Beef Noodle Soup
Intoxicating soups beckon throughout Manhattan’s Chinatown, but the slurp-worthiest can be found in Brooklyn, at itsy-bitsy Lan Zhou Hand Pull Noodle in Sunset Park. The hand-pulled noodle soup with beef ($5) is a steaming bowl of deeply flavorful broth, tender meat, spinach, Chinese greens and sublime, satiny noodles made fresh before your eyes. While they wait for the meal, kids can watch the Lan Zhou noodle master stretch lumps of dough into long, wondrous strands in what may well be the best abracadabra act in town. 5924 Eighth Ave between 59th and 60th Sts, Sunset Park, Brooklyn (718-492-7568)
Clay Pot of Pearl Noodles
Most Malaysian restaurants have wisely chosen to call their loh shee fun “pearl noodles” rather than the traditional “rat’s tails,” but either way, wee ones can’t gobble them up fast enough. Sentosa’s clay pot of delicate pearl noodles ($6) brims with diced shrimp, scallops, squid, baby corn and more, in a generous swirl of those irresistible chewy, fat noodles. 39-07 Prince St between Roosevelt and Flushing Aves, Flushing, Queens (718-886-6331)
The entrance is on 60th Street, just west of the NW corner of 8th Avenue - NOT on 8th Avenue itself. It was very much there at lunchtime yesterday: had wonderful "House Special" noodle soup, w/ beef, pork chop, fried egg, pig's feet (?), some unidentified artfully sliced white seafood (?), & lots of veg in a delicious brown broth on a cold Winter day. For $6 you can't beat it!
We tried to go 12/ 21 to Lan Zhou Hand Pull Noodle at 5924 Eighth Ave between 59th and 60th Sts in Sunset Park but found a 'Japanese Beauty Salon' in its place. I guess it either moved or closed.