all about the noodle

Celebrating centuries of the Chinese noodle.

Noodles in the North of China were more traditionally made with wheat, whereas in the South noodles were mostly rice based.

There are reports of noodles in northern China from the third century A.D. Mian Pian, little boiled bread dough dumplings, which are still made today.

 Reports of noodles called Itrium / Itriyya in the Persia, Sicily and the Jerusalem Talmud in the fifth century, using semolina paste made into long strips and dried to preserve for lengthy travels. 

The noodle takes its journey along the Silk Road reaching from the Northern China & the Han empire, through Mongolia, South Asia, Persia, Arabia and Southern Europe (Roman Empire). 

Mainly on land, the Silk Road started by the Han dynasty in the 2nd century and lasted more than 1500 years 

Hand pulled noodles in China is the standard expected, the norm! Oodles of Noodles has brought over Mr Chen from Chengdu in the  province of Sichuan in Western China to pull our noodles. We have a semi open kitchen so you can see his expertise and skilled hands pull your noodles to order.

Reports of Udon noodles in Japan, adapted from Chinese noodles during the Tang dynasty in the ninth century, one story tell of a Buddhist priest being introduced to this thick wheat based noodle whilst travelling to China to study.

 The origin of rice noodles dates back to China during the Qin dynasty. People from northern China invaded the south. Due to cooler conditions, the northern Chinese have traditionally preferred wheat which grew in cold weather while the southern Chinese preferred rice which grew in hot weather. Noodles are traditionally made out of wheat throughout northern China so to adapt, northern cooks tried to prepare "noodles" using rice flour, and so inventing rice noodle. Over time rice noodles became especially popular in Southeast Asia.

 The glass or cellophane noodle (fensi) meaning noodle thread, is mostly made from Mung Bean starch, which is also used in Vietnam, however in Korea the glass noodle is mostly made from sweet potato