Noodle Lane in York on Walmgate opened up in November and in their own words “are the first-ever Southern Chinese restaurant offering a range of noodles, tapas, rice dishes and classic Chinese dishes.”

I don’t know about that, but I do know that the name of the place included Noodles which I love so I was inside like a shot to see what was occuring.

NOODLE MENU

I was in heaven when I saw the chalkboard above the counter just inside the door featuring at least seven different types of Beef Noodles as those are my most favorite type of Chinese Noodles.

The menu has a lot more on it, but for now, I was just focussed on some kind of beef noodle soup all I had to decide was what type or cut of Beef to have; ‘sliced‘, ‘thinly-sliced‘, ‘stewed‘, ‘brisket‘ or ‘spicy‘.

A tough decision but I was the man for the moment.

BEEF STEW RICE NOODLE SOUP

I do like my beef noodle soup with big chunks of meat in, the sort you get in a casserole, so I figured the best option to match my hopes was going to be the Stewed beef (and I was right).

The bowl sitting in front of me was truly something to behold, loads of lovely chunks of beef and soft silky noodles all in a meaty pork broth topped off with the usual suspects chili, pak choi, bean sprouts and coriander leaf.

I knew it was going to be a really good feast!

The beef chunks were soft and tender, melt in you mouth stuff. The noodles were slippery little buggers and while I did my best to eat them with the chopsticks provided. I did use a fork to twirl a few strands spaghetti style at times, just for ease of action and to save time.

I was even enjoying all the other bits and pieces, the greenery, and leaves that usually float about getting in the way. Today the added crunch and freshness was welcomed with open arms and mouth.

I ate every last bit of noodle and meat, and slurped the rest of the soup drinking straight from the bowl. It was a decent meaty pork broth, well seasoned and not too spicy (for my taste). I couldn’t leave anything. I just wish that I had the belly capacity to have eaten another bowl!

While I don’t like to mess with perfection or interfere with the thoughts of the chef putting together my bowl. I did note that there was an option to add extra toppings to any of the dishes.

I could be persuaded to add some beef-meatballs into my stew beef noodle soup, or if I had a different beef soup I would add brisket as well.

WOK FRIED NOODLES WITH BEEF

For me this place was all about the noodle soup, but my partner in dine had other items looking instead at the Wok Fried Noodles

The choice was between flat rice, vermicelli, and stick rice noodles, beef or satay beef. The choice in the end being a plate of flat rice noodles with sliced beef.

This looked great, the flat rice noodles were wider and thicker than I had expected and the slices of beef were again very generous both in size and in quantity.

I had a taste of the dish and have to say that as stir fried noodles go this is up there. All too often it seems a throwaway option on the menu, one for the less adventurous playing it safe.

Not here though, this was really good, the wide noodle had taken on all the flavours of the wok and were kind of meaty as well. I was getting a bit of a chinese five spice aroma and taste, definitely I was picking out the notes of cinnamon.

If you usually end up ordering a chow mein I would suggest that you would be very happy if you had a stir fry from here at Noodle Lane.

I really loved my bowl of Noodles from Noodle Lane and if I lived in York I would be here every week. I already have plans in hand to return early next year to try a few more bowls.

They had a lot of good stuff on the menu and I would like to try a few different non-soup dishes as well. All around us were tables of young Asians sharing from multiple plates and it all looked great. No idea what they had chosen but I would be happy to be thrown into the mix and join in.

CART NOODLE MENU

One section of the menu that I really do want to try was the CART NOODLES where you could basically build your own satay soup based bowl picking from Noodles and Toppings.

I would probably go either thick egg noodles or ramen, with Satay beef and Sausages, or meatballs or eggs or …. ? I dunno I wanted it all. I would need a few trips to work out the best combination 🤣😎

As well as six different types of noodles they also have clay pot rice bowls, small plates and cocktails. We stuck to individual dishes but as I noted up top sharing plates seemed to be a very popular option

The people running the place were very friendly and very helpful explaining the menu and some of the less common dishes that they offered steering us gently away from the ones that we might have struggled with 🤣😍

The decor was asture, canteen like, yet it still felt warm and inviting with the dim lighting and simple decoration. It was the sort of place I remember from my days living in China only it was less packed out, the menu was in English and I didn’t have to bring my own bowl!

I most certainly recommend this place and will be back. If you are planning a trip and have an extra seat in the car I am in! 🤣😂

Noodle Lane is located at 74 Walmgate in York YO1 9TZ and you can check them out on their Instagram Profile