Biang Biang Noodles, Swanston St

Biang Biang Noodles restaurant used to have only 1 place on Elizabeth Street but they have since opened another one on Swanston Street. I had gone to the original shop years earlier but Gaz wanted to try as he had never been to either place. 

The last time I went to the restaurant, I was enticed by the prices, the food was average and there were an abundance of noodles in the bowl. This time, the prices are still enticing (mentioned in The Age Cheap Eats for a number of years) but the amount of noodles have decreased. Somehow it is a positive because there used to be too much noodles for the sauce.

We ordered the noodles with tomato and egg with meat sauce ($15.50) and lamb dumplings (9 for $15.80) in soup.

The noodles were delicious. They were hand pulled by a staff in a glass window but without the aplomb and performance that usually accompanies, only a poker face that betrays their annoyance of having to work on the weekend. We paid weekend surcharge by the way, and a card surcharge even though we paid by cash.

 The lamb dumplings were delicious and I didn't mind the sour and salty broth although Gaz wasn't used to it. After all the kerfuffle of asking us whether we want coriander as a topping, we didn't get any. Lamb and coriander would have gone well.

I think the hygiene in this store is a little lacking. The tables were not cleaned properly after each use so there are still food sticking to the table when we sat down. I saw a cockroach scuttling on the wall at the self service station where the water, cups and utensils are. I did not have an enjoyable experience here, thankfully we did not have diarrhoea after our meals so maybe the cockroach was lost and just passing by. I won't be finding out whether it has decided to settle and have a family anywhere in the shop!