Walking down West Eighth Street, you might notice a long line full of chattering students, antsy with anticipation, all looking forward to catching a taste of a new restaurant just a block north of Washington Square: Dun Huang Noodles.
The Chinese noodle chain, which opened its Greenwich Village location in October, is modest and unassuming, with a simple neon sign on the storefront and posters of menus covering its small windows. A cozy interior with warm lighting and simplistic wooden tables echo the restaurant’s straightforward, no-frills Chinese cuisine.
On the first page of their menu are eight different noodle dishes, ranging from stir-fried noodles to cold noodles. All of their noodles are hand-pulled in-house, yielding a fresh, chewy texture. Their signature Lanzhou beef noodles arrived in a massive bowl big enough to feed a small family — or one student living on ramen and peanut butter. An array of ingredients, thick, tan noodles, slices of tender beef and fresh sprigs of cilantro and spring onion float in a red-tinged broth.
The flavors did not disappoint, tasting as vibrant as they looked. The thick noodles soaked up the heavy, savory beef broth, complemented by chili oil. Make sure you have a drink handy because when DH Noodles says spice, they mean it. For the unaccustomed palette, it may be hard to get through the bowl without sips of water throughout.
Aside from noodles, the restaurant also offers an array of hot and cold appetizers. One of their most popular appetizers is the rou jia mo, or a Chinese version of the hamburger. It follows the traditional Chinese recipe, a flaky flatbread balancing one of three proteins — pork, lamb or beef. The beef was drenched in their signature chili sauce, which went perfectly with the neutral, carb-heavy base, and was cut into perfect slabs that fell out of the sandwich with every bite.
I did not expect my favorite dish to be the pork and chive dumplings, which came on a plain white dish, with no particularly fancy plating or garnish. The first thing I noticed was the flecks of garlic in the soy sauce, a clear indicator of dipping sauce done right. However, compared to the many oversized dumplings in Chinatown, these were fragile and small, enveloped in a delicate, opaque dumpling wrapper. I had no warning for the utter explosion of flavors and juices as I bit into these modest dumplings, which had me reaching for a second, then a third and a fourth.
DH Noodles prides itself on being an affordable restaurant for students. Its mantra, plastered proudly on the front of its restaurant, reads, “When prices go up, we go down.” This is reflected in their signature beef noodles, which recently dropped in price from $13 to $9.95 in the face of rising grocery prices. Appetizers are in the $10 price range, and most entrees are $20 to $30. DH Noodles also offers generous daily set lunch meal deals starting from $13 for an appetizer, a noodle entree and a drink.
It’s rare to find an entree for less than $20 in New York, let alone an entire meal. Next time you’re strolling through Washington Square Park after a long day of classes, seek solace in DH Noodles for comforting food at an even better price.
Contact Ivanka Sun at [email protected].
