Cui Hua Gui Lin Noodle House
10626 97 St.
780-497-8280

11 a.m. to 10 p.m., closed Mondays
Cash and debit only

Fuqing Lanzhou Noodles
10824-97 St.
780-760-1110
fuqinglanzhounoodle.com

11 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed Tuesdays

Ratings for both restaurants:

Food:  4 of 5 Suns
Ambience: 3 of 5 Suns
Service: 4 of 5 Suns

Dinner for two at both restaurants, excluding beverages and tips:  Basic, $20; Loaded, $35

By GRAHAM HICKS

Thank you, organizers of Chinatown Dining Week.

I have long searched in Edmonton for authentic Chinese food.

Dozens of Chinese-Canadian restaurants still serve the standard deep-fried chicken balls, crispy Szechuan ginger beef and oily chow mein that’s been around for eons.

But the real thing (actually “things” – Chinese cuisine is very regional) remains difficult to find.

Yes, there are dozens of Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, but which ones are the best, which are authentic?

The second annual Chinatown Dining Week (Jan. 17 to Jan. 27) takes its cue from the annual Downtown Dining Week. Eight Asian eateries in-and-around Chinatown are participating, each offering an appetizer/main dish combo for $15.

Being featured are two hole-in-the-wall Chinese regional eateries – Cui Hua Gui Lin Noodle House and Fuqing Lanzhou Noodles.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Chinatown Dining Week!

Both Cui Hua Gui Lin and Fuqing Lanzhou are diamonds in the rough: Inexpensive, delicious, and, as far as I could tell, authentic Chinese restaurants.

Tony Young’s Cui Hua Gui Lin Noodle House features noodle-based soups originating in the Chinese city of Guangxi.

Gui Lin beef broths are light and fragrant, mildly spicy yet delicate and clean. Orange peel and a particular Chinese fruit that I’d never heard of are added to the long-brewed broth in which are infused generous chunks of tender beef brisket, with vermicelli noodles added just before serving.

Gui Lin’s grilled lemongrass chicken was clean and crisp –marinated in lemongrass, ginger and fish sauce then grilled over charcoal, seven dollars and almost a meal unto itself.

The crowning touch, to my mind, was a simple vegetable side-order. What came were 12 trimmed and arranged fresh baby bok choy, perfectly steamed. Nothing else had been added. With a savoury/sweet dipping sauce, they were perfection.

Fuqing Lanzhou Noodles offers a different take, from the Chinese city of Lanzhou, off the Chinese coast between Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The focus is on Lanzhou-style noodles. Owner Qin Fuqing prepares his noodles, from scratch, for every single order as it comes into his kitchen. He must be at it all day, as 10 minutes of expert labour is needed to stretch and partition the dough that starts looking like a giant, unbaked French loaf and ends as four servings worth of noodles. Doesn’t get much fresher!

The noodles within his milky soup are oh-so-slurpy good, but equally interesting is Lanzhou Noodle’s overall flavour profile.

Everything we tried – the beef noodle soup, shrimp dumplings, stir-fried dried tofu and green peppers, shredded potato – was mild.

Yet within the mild was a gentle new world of flavours and textures. The dumpling wrappers and Lanzhou noodles were as smooth as silk, the grilled squid was tasty without outside flavour. Even the boiled-then-refrigerated shredded potato was calming to the taste buds.

Both Gui Lin and Lanzhou provide a meal for two for under $20, probably because no money is spent on ambience, décor or advertising. It would appear owners Young and Fuqing do almost all the work themselves. Gui Lin takes cash or debit only.

But, at both, the food is excellent, the premises reasonably clean, the service efficient and prompt – a minor language barrier at Lanzhou but nothing serious.

Now I need a Chinese foodie to guide me through the more exotic fare on offer at these two Asian gems!

Chinatown Dining Week is introducing more than Chinese cuisine to the wider community. Also participating in Chinatown Dining Week (two courses for $15) through Sunday are Asian Express Hot Pot, Kanto 98 (Filipino food), King Noodle House Pho Hoang (Vietnamese), Namaste India (East Indian), Tea Bar Café and Padmanadi (Asian vegetarian).

