Bamboo Wanton Noodle in Guangzhou by Chang Ping & Han Ji 广州常平竹升云吞面 • 汉记面馆

As a wanton noodle lover, one of the things I look forward to was to taste the "authentic" Cantonese food icon in China's Guangdong province, the home of the dish.

But, when I was in Guangzhou city, I didn't see any shop with the Wanton Noodle 云吞面 signage. I did, however, come across a few Bamboo Noodle shops 竹升面. What we call wanton noodle around the world, is mostly known as bamboo noodle in Guangzhou.

I know bamboo noodles well as it is etched into my childhood memories. When I was a child in 1960s Singapore, my immediate next door neighbour in Toa Payoh was a wanton noodle hawker. He made his noodles the traditional bamboo way in his tiny rented studio apartment every night.

I would watch him make wanton noodles from scratch with wheat flour and eggs on many a night. Fascinating. I love the smell of flour straight out of the bag, freshly cracked eggs, and the fragrance of bamboo kneaded dough.

The neighbourhood boys took turns to jump and bounce on that fat bamboo pole. Hahaha underaged pole dancing 😂 It was fun! Unfortunately, I never tasted his noodles before 🥹 so never knew what it was like.

Anyway.....

Back to Guangzhou now, I looked for wanton noodle my favourite way - by pounding the pavements, and came across several.

I looked around the shops, observing how they prepare and serve the noodles. I settled on Han Ji, a hyperlocal, dingy little shop at a back street in the old part of the city. Yeah, this type of place is not everyone's cup of tea, I know.

We also consulted our local guide, and he brought us to Chang Ping 常平, a chain shop endorsed by celebrities including respected Hong Kong food critic Chua Lam 蔡瀾.

Not, my natural choice but just follow the local. It also provided us perspectives from two ends of the wanton noodle spectrum in Guangzhou.

Chang Ping shop has a cheerful decor, lots of celebrity photos, looping influencer videos on widescreen panels, brand story, awards and all the good PR stuff on the walls, nice furnishings, and it was bright and clean inside.

Han Ji looked weathered, the chunky furnishings were sturdy but brutish, the inside was barely bright enough and the walls were bare except for text menus on plastic covered A4 size paper. No nice pictures to adorn the drab walls.

I am a strange person (you do know this) - I like the charm of unabashed plainness. I read that as a kind of self assuredness about the quality of their food and value proposition.

Both, Chang Ping and Han Ji are patronised by locals from young to seniors though both have no crowds when I was there. Just a steady trickle of people with Han Ji slightly busier (not an ideal comparison as I was at Han Ji for supper and Chang Ping for breakfast).

Han Ji's menu covers all the traditional staples like basic wanton noodle soup, beef brisket, pork trotter, bean & meat sauce 炸酱, etc. Chang Ping has the same plus some brand signatures like crab roe sauce and also set meals.

I was at Han Ji for supper after a long day of heavy food trail eating, so I could only manage a basic noodle soup with wanton (price RMB13). At Chang Ping we were having breakfast, so we tried the crab roe sauce set (price RMB36).

First thing first, the noodles. Both Han Ji and Chang Ping claim their noodles are made with wheat flour and egg dough bamboo pole kneaded the traditional way.

Han Ji's egg noodle though soaked in soup surprised with big delightful crunch from slender strands. The slender egg noodle thin as bee hoon (rice vermicelli) carried the flavours of the soup well and had hardly any alkaline taste. I love it.

Chang Ping's egg noodles were slightly thicker than Han Ji's though still slender and done a bit softer despite it being a "dry" dish i.e. with sauce.

The crab roe sauce was salty and greasy, so we couldn't taste the noodles' own flavours. There was a light crunch despite the slight wetness and quite heavy grease coat (of lard).

Han Ji's soup had a slight viscousness and umami savouriness perhaps from tee poh (dried sole fish), etc. Chang Ping's soup was watery and was sweet savoury salty.

Han Ji's wanton or meat dumplings are the "normal" item - just ground fatty pork wrapped in wanton skin. Relying on the freshness of pork, it doesn't have the sesame seed oil fragrance we find in Singapore and Malaysia.

Chang Ping is stronger in the wanton department as they have various types of fillings including prawn, corn, water chestnuts, etc.

I enjoyed Chang Ping's wantons and I would come back for the soup version of bamboo noodles with wantons.

Chang Ping's set meal comes with blanched lettuce and oyster sauce. It was fresh, nicely blanched, so it was juicy, crunchy and tastes good. No green taste, sweet with mild balancing umami savoriness from oyster sauce (just be sparing with it).

Chang Ping's stewed pork trotter was slightly chewy firm and mildly savoury with underlying porcine taste. None of us liked it much 😅

Oh.. Both Han Ji and Chang Ping don't put char siew slices in their bamboo noodles (though it is commonly done in Singapore and Malaysia).

Enjoyed my short Guangzhou visit. Tried a wide range of dishes which I will write up one at a time in the future. The next time I am back (I surely will), I will try more bamboo noodle places, especially the hyperlocal places like Han Ji 汉记面馆 (though I know it is not for everyone).