San Gabriel: Noodles at Mian

 

For those on the Sichuan food hunt, Mian is a worthy stop. Its sister restaurant Chengdu Taste is widely regarded as one of the best Sichuan restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley. I’ve now gone a couple of different times and I’ve enjoyed the noodles and various sides quite a bit.

My favorite noodles so far at Mian are the gizzard noodles. For those who love the slightly chewy organ meat, this is a great bowl of noodles. Make sure you spoon up the spicy goodness all over your noodles and mix it in well.

 

For the appetizers, I like the steamed egg with minced pork. The savory egg reminds me a bit of Japanese chawanmushi and Korean steamed egg. The version at Mian is topped with a wonderful mixture of pork that I can see going great with a side of rice.. if they served rice. After all, this place is all about the noodles! Mian, by the way, is noodles in Chinese.

 

I’m quite fond of wood ear mushrooms. You get a huge portion for the tiny appetizer price. This was a good dish to have around when you wanted to cool off between fiery bites of noodles.

 

 

At Mian, the wontons or dumplings are known as chaoshou. I’ve tried both the hot and sour version as well as the chili oil versions. My friend who isn’t so into sour flavors mentioned she’d probably like just the spicy ones better. I liked both but preferred the slightly tart ones because I didn’t want to eat only spicy dishes. Gotta have that balance!

 

 

Like the noodles, you’ll want to mix up the chili oil and sauce over your wontons (chaoshou).

 

Sadly, I thought the beef noodle soup was a bit of a let down. The beef was tough and since this dish is comprised of beef, noodles and soup with a couple pieces of bok choy, we decided the beef really should have been better. It is supposed to be the star of the show.

 

The dry style Chengdu zajiang noodles was a hit. Bonus, it came with an egg while you can add on an egg, beef, gizzards or bawan beans for a slight fee. The first time we went, I noticed that extra noodles were free so we got extra noodles. It was actually too much food so only get extra noodles if you’re really hungry!

 

For dessert, we ordered the sweet iced jelly. This would be good if you wanted something to help alleviate the spice levels of the food but it actually is flavorless.

 

And clear! The black bowl made it appear mysterious. I would actually recommend hitting the sweets shops in the same shopping plaza if you want something actually sweet.

But I’ll return for gizzard noodles and any of the daily specials.

Mian

301 W Valley Blvd.,  San Gabriel, CA 91776  —  (626) 693-6888

 

© The Minty  2016