Mr Chen Beef Noodle opened in April 2019 and has since been giving the other, less well presented restaurants serving up Chinese noodles legitimate competition.
This is the Iconic Lanzhou style beef noodle soup ($10.80) with sliced radish, green garlic and coriander, as well as extra wide noodles. From a more inviting and clean interior, more efficient and friendly staff to just more flavourful and consistent food, this one’s a winner.
The wide noodles had a delectable bite to the with a silky and slightly chewy texture. And despite the bright red colour of the chilli oil, the flavour was remarkably balanced delivering a flavourful beef soup base with just enough heat. The slices of beef are tender, while the thin slithers of daikon add a gentle crunch.
This is N’s Handmade Noodles ($10.80) with specially pickled cabbage topping and extra wide noodles with a chewy texture.
She particularly enjoyed the pickled cabbage in this dish as it gave an element of crunch and acidity that complemented well with the rich, meaty flavour of the soup.
This is the Stir Fried Eggplant and Spinach Tofu ($13.80) with special sweet soy sauce.
There’s significantly more spinach tofu than eggplant in this dish, which disappoints us as we were after the latter. That aside, both the eggplant and tofu were coated in a tasty sweet-savoury skin of batter, and the tofu tasted more like egg custard than tofu, which appealed to me but did not sit well with N.
With their tasty noodles and the efficient and friendly staff in a clean and welcoming environment, we’re sure to return.
Mr Chen Beef Noodle is located at Prince Centre, TG 5/8 Quay Street, Haymarket NSW 2000.