8 Types of Chinese Noodles You NEED to Eat!

Hey guys, this is Mikey Chen. You know, I love noodles. I love thin noodles. I love white noodles. I love noodles made from eggs I love noodles made from wheat I am definitely an equal opportunity noodle lover and what I love about Chinese noodles is that if you go across China Noodles will change from province to province sometimes even from city to city and I'm not even just talking about the dishes I'm talking about the noodles themselves So today I am in Queens, New York, and I'm gonna show you guys some of the different types of Chinese noodles You really need to try. Let's go First place we're gonna go to is the Asian Jewels restaurant in Flushing, my favorite dim sum place We're gonna go get some steamed rice noodles Nothing like a wonderful start to your day like some steamed rice noodles And I got the top three favorites most popular variety the beef the shrimp and the youtiao Which is like a Chinese fried curler inside. These noodles are incredibly delicate really thin They steam in like a minute and they have almost like a mochi-esque texture I'm gonna take a shrimp noodle dip it in soy sauce that they pour all around it Get a big piece of the shrimp with it as well. I needed that bite. I was dying. I didn't have any food today. This is like, this is my bite of salvation Shrimp, I think it thinks by far the most popular of all rice noodles because it is really great Contrast of texture like I mentioned the noodles itself is almost mochi-esque very smooth very slippery The shrimp is so fresh and crunchy. So when you bite it You get that delicious snap of the shrimp then you get the smooth creamy texture of the noodles This is probably one of the most popular Cantonese cuisines one of the most popular dim sum items. If you never had it, you gotta give it a try Here is the beef noodle. This is typically not my favorite because I don't really love the beef mixture It's kind of like a meatball inside this noodle Tastes like a Chinese meatball. The sauce both soy sauces are a little bit sweet They really both need a little kick and that's why they give you this. This is partially spicy mustard and hot sauce So I'm gonna take my beef again. I love the way they have it for you like half mustard half chili you get a very yin yang-esque dip I don't do much mustard, but that's my favorite way of eating this dish because it's gonna be slightly sweet So I feel it needs some of that acid to cut into a little bit And finally, this is one of my favorite variations of this dish. They put a fried curler inside these noodles You dip it in hoisin sauce If this is done right again, you have that really smooth really slippery noodle on the outside inside You're gonna get a crunch of the curler. It's really about the difference in texture here I mean, it's kind of crazy because it's a fried dough wrapped with a dough and that might seem too much But trust me, it's not you need to give this a try. Wow. Don't come here after 11 this place gets packed I'm taking a noodle break already with one of these little eggies I can't walk past one of those cars and smell it and not order some. Look at it cute and delicious Be great with some ice cream next up New World Mall, they got a lot of noodles down there Well, it's just like I want in my life I am surrounded with delicious noodles. Most people want to be surrounded by like a lot of cash fancy cars. Not me I'm happy with my noodles. Let me introduce all these guys to you this bowl. We have long simian It basically it translates to dragon beard noodles That's because these noodles are extremely extremely thin and typically these noodles are eaten during the second lunar month and they're usually pulled so much it's supposed to have 4096 strands, but obviously it's not that thin here because if you pull these noodles to 4096 strands, they're uncookable because they were just like no as soon as it touches water That's why those are typically made into dragon beard candy And I love dragon beard noodles because like I said, so incredibly thin and delicate They're kind of like the Chinese version of angel hair noodles and I got it sitting on a beautiful bowl of rib broth As soon as you get them you gotta eat them right away Otherwise, I mean these things will get soggy really quickly. You know what this dragon needs? It needs some hot oil I mean, how else is it gonna breathe fire? And I love some Chinese vinegar in my noodle soup Now that's a fiery dragon a little bit of vinegary too. Next up This is a really popular noodle dish and one of my favorites of all time. This is called Daoxiao Mian What's really unique about these noodles is that let's take a look their thickness are uneven Their length is uneven And the reason these noodles are kind of uneven is because in Chinese the name of these noodles is Daoxiao Mian Which means knife cut noodles These are very special noodles originating from the Shanxi province and what's really cool about these noodles is that if you go to China How they cut these noodles is the chef will take a whole lump of dough Put it on his head and he'll take a noodle cutting knife and he'll slice the noodles Into the boiling pot of water just like that And you've got to be really skilled because you know when you when you get down to like just a little