Duck with hand-pulled noodles in broth at Lanzhou Handmade Noodle in Golden Shopping Mall, Flushing, Queens.
A few years ago, when I walked through the streets of Insadong, a tourist neighborhood in Seoul, I had to stop in front of a window where a man made noodles by hand. He pulled long ropes of dough that split into strands. Since I live in New York City, I headed straight to Flushing, Queens to slurp handmade noodles again.
My friends Brandon and Jennifer came along with me to Golden Shopping Mall, which has two floors filled with stalls selling Chinese comfort food. With printouts of Serious Eats' comprehensive Golden Shopping Mall guide written by Lingbo Li, I knew where to go.
"Look! He's making noodles," Jennifer said, pointing to a cook pulling dough. "It's magical!"
"Yep," I said, nodding my head. "I've seen it in Korea."
"Don't act like you've seen this before," Jennifer said in mock disgust.
I got duck with hand-pulled noodles. I sucked on chunks of duck, tasting the salty Chinese ground bean sauce that gave the tender, juice duck much of its flavor. (I really need to learn how to make duck taste that savory.) The noodles were slightly chewy like I like them, and the broth just made it better.
Eel with hand-pulled noodles in broth; Brandon's choice.
Plenty of choices at Lanzhou Handmade Noodles.
Pork and chive fried dumplings from North-South Dumplings
We really wanted some dumplings, so I led the way to North-South Dumplings in the basement of the mall. The fried skin was thicker than I wanted it to be, but I loved biting into the pork and chive dumplings.
A cook made dumplings as customers ate.
You won't see the translated stall name as North-South Dumplings, but you'll see the display of dumplings. Point to photos of dumpling deals on the wall inside the stall to get what you want.
Golden Shopping Mall is a labyrinth of eateries. Tables and chairs are scarce, so stake out your space. Even if you don't speak Chinese, don't be afraid! Order by pointing at exactly what you want. Take your chopsticks and grasp some serious food.
Golden Shopping Mall (map)
41-28 Main Street
Flushing, Queens
Nearest subway stop:
Main Street, 7 train
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