lian pi -- who else has it?

[cimui]

just curious whether there are restaurants serving the stuff other than xi'an famous foods. i like their version, but it is a little thicker and more al dente than i prefer it. it'd be nice to see what other options are out there.

[if you're wondering, lian pi is a rice or wheat -- or mixed rice and wheat -- noodle that originated from shaanxi, china. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liang_pi at its best (or at least what i consider its best), it's tender and slippery and absolutely delightful.]

if you don't think any other restaurants serve it, that's good to know, too.

[DaveCook]

New!
Cold skin noodle
$3.99

Handwritten sign, English only, seen today in the window of Panda, 107 Hester St. (at Eldridge St.).

Dave Cook
www.EatingInTranslation.com

[Lau]

i tried dumplings there the other day, they were kind of mediocre

could be interesting though, the people were mainland chinese but not fujian, didnt ask where they were from

[DaveCook]

Though the counterman at Panda comes from Fuzhou, there's a mustached fellow behind the counter from the Northeast. I imagine it's his recipe for the Dongbei la pi; like liang fen, these cold skin noodles are made from mung bean. This may have been the dish you tried in Shanghai, cimui; my noodles, too, were translucent, almost clear.

Dave Cook
www.EatingInTranslation.com

[Lau]

was it good?

[DaveCook]

Yes, overall the Dongbei la pi had a nice, fresh-made appeal, though the noodles themselves were almost too slippery to handle. In this regard I prefer liang fen.

Dave Cook
www.EatingInTranslation.com

[JungMann]

Have you tried making it? I couldn't find it outside Flushing so I tried to crack the recipe and have made some headway with Chiangking vinegar, chili oil, cucumber water, garlic , sugar and sesame oil, but I still have a ways to go.

[cimui]

I was toying with this idea given that I just spoke with the folks at Xi'an and it seems that their liang pi and noodles both have wheat in them. In general, I'm a crummy noodle maker, though -- my gnocchi tastes like little lumps of cement -- so I'm going to first try to at least find the liang pi sold at a grocery, if not a restaurant. Thanks for the ideas!

[Miss Needle]

I just caught your post, cimui. Yeah, I'm pretty sure the noodles have wheat in it. It's really difficult to get that chewiness by just using rice. Though I wonder if you can get that quality if you add some mochi rice powder in it.

[cimui]

I think there might be at least two different styles of liang pi, one that's chewier (containing wheat) and one that's very silken (containing mostly rice). There's also a very similar dish called liang fen made out of mung bean flour, which is also very soft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liangfen . I actually think I might prefer the very soft, non-chewy kinds, tho mochi powder in pasta sounds like it'd be a fun experiment!

[Lau]

liang fen tastes quite a bit different than the liang pi, its more gelatinous than a pasta...alot of people i know are sort of turned off by it, i think its alright, but much prefer a pasta

if you want to try it, most sichuan restaurants should have it, the sauce they usually put on it is really good

[cimui]

Oh -- liang fen wasn't was I was thinking of, then. I've had a much thinner pasta-like dish made out of mung bean, probably, which I tried and loved in Shanghai at Ji Shi. I'd always thought was liang pi and maybe it is another variety of liang pi, but it was was almost clear in color. It wasn't gelatinous, exactly, but rather silky and thin and more like cheung fun in texture than an Italian wheat pasta.

Argh, I wish I could find a version of the Ji Shi menu online to find out what this stuff was!

[liangpi]

I just had amazing liang fen at New Shanghai in Chinatown
Heres a depiction

[Elliott Hurwitt]

Lau, where is this New Shanghai you mentioned? Thanks!

[Elliott Hurwitt]

Oh, sorry, it's liangpi, this place is in Boston, maybe?

[Lau]

yah i dont know a New Shanghai in NY

[cimui]

thanks, folks. i'll give wu liang ye a try and keep my eyes peeled more generally.

[FrankieLymon]

nobody

[teresa]

I heard that Wu Liang Ye on 48th Street may have this. My Chinese co-worker has been able to order it. Since I don't have their Chinese menu, it's hard to figure out which item on their Menupages menu is Liang Pi. Perhaps you have to order it in Chinese? I am not sure!

[Lau]

in chinatown there is definitely not anywhere that serves anything like liang pi, in fact generally in any US chinatown you would have an extremely hard time finding this dish. Xi'an food is not common in the US. I haven't seen any place in flushing serve it either.

According to your wikipedia article its originally from shanxi and you will have a hard time finding food from there as well.