No. 1 Beef Noodle House
4741 Willingdon Ave
Burnaby, BC
There are some places I would like to go (either for the first time or more often) but have not for several reasons. Location (Le Charcuterie?), schedule (Moderne Burger, which closes before 8:00 p.m.), costs (too many to mention) and an empty table/parking lot… The last one might be puzzling: If you have a bit of patience, you could get one. But, when you are hungry, logic simply goes out the window. That is one of the reasons I haven’t been to No. 1 Beef Noodle House: every time I have been there, the parking lot is full (and parking on the street is not an option). But, finally I succeeded…
After directed to my table, I will admit I felt quite odd. Since I usually tried to go after 10:00 p.m., I was “fighting” with the after-hours crowd. This also meant that you would usually go in a group. In fact, I was the only single cover in the dining room! Am I uncool? Hey, I don’t care!
When you go by yourself, it creates one problem: variety. Well, you can only order that much! I was already sure of one of the dishes, it was the “other”/side dish what I wasn’t sure about. And then it is the bubble tea argument. In my case, I skipped the bubble tea and my side dish was…
Chicken wings. At first I was a bit confused. Sure, the menu said, literally, chicken wings; just that I was expecting a mix of the wings section and drummettes. Oh, well. Regardless, the first bite was a bit disappointing, as it felt flat. It was a couple of bites later that I was able to taste that pepper-y, sweet and lightly garlic-y/ginger-y taste. Even then, it was inconsistent: I could taste it on some, not on others. If I had to compare it to my favourite chicken wing’s place, Wo Fung Dessert, it falls a bit short due to inconsistency.
And this is the dish I had to order: beef brisket noodle in spicy soup. Well, if your restaurant name “brags” to be “Number 1″ (or it is the first of several? They mentioned they opened a second location!), I have to do comparisons, right? Compare to where? That would be Lao Shan Dong, my current favourite noodle shop.
Let’s start with the noodles. I found it not as al-dente as the on in LSD. Also, I could not “taste” that slight starchy texture I like from noodles, as if the noodles were either washed after being cooked. Still, it was quite good in its own way. As for the broth, oh, boy, it was spicier than LSD’s (either that or LSD held back…) and was quite enjoyable. I was sweating bullets after my second/third slurp of the soup! At that takes us to the last component of the soup…
The meat. I have read “complains” of LSD’s beef to be slightly on the dry side; in my case, I won’t either agree or disagree. Some pieces I have had have been slightly dry other were quite moist. Still, all of them combined quite well together. Here, the meat was quite tender, an almost butter-y texture. (OK, exaggerating a little bit). However, there is one fatal flaw: again, in the menu, it is listed as “beef brisket” and this is NOT beef brisket. Instead, this is from the shank! As a result, a direct LSD comparison can’t be made… Hmmmmmm….
Overall, I like No. 1 Beef Noodle House. While their dishes had a flaw in a way or another, at least they are brought together under one restaurant. And, while scouting what other tables ordered, I will admit some dishes look quite good. Now, if parking was a bit easier…
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Yah, the parking here bites. That’s why I really didn’t go right away either. I still prefer LSD as well, but this place is more than acceptable. Just like you, I was perplexed as well since beef shank and beef brisket are totally different cuts of meat! Whatever, like you said, it was good. I’ve tried some of the other dishes here and they are indeed hit and miss. I’d stick with the noodles.
Sherman, how about a noodle showdown anytime soon?
Yah, I was talking to Viv and wondered if we should do a “best Wonton Noodles” theme…
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