Fresh Cut Noodles at Sha Lin

There used to be a time where anyone wanting to take me on a cheap date could just walk me around the corner to the pet store where I would spend an hour in front of the chameleon tank. Now it seems that I can get in dinner and a show. At Sha Lin Noodle House they make all their noodles fresh on site and a window into the kitchen lets you keep an eye on the process while you’re waiting for dinner. A plexiglass partition does double duty keeping things sanitary and keeping the kids away from the vats of boiling water too.

Notice that I was the only one up there with the children, but I find it very interesting to see how food is made, especially something as mundane as noodles. These guys were on to something way before Fuel’s open kitchen hit the streets.

Here’s a video I found that showcases the noodle-making technique a bit better:

Now for the food.

We ordered a green onion pancake to start, followed closely by handmade cutting noodles with beef and broccoli. At that point, I was starting to get pretty full. The green onion pancake was flaky and savoury, made with just a small amount of oil, and the freshly made noodles were both delicious and interesting in that they were not uniformly shaped.  A pan fried dumpling, dipped in vinegar (only available at dinner) followed after I had already eaten too much food and so the majority of it had to be saved for lunch the next day.

Entertainment plus way too much food plus 2 beers for $30.00 equals a definite success.

The service was quick too. Food and beer were brought to the table almost immediately and while the pan fried dumplings did come last, after a bit of time, it was still much quicker than the potential 20 minute wait the waitress warned us about. We seemed to have just beat the rush because as we were tucking in to dinner a long line up started forming of hungry diners and people eager to pick up their take-out orders. It’s definitely a neighbourhood favorite and be prepared to wait a bit if you go at dinnertime.

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Sha Lin Noodle House
548 W Broadway, Vancouver