FULL REVIEW-NUDO NOODLE HOUSE:
GREAT HAND-PULLED NOODLES IN CHINATOWN!
1055 Boulevard Saint-Laurent, Montreal, QC H2Z 1J6
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Price range: $15 or less for one person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip
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Mouthwatering summary: Fresh and delicious hand-pulled noodles made right in front your eyes!
Meal to try: Scallion pancake followed by BBQ pork with sesame sauce on noodles
Howdy folks! I. AM. BACK! Sorry for the long absence - between work and school, I went a full MONTH where I had at least one all-nighter per week. Everything but school and work got put on hold. But, the insanity is done and I'm back and ready to rock/rumble/other-"r"-words/other-action-words-denoting-excited actions :P.
So, where to begin? Let's start with Nudo Noodle House! This is a neat little restaurant in Chinatown that hand pulls its noodles in full view of customers. It is GREAT.
One of the things that I positively LOVE about hand-pulled noodles is in how they're made. I could literally watch someone pull noodles by hand for hours (and as a kid, I actually did). There's something absolutely wizardly about how a noodle chef can take a giant lump of dough and turn it into hundreds, if not thousands, of noodle strands in the blink of an eye just by using his hands and some very, very, VERY clever folding and kneading of the dough. That is some serious fun with geometry, lemme tell ya!
So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered Nudo Noodle House in Chinatown. When you walk into this restaurant, one of the very first things you'll encounter is the noodle-making area. It's this kitchen workstation that is partitioned off from the dining area by a pane of glass. Very frequently, you'll see the noodle Sifu (yes, that's the actual term - Sifu isn't JUST a name for kung fu masters - it's a term that denotes mastery in a discipline) pound and pull away at a giant ball of dough. At times, you'll see his apprentices instead. Either way, it's a wonderful little show. Don't be surprised or too startled when you hear giant thumping noises though - part of making the noodles involves slamming the ball of dough right into the work station. I am going to ask them why they do that, one of these days...
But enough preamble on how the noodles are made. Y'all are here to read about the food, right? Well, here we go! Appetizers first!
We begin with my favorite appetizer, the scallion pancake with (optional) egg coating ($2.50):
This thing looks crispy, smells crispy, and is crispy - on the outside. On the inside, it's nice and soft and chewy. It bears more than a passing resemblance to my beloved green onion crepes offered by Maison du Nord (see post here: http://mouthwateringmontreal.blogspot.ca/2013/07/maison-du-nord-northern-chinese-goodness.html ). It should - it's the same style of cooking after all. But, with the egg coating, it also calls to mind French toast in a very good way. This is a savory pancake in a Chinese restaurant though - don't quite think we can have it with maple syrup unless we bring our own... :P Either way, do order this pancake - it's quite the little treat!
There's also beef tripe with (spiced) spicy sauce ($2.25):
Yes, I know. A lot of you are probably put off by this, or at least scratching your heads. All I have to say is, don't let your fears get the better of you. This dish is worth trying. It's spicy, rich, and ever so-slightly tangy, and is just great with tea!
For those of you who like to have both appetizers and main dishes of meat (y'know, like me), may I recommend an appetizer of braised beef with spicy sauce ($2.25)?
This is a dish of tender, tender slices of flavorful beef. Not too much to say about this, except that it's wonderful. I'd put this in a sandwich any day, methinks!
Appetizers aside, we have the primary reason for coming here: NOODLES. Oh, yes, lovely, awesome handpulled noodles! There's something so oddly compelling about these things. They feel denser, chewier, and more satisfying to bite into relative to packaged noodles! And if you look carefully, they're not perfectly symmetrical or straight.
I mean, the noodles are no doubt very well-made strands, but they don't look machined. And it's just amazing to taste and look at them!
So, how are the various noodle meals? In a word: GOOD.
Check out the kimchee seafood noodle soup ($9.50):
It's a spicy noodle soup, and the seafood is all perfectly cooked. The broth tastes rich, and the shrimp in particular have a nice little bounce to them. Brings a smile to my face, lemme tell ya!
Another good bet is the braised beef shank noodle soup ($8.25):
In and of itself, the beef is cooked well, and the added veggies - bok choy, nappa, and pickled...not sure what... all somehow manage to make their presence known. The flavors blend together well, and this noodle soup is a satisfying dish right in the dead of winter. Definitely worth a taste!
