The Noodle Shop

One of my favorite restaurants in downtown Asheville is The Noodle Shop. I remember eating there with my sister and brother in law, out on the sidewalk cafe, when I was first considering relocating there. I have been there many times since. I even have a favorite waitress, Meredith, but Suzy and Riley and the rest of the staff are also outstanding

I had a great talk with Alan Kong, the owner. Alan is from the northeastern Chinese town of Harbin, but has been an American citizen for decades. His family started this restaurant in 1999, and he took complete ownership of it a couple years ago. Alan is always in the kitchen, except when he comes out to check on the customers and greet the regulars in friendly conversation. 

All the recipes are old family recipes straight from northern China. Their big thing is Pho. They have several varieties of Pho, several intensities of spiciness. Pho is a delicious type of Asian soup, it is a huge bowl, full of veggies and meat. It is hot and satisfying, healthy and low calorie. No matter what your diet, you can never go wrong with a hot bowl of Pho. They bring out extra spices for you to add to your soup if you want.  

I’ve also had their fantastic spring roll and eggplant stir fry. They have a lot of seafood and vegetarian dishes. The basil eggplant is stir fried with peppers, garlic, ginger, onion,  and served with your choice of a variety of noodles or rice. It was tender and smooth, with an perfect blend of garlic, ginger and oil. I tried to grow an eggplant once, but it would not produce any eggs. 

I have had several of their soups and plan to try them all. My favorite (and my sister and brother in law’s favorite, too) is the Dan Dan. The Dan Dan is filled with a variety of vegetables including spinach, squash, zucchini, sprouts, cabbage, and more. It has the delicious taste of cilantro in it. It is a tantalizing combination of flavors, and each bite is a little different. It comes to the table hot, steamy and comforting. It is far too good for just one Dan, so they gave it an extra Dan. Like everything at The Noodle Shop, the flavors are fresh, authentically Asian, and nothing like the Americanized “Chinese” restaurants you find in every common city.  

They do have western cutlery, although I think eating soup with chopsticks is a lot more fun. This one is the Seafood Pho. It had so many varieties of seafood in it, I was able to put on my own performance of The Little Mermaid. Regardless of which Pho you try, you won’t find Pho better anywhere else. I pity the Pho that tries. 

Their Spring Rolls are to die for. Okay, that is just an expression, I would not die for them. But they are really good, better than the common Chinese restaurant. They serve them cut in half, standing on the open side, with duck sauce on one side and a super spicy mustard on the other. 

They don’t have a website, but they are on Facebook. Better yet, come visit them in person!

My first visit to The Noodle Shop, October 2014: