By Crystyl Mo (City Weekend)
Updated: 2006-08-04 10:55

It's still steamy hot outside, but I'm in the mood for noodles. Good thing I'm in Shanghai, as there are many affordable restaurants here which subscribe to the old French saying: noodles are a dish best served cold, or something like that.

We start off at the ubiquitous Wu Jing Tang (noodles). With its wooden tables and fluorescent lights, it is the epitome of a no-frills Chinese fast food joint. The "wucai liangmian" features noodles with egg, cucumber, carrot and ham slivers, and four sauces that you mix yourself: sumianzhi—a sweetish soy sauce, sesame paste, hot oil and black vinegar. The combination creates a rich, earthy flavor and a note of hot mustard lends a bright kick. Korean cuisine has mastered many cold dishes and Uncle's Cool Noodle (korean) features a very decent buckwheat noodle soup. The Cool Noodle in Broth has cucumber, egg, kimchi and Chinese pear. But it is the toasted sesame seeds and the sweet, intensely tangy broth that gives the dish its satisfying fragrance. It is deliciously cooling if you don't mind the sweetness.

If one can imagine less frills than Uncle's noodle counter, one may think of the state-owned Mei Xin (noodles) with its beat-up Formica tables and middle-aged employees shooting the breeze in Shanghainese. However, you cannot beat the prices. The "larou liangmian" is RMB 6.5: cold noodles topped with pork chunks in a spicy sauce. The sauce is watery but flavorful. The noodles have a nice bite, thanks to being steamed rather than boiled. If you patronize this place as few foreigners do, you can count yourself amongst in-the-know locals who recommend this dive for cheap eats.

My hero in this cold noodles story is Japanese restaurant Kitakata (japanese). Follow the Japanese diners to this utilitarian restaurant, which boasts ramen made with imported Japanese wheat flour. The difference is that here the noodles are joy-inducingly fresh with a bouncy bite. One could almost eat them plain, and in Kitakata's delightful "shuangse haizao mian," the noodles are rightfully served nearly naked. Chilled ramen, with three kinds of seaweed, is presented with only a smear of fresh ginger paste and a dish of seaweed broth for sauce. Don't mistake this for plain: The flavor is sparkling, like tasting the ocean on a hot summer day.

Wu Jing Tang
Location: 1/F Metro City, 1111 Zhaojiabang Lu
Tel: 021-64268946