Nanzhou Handdrawn Noodle House

Having been to Asia, and eaten authentic hand drawn noodles, I was very pleased to find a local source . I had walked past Nan Zhou many times, and I'm glad that I finally stopped in. It's a very small place, not the greatest ambiance but it's worth it to sit facing the kitchen to watch the noodles being made. There are two different noodles to choose from: shaved and hand drawn. Both are excellent, but I prefer the hand drawn as the shaved is quite a bit thicker. All of the broth is the same, so the only other thing you can choose is the meat. I had the beef brisket as well as the sliced beef. Although both were good, the brisket was very fatty. It is common to find chunks of fat while eating Chinese food, but I felt like this was excessive. I would stick to the sliced beef unless of course you like fat and other connective tissues. All in all it was an excellent meal, and at $11 for two people it can't be beat! Pros: flank steak hand drawn noodles Cons: small dining area more

While Nan Zhou is not vegetarian-friendly, it's wonderful for the rest of us. The noodles are divine. The soups are filling comfort food. Consistently pleasant. I highly recommend the meat ball soup -- it's my favorite with little dumplings in the midst of noodles and spinach. Excellent! The service is a bit stilted, but it's speedy -- and when you're paying $5.50 for your meal, you really can't complain! more

Definitely do not go to this restaurant if you do not like soup and don't want noodles. On the other hand if you love authentic tasting Chinese noodle soup, this place is highly recommended. I enjoy the option of ordering the delicately thin ho-fun noodles with my soup and would recommend this to anyone who enjoy a wide noodle. For the non adventurous, I would recommend ordering the beef brisket soup (though the meat can be very fatty sometimes). I would not recommend the oxtail as getting the meat off the bones makes eating very laborious. I love that they put lots of cilantro in every bowl of soup - it makes it delicious. A con is that this restaurant is not very big and they will try to fit you wherever they can - even if that means sharing another table with another party. The service is decent, but they will not check in on you - you flag them down. The soup/cuisine of this restaurant is very simple but I love it. Pros: Good price and good flavor Cons: Small restaurant so getting seated when busy is difficult more

My husband and I were appalled at what this place tried to pass off as a bowl of vegetarian soup. it was all water with no vegetables - just three leaves of spinach and way too much cilantro, noodles and SALT! It's cheap but you definitely get what you pay for. more

Great hand drawn noodles (you can see the chef making them in the back of this hole-in-the-wall venue in Chinatown). We tried the seafood, duck, and brisket versions of the noodle soup, all of which were good and slightly different. The soup itself is similar with the noodles, greens, and cilantro, and then the add-ons flavor the broth. Most are pretty good but offer little to eat meat-wise, as the duck was mostly fat and bones and the brisket was mostly fat with a few pieces of meat. The seafood version did have a few small clams, scallops, a few fishballs (whatever that is!) and a shrimp though. Each version was good, a bit different, but the real winner here is the noodles, as they are fresh, tasty, and worth the trip. more

While walking around China Town, we noticed this little hole in the wall with quite a few Zagat awards in the window. We decided to give it a try. We walked in and there weren't many tables, but luckily we went when there were very few people there. We looked over the menu which didn't have a whole lot of choices. I tried the Lamb noodle soup (if you order this, make sure you show them on the menu or you may end up with Clam), my husband ordered the Seafood Noodle soup. We watched as one of the guys in back prepared our noodles by hand. It was amazing how he did it. They come out like Ramen noodles and he used no tools to seperate them, just his hands. They drop them in the water & under 5 minutes later, you have a huge bowl of soup with cilantro, white radish & other veggies in it. It was outstanding! I have never had such a great bowl of soup! We went back the following night since we were only visiting for the weekend. Dinner came out to $11.75 for two people & we were stuffed when we left. We highly recommend this place & will go back when we make it back to Philly. A+++ Pros: Great food & great prices Cons: Small place, needs to expand more