On the middle bazaar, just a flight of stairs below the Mall, are a handful of Chinese restaurants that proudly declare they serve “real Chinese food.” They are just tiny holes in the wall, the largest having seven tables, with just enough room to walk down the aisle between. They’re dimly lit and a little dingy, where the occasional cockroach can be spotted dashing across a surface in the dining area. One place has paintings of tigers and dragons on the wall – an awkward copy of Chinese-style art.
Their menus feature momos and a few kinds of stir-fries, but the stars of the show are the noodles. At China Town, my hands-down favorite, there are a dozen kinds of veg chow mein. It starts with regular veg chow mein, then moves to variations based on places: Hong Kong, Sechuan, and Singapore. Then there a variety of different sauces: garlic, ginger, garlic and ginger, as well as regular old gravy. The menu includes numerous kinds of chicken chow mein, as well as one kind made with mutton.
On our first visit, we ordered the veg chow mein, along with a vegetable hot pot in ginger sauce. The stir-fry was pretty good, and the sauce had a really strong ginger flavor that I really enjoyed. The chow mein, meanwhile, was surprisingly delicious. This was due to several factors. First, the noodles were the perfect thickness (actually thinner than the typical chow mein noodle) and consistency, just beyond al dente. Second, they weren’t at all greasy, as chow mein can be both here in India and at home in the States. Third, the veggies were cut to a size similar to the chow mein, so that each forkful contained similarly-shaped bits of food. (They also don’t use green bell pepper, my least favorite vegetable, in their noodles at China Town.) And, finally, whatever they did to season the dish, it was fantastic. I could have easily eaten the entire pot of chow mein by myself.
The next time, the goal was to try two new kinds of noodles. (At Chinese restaurants, I’ve often seen people order two or more varieties of chow mein.) I chose “veg Singapoori chow mein” and “mixed chow mein with gravy.” The latter arrived first, with the noodles in one pot and the gravy in another. The noodles were tinged with a red, spicy, probably tomato-based sauce, while the gravy was a brown, Chinese-style sauce, dotted with cauliflower and cabbage. It was interesting, in a good way. The noodles alone were pretty tasy. I don’t think the addition of gravy did anything for the chow mein, but it seems like Indians like to put gravy on just about everything, so I had really wanted to give it a try.
The Singapoori noodles came out next. I don’t know what makes them Singapore-style, since I’ve never actually had Singaporean food. The most dominant flavors came from the liberal sprinkling of ground black pepper that coated the noodles and from the bits of tomato strewn throughout. We’d had Singapori noodles at another place down the alley called Aunty’s, and the spice-factor had set my mouth on fire, in a mostly tolerable way. China Town’s version did not have as much heat, but they were still really good. Danny liked these noodles best. My vote is still with the regular veg version that we’d had the first time. I think I like my noodles on the simple side, without all the bells and whistles of extra sauces.
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