Cui Hua Gui Lin Noodle House
10626 97 St.
780-497-8280

11 a.m. to 10 p.m., closed Mondays
Cash and debit only

Fuqing Lanzhou Noodles
10824-97 St.
780-760-1110
fuqinglanzhounoodle.com

11 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed Tuesdays

Ratings for both restaurants:

Food:  4 of 5 Suns
Ambience: 3 of 5 Suns
Service: 4 of 5 Suns

Dinner for two at both restaurants, excluding beverages and tips:  Basic, $20; Loaded, $35

By GRAHAM HICKS

Thank you, organizers of Chinatown Dining Week.

I have long searched in Edmonton for authentic Chinese food.

Dozens of Chinese-Canadian restaurants still serve the standard deep-fried chicken balls, crispy Szechuan ginger beef and oily chow mein that’s been around for eons.

But the real thing (actually “things” – Chinese cuisine is very regional) remains difficult to find.

Yes, there are dozens of Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, but which ones are the best, which are authentic?

The second annual Chinatown Dining Week (Jan. 17 to Jan. 27) takes its cue from the annual Downtown Dining Week. Eight Asian eateries in-and-around Chinatown are participating, each offering an appetizer/main dish combo for $15.

Being featured are two hole-in-the-wall Chinese regional eateries – Cui Hua Gui Lin Noodle House and Fuqing Lanzhou Noodles.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Chinatown Dining Week!

Both Cui Hua Gui Lin and Fuqing Lanzhou are diamonds in the rough: Inexpensive, delicious, and, as far as I could tell, authentic Chinese restaurants.

Tony Young’s Cui Hua Gui Lin Noodle House features noodle-based soups originating in the Chinese city of Guangxi.

Gui Lin beef broths are light and fragrant, mildly spicy yet delicate and clean. Orange peel and a particular Chinese fruit that I’d never heard of are added to the long-brewed broth in which are infused generous chunks of tender beef brisket, with vermicelli noodles added just before serving.

Gui Lin’s grilled lemongrass chicken was clean and crisp –marinated in lemongrass, ginger and fish sauce then grilled over charcoal, seven dollars and almost a meal unto itself.

The crowning touch, to my mind, was a simple vegetable side-order. What came were 12 trimmed and arranged fresh baby bok choy, perfectly steamed. Nothing else had been added. With a savoury/sweet dipping sauce, they were perfection.

Fuqing Lanzhou Noodles offers a different take, from the Chinese city of Lanzhou, off the Chinese coast between Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The focus is on Lanzhou-style noodles. Owner Qin Fuqing prepares his noodles, from scratch, for every single order as it comes into his kitchen. He must be at it all day, as 10 minutes of expert labour is needed to stretch and partition the dough that starts looking like a giant, unbaked French loaf and ends as four servings worth of noodles. Doesn’t get much fresher!

The noodles within his milky soup are oh-so-slurpy good, but equally interesting is Lanzhou Noodle’s overall flavour profile.

Everything we tried – the beef noodle soup, shrimp dumplings, stir-fried dried tofu and green peppers, shredded potato – was mild.

Yet within the mild was a gentle new world of flavours and textures. The dumpling wrappers and Lanzhou noodles were as smooth as silk, the grilled squid was tasty without outside flavour. Even the boiled-then-refrigerated shredded potato was calming to the taste buds.

Both Gui Lin and Lanzhou provide a meal for two for under $20, probably because no money is spent on ambience, décor or advertising. It would appear owners Young and Fuqing do almost all the work themselves. Gui Lin takes cash or debit only.

But, at both, the food is excellent, the premises reasonably clean, the service efficient and prompt – a minor language barrier at Lanzhou but nothing serious.

Now I need a Chinese foodie to guide me through the more exotic fare on offer at these two Asian gems!

Chinatown Dining Week is introducing more than Chinese cuisine to the wider community. Also participating in Chinatown Dining Week (two courses for $15) through Sunday are Asian Express Hot Pot, Kanto 98 (Filipino food), King Noodle House Pho Hoang (Vietnamese), Namaste India (East Indian), Tea Bar Café and Padmanadi (Asian vegetarian).