Grandma Noodles, Little Bourke St CBD

Love, love, love these spicy noodles! We stumbled upon Grandma Noodles in Chinatown on a cold winter's day when all the other establishments were full and decided to give this a try. Incidentally there were no queues here at the time we got there but most of the items on the menu had already sold out. We ordered the noodles in spicy soup:

Noodles with pork knuckles

Noodles with beef brisket

 The soup was just great! So full of spices, but not crazy spicy that I needed gallons of water to cool the tongue. But it still brought instantaneous reaction - my mouth formed two blood bubbles even before I finished eating the noodles. I see it as a sign that the soup is really 'heaty'. Still, it tasted so good that I will come back for another try, and perhaps get to try the other items on the menu too. They have steamed meats in bamboo steamers (they were all sold out except for the vegetarian option). 

What I was disappointed with though was the lack of meat or protein in the noodle dishes. For $12.80, I expected more meat pieces. The pork knuckles in my dish was mostly fat and skin while there were only a few pieces of beef brisket in the other noodle dish. Perhaps the cost of the dish went towards the various spices that were used to create the superb soup.

This place is really popular and is an addition to the Chongqing noodle scene in Melbourne. There is usually a queue to get into the restaurant, and also a queue to pay at the register. But the service is fast and polite, the wait persons even wears a mouth guard like the ones we have seen in Japan for hygiene purposes.

Good place to go to when one is craving for spicy noodle soups!