Sha Lin Noodle House: Hot, Fresh Noodle Action

I discovered the Sha Lin Noodle House thanks to a tip from a friend at school, who was eating some beguiling leftovers in our fiction workshop one day. It's an unassuming little Chinese place on Broadway at Cambie--look for the red lanterns in the window. The schtick at Sha Lin is fresh, hand-made noodles produced right before your eyes. I've eaten there several times in the last few months, and I've always been impressed.

The noodle guys at Sha Lin do their thing behind a big sheet of plexiglass, presumably to protect unsuspecting diners from the dangerous dangers of rogue flying noodles. Those things are like ninjas! I love it when they make dragging noodles by stretching a huge piece of dough in mid-air and twisting it up like a ponytail in a Pantene commercial.

And the food--oh, the food. It's good. Really good. The noodles--tender, yet slightly chewy--will spoil you for all other noodles for ever and ever, amen. My favorite dish so far (the menu's immense) is fried dragging noodles with BBQ pork. The noodles are so long they come with little pairs of scissors, so you can cut them up as you eat. The sweet, juicy, melt-in-your mouth slices of pork bear no relation to the dye-saturated scraps of mystery meat you find in most westernized Chinese places. The veggies are bright and crisp-tender.

Fried dumplings are a house specialty at Sha Lin, and are only available at dinner, but I recommend the steamed version. They're less doughy and somehow more flavourful. Try mixing soy sauce with balsamic vinegar for dipping. Add a side of green onion pancake and you've got dinner for two, with leftovers, for around $20.

This is a great place to bring out of town guests; you get novelty, voyeurism, and really yummy food all at once, plus the hole-in-the-wall vibe gives you expert insider cred. If you show up during peak hours, be prepared for a brief wait, as the relatively small space packs out fast. Just stay away from the Buddha's Birthday noodles, pictured above--they're deep-fried to a crisp, which destroys the whole point of going out for fresh noodles.

Want to see some hot noodle-making action? Of course you do.

Sha Lin Noodle House
548 W Broadway, Vancouver
Tel: (604) 873-1816