bit of noodles You don't want to shave your head off. Unlike the dragon beer noodles. These things are not delicate at all They're rough around the edges. I mean literally but they are Absolutely delicious What I love is that you can soak these noodles in a broth for a long time and they will not get soggy because they're So thick put into your mouth The texture is extremely bouncy. It's chewy It's full of flavor. These noodles and the Biangbiang noodles are some of my favorite Chinese noodles. Try one with a piece of beef That beef is almost more tender than these noodles. Next up. This is a very popular noodle dish in China It's called Lanzhou Lame. These noodles are thin Of course not as thin as the dragon beer noodles and they're hand-pulled and can be served dry or you can eat this in soup This is the jajangmyeon version or fried bean sauce. Notice that the thickness is very comparable to Japanese ramen That's because this is Chinese ramen. Ramen means Lame and that's exactly what this dish is Like I mentioned before it's called Lanzhou Lame or Lanzhou Ramen So it's ramen that hails from Lanzhou, which is in northwestern China Lame literally means hand-pulled noodles and these are definitely freshly hand-pulled This texture it sort of does taste like Japanese ramen It's a little spongy, chewy, smooth And what I love about these noodles is that it grabs on to the sauce so well I feel like these noodles got hands. I mean look at the specks of delicious sauce on this noodle It is everywhere and I love it when these types of noodles are used in a jajangmyeon dish And it gives me more time to eat it because they're not sitting in a bowl of broth So they're not gonna get soggier. They're only gonna get saucier This is a very popular dish from Nanjing called the duck blood vermicelli soup This soup is extremely creamy and thick and of course is made with duck and duck blood Except I can't find a piece of blood right now. Maybe it all melted. I love the flavor of the soup That is really ducky. If done well I really adore this dish. As you're eating the vermicelli soaks up the soup and gives itself so much flavor I love the little tofu puffs because like the noodles they themselves Just all they do is soak up the soup and you take a bite. It's like eating a soupy delicious sponge You know legend has it the person who invented a soup was a really poor man Story goes he killed a duck and he used a bowl to to catch the duck's blood because he didn't want to waste it I don't know how you accidentally do this But he accidentally dropped vermicelli noodles in the blood and somehow cooked the two together and decided that was one of those delicious things He's ever had and then for some reason some rich guy heard of this and hired him as his personal chef Only to make this dish and that's how this noodle dish spread across China if the story is true I'm glad he did because this is a delicious dish This dish is called Chongqing xiaomian or Chongqing small noodles for those of you who loves Sichuan food This might resemble a popular dish. You might have heard of called the dan dan noodles. I mean look at this thing It's spicy. It's peppery It's got little bits of ingredients in here and that's because these noodles are in fact Modeled after dandan noodles The biggest difference you might notice between these noodles and the traditional dandan noodles is that there are a lot of noodles in here And that is by design This is no more as the economic version of dandan noodles because of how much noodles are in here people who are really poor They didn't have a lot of seasoning They didn't have a lot of ingredients, but they had a lot of noodles because noodles were the cheapest ingredient So they made Chongqing xiaomian as a playoff of dandan noodles. It has similar flavors, but with dandan noodles You'll probably need five or six bowls before you feel full and here one will do you in I don't have to add hot oil in here because it's already mighty spicy and peppery Wow That is really peppery. I did ask for extra spicy and they 100% delivered little bits of pork I see a little bit of corn and peanuts in here. The flavor has definitely penetrated these thin noodles This noodle is like it's made for me I can't ever come to this food court without visiting stall number 20 as my favorite stall in this place and those of you who Don't know let me introduce a couple of my close friends to you. Let's start off with the cold noodles These are cold wheat noodles called Liang Pi or cold skin noodles. I talked about this a lot on my channel This is by far my favorite cold noodles It's usually garnished with some cucumbers some cilantro and gluten and what I love about this gluten is that see it's like a little Sponge it soaks up all that delicious sauce and when you take a bite, that would be a beautiful bite Oh, and by the way guys I just checked the forecast and there's a good chance of a hot oil shower and here comes the storm whoo, I Always like to add a little bit of Chinese vinegar to this make sure It touches all that delicious sauce. I've had so many plates of noodles before this and this still gets me excited You know, sometimes you can kind of get that empty feeling like you need something That's how I feel every time I don't have those like once a week These noodles