Since we moved to the South Bay (from SF) 2 years ago, I have been on the hunt for noodles that are “qq”, i.e. noodles with that “spring” that only very few Chinese noodle makers can achieve. Up until tonight, I had been unsuccessful. But then, we happened to stumble on Shang Jie in Cerritos. They have a hand-pulled noodle that is essentially a long flat ribbon and wow, the qq is in full effect. I practically had tears of joy. I’d also note that the 3 seafood noodle soup has a deep, rich, but not fatty at all broth that is subtle but flavorful. I couldn’t stop drinking it. And the pancake for beef roll is of the fried, airier variety as opposed to the denser scallion pancake that a lot of places use. We’re definitely going to add this to our rotation because I haven’t found a place that makes noodles that come even close to this!
Wow
Looks great!
I think Shang Jie is the last link in the old Liang’s Kitchen empire which once blanketed the Los Angeles area, even expanding to NorCal and Flushing, then quickly imploding.
We used to go to Liang’s Kitchen in NorCal. Definitely reminded me of that. I never noticed the chew of the noodles in Norcal but that could be because oddly enough, it’s easier to find noodles like that up north than in LA, imo.
The Monterey Park location changed its name to Shang Jie for a bit, then went back to Liang’s. I was so shocked to discover there had been a Liang’s operating in Hacienda Heights for a bit after all the others had closed (save for maybe San Diego). It seemed to fly utterly under the radar.
I had written that place off years ago but, based on this post, I just tried it again for lunch. Their Dan Dan Noodles with the thick noodles, not the thin ones, was actually pretty good. I wasn’t hungry enough for the beef roll so I’ll have to try it some other time. Although I was there early (11:15), the place had no customers besides myself. They did have two customers arrive to pick up takeout orders while I was eating. Still, it is amazing they can stay in business.
Yeah, I really wasn’t expecting much. But the noodles were a very pleasant surprise. I will note that the beef slices used in the beef roll are excellent; however, they do add picked greens (suan cai), which is sort of odd for a beef roll. My kid liked it, but I wasn’t a huge fan.
Changan Kitchen inside Ranch 99 Market is only 1.3 miles from Shang Jie and also has some wide stretchy noodle dishes. BF Bakery & Cafe inside the same market but on the opposite side has some good Chinese baked goods.
the lineage is correct, though to be more accurate, the original liang’s menu was franchised taiwanese. IIRC the monterey park owner switched to his pan-northern chinese menu after the franchise died. i don’t remember if the cerritos location was also originally a liang’s or not, but i do remember the liang’s in MP putting up the shang jie sign but never making the official switch. i was very sad when the MP location closed. wasn’t aware that the cerritos location is still there. i recall the fried then steamed noodle dish being very popular in that there was typically an order on everyone else’s table whenever i ate there. great lamb noodle soup too. pretty good everything on the menu, though i may be embellishing after the fact. but liang’s was a personal favorite.
Yes, the Monterey Park location was a Liang’s Kitchen operation for four or five years.
Any recs for QQ in the SFBA?
Our favorite place was the aptly named QQ Noodle in Cupertino. Their version of tomato egg dry noodle and chive egg dry noodle were so good. And their cold veggie “hearts” were so well seasoned and perfectly blanched. Beef noodle soup was good but I can’t really explain what style it was… hong shao, but not taiwanese though we liked it because it wasn’t very heavy handed on the spices.
Back to Shang Jie last night. Their “mix mix” platter of peanuts, pig ears, beef tripe is excellent. Fresh, not too salty or spicy. Perfect textures, as the ears are nice gelatinous but still have a bit of bite and the tripe skews chewy (which I prefer.) This is honeycomb, not book tripe.
This time, we all got noodles. Man, their wide noodles are fantastic. I asked about the handpulled thin noodles and the waitress said they wouldn’t have the same chew so I couldn’t bring myself to try it. Wife and I had the 3 treasures soup noodle nad braised lamb soup noodle. Both use the same broth base, which is deep, favorful, not too “spiced” and not oily/greasy at all. I’ll never understand why salt / fat bomb ramen broth is so popular these days when you can have a just as tasty broth that actually has far more nuance without being in your face salty and greasy. Practically feels healthy as you drink the soup!
Kids again had tomato egg noodles which they cannot get enough of and the scallion egg noodles - onl complaint there is you probably need 2 - 3 fried eggs to get enough egg-iness in the dish. 1 simply isn’t enough but it is tasty.
Again, it’s the noodles that are exemplary. So chewy / springy and perfect thickness so that they never overcook.