The Sydney Morning Herald logo
Advertisement

Just Open: Shanghai Street Noodle Wizard, Melbourne CBD

Nola James

Melbourne's Shanghai Street Noodle Wizard's noodle soup with pork belly.
Melbourne's Shanghai Street Noodle Wizard's noodle soup with pork belly.Adrianne Harrowfield

The gang from Shanghai Street Dumpling (you may already be familiar with the long queues outside their three city restaurants) has popped up on Russell Street with a new concept: Suzhao noodle soups from China's Jiangsu Province.

Unlike China's northern noodle dishes, where the emphasis is on noodle texture, Suzhao noodles are all about the soup base, a subtly aromatic tea-coloured broth usually made from pork and chicken bones.

The wheat-based noodles for Suzhao soups are long and thin, with just a little bite, generally made in-house but in this case produced off-site to Shanghai Street's specifications. Served with a protein (perhaps a sticky soy-marinated duck leg, or thinly sliced braised pork belly) and green vegetables, the dish is best self-assembled at the table for maximum flavour control.

Shanghai Street Noodle Wizard has had a simple spruce-up since its days as a cake shop.
Shanghai Street Noodle Wizard has had a simple spruce-up since its days as a cake shop.Adrianne Harrowfield
Advertisement

You'll find it smack bang across the road from Hakata Gensuke (which also sells noodle soups and has really long queues). The double-fronted space has had a bit of a spruce up since its days as a cake shop but it's not too fancy – the chairs are comfy, the tables are clean and the bathroom doubles as a storage closet.

With the menu also featuring many of your favourites from the Shanghai Street Dumpling collection (pan-fried pork dumplings, chilli wontons, spring onion pancakes), this is a one-stop-noodle-shop.

Open Mon-Thu noon-3pm, 4.30pm-9pm; Fri noon-3pm, 4.30pm-9.30pm; Sun noon-3pm, 4.30pm-8pm.

167 Russell Street, 03 9041 0605.

Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.

Sign up

From our partners

Advertisement
Advertisement