I have long been a sucker for hand pulled noodles and with the exception of Chinatown there are few places in the city that do it well - but then Xian Famous Foods opened up several years ago and it was a game changer. They serve amazing authentic hand pulled noodles with a pleasantly spicy kick at the same time. To be totally transparent, I gave them 3.5 forks at first too but I've subsequently gone back many many time afterwards and would probably now revise my review to at least 4 forks. They're also famous for their spicy lamb cumin dish which my friend Neel loves, so when a similar type of food stall opened up in Chelsea Market, Neel and I were super eager to try it and compare.
Very Fresh Noodles place is tucked away in the back of the market all the way inside a cluster of other food stalls. It's small with no place to really stand or sit, so be prepared to fight for table space outside in the larger food hall. The menu here is pretty limited: you can choose from tingly lamb cumin noodles, tingly cumin beef noodles, vegan mock duck noodles, or Taiwanese beef noodle - all either in dry or soup version. I got the Taiwanese beef noodle soup spicy ($12), Neel got the tingly lamb cumin noodle dry ($12) and we split a side of the smashed cucumbers ($5). Once we battled through a sea of tourists and got a table, we were ready to dig in. My first reaction was that it was a bit oily but I can over look that if the rest of the dish is spot on. The noodles were definitely soft and chewy as they were supposed to be, so that was a positive. The beef shanks were tasty but it felt like there wasn't enough of it but my biggest issue was that the dish wasn't spicy! I used to be a total spice wuss and I've definitely gotten better in the past year but my palate isn't that sophisticated that I'm immune to high levels of spice - so it was a bit of a disappointment to dive into this dish and not find it spicy at all. The flavors of the soup base were nice and aromatic so overall it was a solid dish but wasn't quite on the same level as the kind I've had in Taiwan. Neel also felt the same way about his dish - it wasn't spicy enough and he felt like the lamb didn't have the same quality and characteristics of the lamb at Xian that make it delicious. The meat here was more braised vs. a dry rubbed, salty variety and his dish wasn't very spicy either. The spiciest dish was actually the smashed cucumbers - they were delicious although they could have cut the pieces into smaller pieces but the combination of chili, garlic and sesame vinaigrette was fantastic.
As we both commented, we're very spoiled by living in NYC and to even have any option of authentic tasty handle pulled noodles is generally unheard of in most cities. So in any other circumstance, this place would have been a true winner and to be honest, if I worked in the Chelsea Market, I would have this on my lunch rotation. But the truth of the matter is, I've had better (and slightly cheaper) in the city and combined with the insanity of not having anywhere to sit, leads me to give this place just under 4 forks but I would still recommend it to anyone who has a love for hand pulled noodles to give it a try at least once. Total bill: $19/pp
Photo Credit: Yelp
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