These are the restaurants my cousin Reenie and I enjoyed while in China October 2008
Noodle Loft (Mianku)
I had seen the Noodle Loft restaurant (Mianku) featured on one of Anthony Bourdain’s show. It looked like a fun place to dine, so I added it to my Beijing dining list. My cousin Reenie was traveling with me and we met a friend, Lisa, who was soloing in Beijing. The three of us took a taxi from our hotel (Park Plaza), which took about 20 minutes, to the restaurant. It seemed like a long ride, but it fare was inexpensive.
The restaurant has a contemporary look with an open kitchen in the center. Four or five chefs were busy behind the counter making and cooking fresh-made noodles. It was quite entertaining to watch them perform. They would toss the various types of noodles into the large pots of boiling water (or broth) or into the woks. Some looked like the Italian gnocchi while others were extremely long noodles.
Dinner was fabulous! We ordered a fried lotus root dish, a fatty pork dish with vegetables (thinly sliced green vegetable of some sort that was crunchy), a whole duck with pancakes and plum sauce, and a plate of ear mushrooms with cilantro.
Reenie and I agreed the duck was more succulent than the one we ate at Liqun Duck Restaurant on a previous night (although we certainly enjoyed our dinner in the Hutong) along with “more for our money.” It was probably one of the best meals we had on this trip. Lisa was in foodie heaven. Dinner for the three of us came to 206RMB (or about $10 per person).
The service from our waitress was very good. She was attentive and cordial.
After we finished our dinner, I realized we didn’t order any noodle dish. The menu (in English and Chinese) was quite colorful with a large selection of tasty dishes. This is a place I’ll definitely return to…and I’ll be sure to order some noodles!
