Quick Bites: Mount Qi Vegetables and Hand Pulled Noodles from Xi’an Famous Foods
Freshly made noodles from X'ian Famous Foods
For today’s quick bites I decided to to take a quick train ride to Chinatown to visit Queens staple Xi’an Famous Foods newest location for some delicious hand pulled noodles. Having previous eaten the western Chinese cuisine of Xi’an I was looking forward to trying something a bit lighter without sacrificing the freshly made hand pulled noodles. I went for the Mount Qi vegetables and Hand pulled noodles. This dish is billed as a vegetarian dish containing a variety of vegetables including scallions, onions, mushrooms and bean sprouts. I also found pieces of tofu. The veggies include tofu, cauliflower, wood-ear mushrooms, and carrots.
The dish itself must be ordered spicy otherwise you will lose that distinct flavor kick in the tongue that you look for when eating at Xi’an. The combination of vegetables with the oil broth and noodles made this dish near perfect. The vegetables added a variety of textures that complemented the noodles. The noodles and vegetables marinate very well with the broth making every bite of this dish a wonderful experience. At 5 dollars this is very inexpensive way to enjoy western Chinese culture.
Rating System: The Quick Bites segment rates a dish based on taste, texture, and overall experience. They are given a rating between 1 and 5 stars. Texture is a individual evaluation (as with taste) however I evaluate the experience in sampling any dish I have. If I enjoy eating a dish because of its wonderful textures then I will rate it highly. Finally, the overall rating is where I decide whether a dish must be tried or avoided altogether.
Taste:
**** This dish must be ordered spicy for a true experience in flavor.
Texture
**** The variety of vegetables with the hand pulled noodles make this dish very good. However, some vegetables were a bit mushy despite the late addition of the broth which took away from the textural experience. Nevertheless, the crunch of the scallions and onions with the tender thick noodles was very enjoyable.
Overall
****1/2 This is a near perfect dish.
Cost: 5 dollars (inexpensive).
Xi’an Famous Foods
88 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002
