park in Pacific Beach Marketplace when visiting Silk Road.
There was on last pleasant surprise. I asked for my check and the really nice young man came by with the card reader device and told me it was like a bit over nine bucks! Huh??? He then informed me that during the soft opening everything is 50% off. I guess I missed that sign before walking in? Duh…
He also told me that the 50% off should be going on until the end of this week……just in case you'd like to give the place a try…..
Silk Road Lanzhou Beef Noodles
4305 Mission Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92109
Current Hours:
Sun – Thurs 12pm – 2pm, 5pm – 1030pm
Fri – Sat 12pm – 2pm, 5pm – Midnight