Noodle Feast - Authentic Northern Chinese (Edmonton 30 in 30)

The proliferation of Edmonton's food scene continues as I, on a daily basis, discover new restaurants and eateries that had popped up over the last year. Hailing from a Mandarin background, I had grown up eating mostly Northern Chinese food with the staple being homemade dumplings and hand tossed noodles. As I went away to Undergraduate and away from home, I would often lament about the lack of a proper Northern Chinese restaurant in the city. Thus to my delight I discovered one such restaurant in the southside, Noodle Feast: A Taste of Northern China.

Located in a stripmall on the corner of 34th Avenue and 99th Street, the restaurant is small but cozy. Upon arrival patrons are welcomed to the delightful aroma of steamed noodles and fried sauces, whetting ones' appetite as they sit down to peruse through the menu. Through my meal I was impressed by the number of ethnically Chinese patrons the restaurant received, effectively filling up within half an hour of my arrival. Clearly the word has gotten out!

The menu can be a little confusing for those not familiar with Northern cuisine. The basis of their menu is on their homemade egg and flour noodles, of which they offer three varieties and numerous types of sauces and toppings. The three types of noodles vary in their texture and thickness. Sliced noodles, the most common type, takes hand pulled noodles and slices them into thick strips. Rolled noodles take the same noodles and rolls them to achieve a thinner (and more uniform) noodle most amenable to soups. Finally hand pulled noodles stretches the same noodles into one long sheet. Each variety of noodle can then be topped with any combination of beef, minced pork, egg & tomato sauce and chili sauce. Finally Noodle Feast offers a range of small pancakes, buns and homemade dumplings to round out your meal.

Chinese Pork Burger is a traditional Chinese street food where a crusty bun is filled with shredded braised pork meat. Noodle Feast does an excellent job here by pairing tender, fatty and savoury pork shoulder meat with the flaky and crusty bun. Intentionally a bit bland, the meat is  nicely accentuated with a hint of star anise and Chinese five spice.

Hand Pulled Noodles with Egg & Tomato Sauce, Minced Pork Sauce & Hot Chili Oil was simply delicious. The healthy portion of hand pulled noodle, one long sheet, was covered by the tart and smooth egg & tomato sauce, the fatty and pungent minced pork sauce and the spicy hot chili oil. Although seemingly a litany of flavours, each topping combined well to create a umami of flavours.

The star of the show were the Hand Pulled Noodles. These noodles were perfectly cooked and had a nice firm chewiness that lapped up the strong flavours from all the sauces. Finally the addition of boiled bok choy adds a nice balance of freshness to finish the dish.

Noodle Feast is a magnificent and authentic rendering of Northern Chinese cuisine. With authentic noodles, expertly crafted sauces and tasty appetizers, Noodle Feast becomes the obvious recommendation for anyone looking for authentic Northern Chinese food in Edmonton.