are incredibly springy spongy. The flavor profile of these noodles are off the charts and the gluten Delicious yummy spongy little piece of glut. Also a couple of things you should know about these noodles They're usually all made fresh the day of because these noodles they really can't sit in your fridge So if you come here definitely eat everything on your plate because if you try to bring it home It's just gonna taste like a piece of cardboard later But guys those of you who never had this before this is something extremely unique and delicious And once you had it, you'll wonder how you ever survived ever lived your life without this beautiful thing in it It's also every element of this dish plays so well with the noodles the noodles themselves Like I mentioned, they're chewy. They're spongy. Then you got the crisp of the cucumber and the bean sprouts I mean this dish basically has everything if you were on a blind date, this would be your jackpot These are my favorite noodles in the world in the world in my life like it's like a very treasure dig into the beautiful layer of potatoes and wood ear and beef and Peppers and you get to the bottom and that is where the real treasure is Look at these noodles. These noodles are from my hometown of Shaanxi the bian bian noodles and oh my god Words cannot express how much I love this. These noodles are all handmade. They're wide They're stretchy. They're springy. They're smooth. They grab on to the sauce. Oh so well I feel like this is the one type of noodle. I will never get sick of in my life I mean when I came to the States from China, I Craved these I couldn't find them anywhere now They're kind of popping up all over New York, San Francisco, LA But I kid you guys not I would have dreams about these noodles And if you don't believe me go find a place that sell it or try my bian bian noodle recipe I'll put that link for you guys in my description box below But if you've never had these noodles before you're gonna just blow your noodle world up Unlike the knife-cut noodles these noodles are incredibly even in regards to your thickness They're all stretched by hand and the reason they call it bian bian noodles is because you throw these noodles Against your cutting board or your kitchen top and that's how you kind of stretch them and when you do that It makes a bian bian sound so now every time I hear somebody throw something against the kitchen counter I get hungry and the reason stall number 28 is my favorite stall here is because they put these noodles in this Wonderful bed of beef and luscious potatoes that just melts now This is not you know soup that you should drink But oh my god, are they ever heavenly when they soak into this delicious noodles and the potatoes look how easily These potatoes fall apart and this thing is just as saucy as it can get They do it so well here by far One of my favorite noodle dishes in New York City this and the cold noodle is something I always get this is also from stall Number 28 they make the best cold noodle and they take the bian bian noodle up to the next level What I love to do with the bian bian noodle is that first of all I want to add more hot oil and I love adding Chinese vinegar to it That's how we eat these kind of noodles back in back in my hometown because we love sour spicy and Chinese vinegar It's just full of umami flavors That tastes like home. Oh, by the way guys a couple of warnings. Do not eat this starfish looking thing Okay, that's a star anise. Don't eat that and this is a peppercorn If you eat this, it's gonna feel like you were tasered in your mouth So don't what a filling food coma inducing but delicious day This was like a date day between me and a bunch of noodles. And although I'm tired. I'm feeling exhausted I also feel really happy also guys Just want to give a shout out to the sponsor of this video audible for those of you who watch my vlog channel You'll know that I actually drove from California back to New York and I am personally a horrible long-distance driver I mean, I'll fall asleep within the first 30 minutes and I tried everything I try splashing water on myself I try sticking my head out like a dog. I try slapping myself. Nothing keeps me awake I went on audible and I downloaded one of my favorite books of all time It's also one of the saddest books of all time where the red fern grows and like I mentioned is the ultimate tear-jerker It's like Forrest Gump times two So there I was driving across Oklahoma sobbing snot coming out of my nose, but at least I stayed away So guys if you've never heard of that book before here's what you do get some takeouts Download that book and just stay home all day And now you guys can get a free 30-day trial of audible by going to this link here www.audible.com Slash dumpling and what's cool about audible is that you can select any book you want and keep it for free Regardless if you stick with the service So definitely check them out and you'll have access to a great Library of audiobooks and do yourselves a favor and download where the red fern grow This is also a great way to support this channel So win-win as always guys the location of where I got each noodle dish is listed in my description box below Thank you so much for watching this video and until we meet again. I'll see you later