Of course, Nudo has more than noodle soups. There's also "dry" noodle dishes, where the soup is served on the side. Of these dishes, my ABSOLUTE favorite is the BBQ pork with sesame sauce on noodles ($7.50):
Sweet JEBUS, I don't know what they put into the sauce to make the dish so damn addictive but this dish is knee-weakeningly good (to me). Every other time I come here I order this dish. The sauce is slightly spicy and slightly nutty with strong accents of sesame (well, duh!). And the whole thing - pork, noodles, sauce - is just a damn well near-perfect combination of ingredients and textures. By rights, it shouldn't BE this good, but I just positively love this dish, and recommend it to ANYONE with no nut allergies or restrictions against dining on swine...
Lordy, I just made myself salivate...
Now, I hate to close off a post on a negative note, but I thought this bore mentioning. I have tried most items on the menu (but haven't always had a charged camera handy) and have at least liked them. Most of the time, I love 'em! But, there has been one dish that I found disappointing: The pulled chicken noodle soup ($7.75) (sorry, no picture - camera was dead). It's by no means bad, but, and I'm really not sure why, the pulled chicken was really tough and stringy. A Chinese classmate told me that there are Chinese folks out there who really like their chicken tough and stringy, so maybe this was meant for them? Dunno - it's not for me, at any rate.
All righty, gotta do something about my salivating and hungering. Off I go to eat! You folks make sure you pay a visit to Nudo and catch the noodle-making show+noodle dishes!
Map of restaurants I have reviewed:
Mouthwatering Montreal - Nudo Noodle House is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
But enough preamble on how the noodles are made. Y'all are here to read about the food, right? Well, here we go! Appetizers first!
We begin with my favorite appetizer, the scallion pancake with (optional) egg coating ($2.50):
 |
| Crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and wonderfully fragrant! I could eat this all day long... |
There's also beef tripe with (spiced) spicy sauce ($2.25):
 |
| Tripe. It's what's for appetizer. |
For those of you who like to have both appetizers and main dishes of meat (y'know, like me), may I recommend an appetizer of braised beef with spicy sauce ($2.25)?
 |
| Mmmm... Beef... |
Appetizers aside, we have the primary reason for coming here: NOODLES. Oh, yes, lovely, awesome handpulled noodles! There's something so oddly compelling about these things. They feel denser, chewier, and more satisfying to bite into relative to packaged noodles! And if you look carefully, they're not perfectly symmetrical or straight.
I mean, the noodles are no doubt very well-made strands, but they don't look machined. And it's just amazing to taste and look at them!
So, how are the various noodle meals? In a word: GOOD.
Check out the kimchee seafood noodle soup ($9.50):
It's a spicy noodle soup, and the seafood is all perfectly cooked. The broth tastes rich, and the shrimp in particular have a nice little bounce to them. Brings a smile to my face, lemme tell ya!
Another good bet is the braised beef shank noodle soup ($8.25):
 |
| Just look at the rising steam - a perfect sight on wintry days! |
Of course, Nudo has more than noodle soups. There's also "dry" noodle dishes, where the soup is served on the side. Of these dishes, my ABSOLUTE favorite is the BBQ pork with sesame sauce on noodles ($7.50):
 |
| A meal to KILL for! |
Lordy, I just made myself salivate...
Now, I hate to close off a post on a negative note, but I thought this bore mentioning. I have tried most items on the menu (but haven't always had a charged camera handy) and have at least liked them. Most of the time, I love 'em! But, there has been one dish that I found disappointing: The pulled chicken noodle soup ($7.75) (sorry, no picture - camera was dead). It's by no means bad, but, and I'm really not sure why, the pulled chicken was really tough and stringy. A Chinese classmate told me that there are Chinese folks out there who really like their chicken tough and stringy, so maybe this was meant for them? Dunno - it's not for me, at any rate.
All righty, gotta do something about my salivating and hungering. Off I go to eat! You folks make sure you pay a visit to Nudo and catch the noodle-making show+noodle dishes!
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Map of restaurants I have reviewed:
Mouthwatering Montreal - Nudo Noodle House is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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