I opted for their new Heping Xijie location and while I'm glad I did, it was admittedly difficult to find. See How To Get There below for directions.
After calling several times, they finally sent someone to find the lost-looking foreigner on the street and I stepped into the steamy front kitchen where the noodle-master chefs do their stuff. It was a fun lunch, even on my own.
- Fun way to eat noodles.
- Large lively interior great for big groups or families with children.
- Super friendly staff help you understand the menu - just ask for someone to come and explain.
- Hard for one person to really enjoy - there's just too much food.
- This locations is a little bit difficult to find. See directions below.
- Noodle Loft Restaurant
- Address: Heping Xijie Number 3, Chaoyang District, Beijing
- Tel: +86 (0)10 5130 9655
- NL also has a location at No. 20 Dawang Road. See the profile of this location.
The chefs stand at a noodle bar on the ground floor hand pulling, chopping and cutting noodles, throwing them into steaming water and shaking them out into bowls. For only 12rmb, you choose the type of noodle you want and then head to the sauce bar to make your own soup. You make your choice from stocks like chicken, mutton, pork with soy sauce and vegetarian. Then you add extras like scrambled eggs stewed with tomatoes (another Shanxi specialty) or mushrooms simmered with other veggies. Finally you add your condiments such as vinegar sauce, hot oil, cilantro, hot peppers and bean sprouts. I advise you to experiment a little with the sauces before you invest your decision on your noodles. I made the mistake of exuberance when it came to the vinegar sauce and regretted it.
There are plenty of other dishes to try: loads of cold vegetable dishes - I recommend the celery and dried bean curd (tofu). I also tried some specialty sorghum dumplings filled with pickled cabbage.
After all the build-up I wasn't disappointed and can happily recommend NL next time you're in Beijing.
How To Get There: Getting to Heping Xijie is fairly easy. It's right off the third ring road and there's a subway stop, Hepingxiqiao, just steps away from the restaurant (find the southwest exit). The Noodle Loft is located at #3 but this doesn't really help because it's located off the main street. After you exit the SW door of the subway or find yourself standing on the west side of Heping Xijie facing south, find the first alley off to the right and walk down. There might be some black-shirt clad NL staff on the street to help. NL is located about a 2 minute walk down this alley on the right.
