While Shanghai is hardly short of noodle shops, some of the best are so small and inconspicuous that they remain undiscovered by many diners. The Global Times sought out some of the choicest hole-in-the-wall noodle joints that regularly attract crowds of those in the know.

Laodifang

Hidden among retail shops, convenience stores and food vendors, Laodifang (literally "old place"), always has a queue at meal times despite its shabbiness. The floor is covered with lackluster brownish red tiles, three small-size round tables with chairs. A triangular table in the corner accommodates ready-made noodle toppings. The semi-separate kitchen has one cook and the middle-aged female shop owner.

During lunch hours, the eatery cooks toppings on the spot to accompany the plain soup noodles. The most popular choice is salted greens and cob (18 yuan, $2.60). Salted greens are easily over-flavored, but this rendition manages to be rich yet refreshing, and the cob, though small in actual portion, tastes tender and delicious. Pork liver topping (16 yuan), with fried leek slices and soy sauce pig liver, is also loved, though some complain it is a bit too oily.

Though noodles with ready-made toppings are the only choices at night, the place's spicy pork soup noodle, known as the best in the area, will not let diners down. Shanghai's spicy pork soup noodles are not in general spicy, but somewhat sweet due to the city's culinary style, but this eatery's rendition is truly hot and easily makes many local diners sweat.

The best thing about Laodifang is that the noodles themselves are very chewy - it is as if they are taken out of the cooking pot at the precise second that they are no longer raw. Perhaps this is what makes a bowl of noodles here addictive, regardless of the topping you choose.

Add: 233 Xiangyang Road South, near Yongkang Road

Tel: 6471-0556

Large flow of local people pour into tiny noodle shops in Shanghai. Photos: Liao Fangzhou/GT

Laodifang

Weixiangzhai

This always crowded eatery is located in one of the most bustling areas of central Shanghai.

The walls remain undecorated, and the fans are ragged.

There are three tightly spaced table sets on either side, and another three smaller table sets fill the space in between, making it difficult to relax one's legs or move around.

Order a beef soup noodle for 20 yuan, and ready yourself for the tender beef slices and just the right amount of yellow curry and coriander. The soup base itself is pleasant, too.

Vegetarians will love the mushroom and tofu soup noodle, an extremely light and healthy choice that costs 16 yuan.

The tofu, after it has been soaking in the soup, is rendered juicy and delicious.

On the minus side, the service here is inconsiderate and nonchalant. What's more, the cashier by the door is a bit rude. But with customers continuously pouring in, that is very likely to remain unchanged.

Add: 14 Yandang Road, near Huaihai Road Middle

Tel: 5383-9032

 

Weixiangzhai

Wuzhen Mianguan

Compared to Laodifang and Weixiangzhai, this noodle shop is less well-known partly due to its poorer location, but it is better furnished and provides nicer dinnerware.

There are more than 20 types of soup noodles here, starting with vegetable and pork slices at 10 yuan. Notable choices include duck stomach (13 yuan) and pork belly slices (15 yuan). The favorite of many locals, yellow fish, sets one back 18 yuan.

For 22 yuan or 24 yuan, one gets to enjoy two of several ingredients in their orders - fried fish, pork chop, pork kidney, eel slices, and shrimp.

A fried fish and pork chop noodle soup at 22 yuan is hearty. The fish, one of Shanghai's signature ingredients for soup noodles that is usually deep fried, is medium fried here instead. As a result, the fish meat is tender and crispy at once, and of course more agreeable to health-conscious customers. The pork chop, on the other hand, comes in generous portions.

For extra ingredients in your soup noodles, you can add mushrooms at 3 yuan, an egg at 2 yuan, and green vegetables at 1 yuan.

The shop uses extra thin noodles. While it is almost a norm that a standard bowl of soup noodles contains 100 gram of noodles, here every bowl starts with 150 grams.

Add: 131 Tianlin Road

Wuzhen Mianguan