Shandong province is known for its excellent hand-pulled noodles and dumplings due to the dough-working skills of its chefs. Noodle Topia, which opened about two months ago in Columbus and seems to be a sister restaurant of the Noodle Topia in Detroit, offers some wonderful renditions thereof thanks to its chef(s?) from Shandong, who can often be seen demonstrating their skills at rolling, stretching, and slapping the noodle dough in the open-kitchen area.
We asked our waiter for his recommendations, and after hemming and hawing on my part, decided to go with his recommendation of the Szechuan Noodles. The noodles were outstanding and somewhat contrary to expectations: they were incredibly springy and stretchy to be sure, but the were also incredibly long–symbolizing longevity–and quite dense. The length and density added substance to the noodles, which made it harder for my friend and me to divide up the bowl, but they were wonderful to eat. The bowl utilized a beef broth, topped with ground porrk, shanghai bok choy, cilantro, soybeans, and of course, Sichuan peppercorns. The broth was slightly sweet and savory, remarkably light-bodied, and while spicy, not overly so. There was enough spice headroom that even non-spice fields could afford to add some spice paste from the jar at each table.
