The sisters bring their banging noodles close enough to Trafalgar Square for Nelson to smell the spice
In all the years I’ve worked in London, The Strand has always been unloved and unloveable.
It shouldn’t be that way; it’s a broad straight boulevard almost on top of the Thames with the glory of Trafalgar Square at one end, Somerset House at the other, and theatres down its length. Nonetheless it always feels very grubby and a place to avoid. Maybe it’s the fault of Charing Cross Station? Stations do seem to attract the wrong sort.
However, if you like a beer and some spicy noodles, and who doesn’t, there’s a good reason to visit the area. The Stranded Pub, which I am pretty sure has been created from the dried crust of an old Pizza Hut location, is a pub with a wealth of beers on tap and now the extra topping of cult-favourite noodle duo Liu Xiaomian here with a brand new winter pop-up of their popular Chongqing Noodle Bar.
We go at lunchtime and obviously the pub part is pretty empty, however round the back a few souls have settled down for some spice action and the small open kitchen is putting out some seriously good aromas.
The menu is small too, you can have Chongqing Xiaomian – wheat noodles with minced pork, minced pork with chickpeas, vegan, and beef
Or there are glass noodles with minced pork, vegan or gluten free vegan, but to kick off we had ‘numbing’ wontons
You order at the counter from the cheerful chef and then decide how hot you want it. We crave it hot over here, but we are not so reckless as to order ‘very hot’ just in case. This is a wise move.
A bleeper alerts you to go get your first dish, the wontons are won-derful, silky smooth, packed with pork and the broth dense with flavour and green peppercorns. I eat a whole dried chili by mistake and have to have immediate CPR, but it is so very worth it. They come as five or ten piece portions, we should have ordered ten.
It’s hard to share a bowl of noodles, but we try anyway. Wheat noodles with minced pork with chickpeas is very unusual. We say ‘chickpeas?’ to each other like Peter Kay saying ‘garlic bread?’ Apparently in China they use yellow peas, but they aren’t so easy to find over here. Chongqing noodles are one of the most popular street foods of China and so variations of toppings abound.
The red colour of the broth was not a red flag, they use homemade chilli oil here and it’s great. Islands of globular oil floated in the Mala red broth which has the Holy Trinity of má/麻/ numbing, là/辣/ spicy and xiān/鲜/ umami off to perfection.
A green vegetable, leek-like, gets in the way a bit, but the chickpeas are surprisingly satisfying. Szechuan spice runs through it all like letters in seaside rock. The noodles are ‘bouncy’, as they should always be. We slurp away happily, spraying spicy broth in a 360 degree arc
Glass noodles, hongshufen, are seriously annoying things though, slipperier to handle than a well greased eel, but I do love them. They’re beautiful to look at and, when made from sweet potato starch as here, particularly delicious.The broth was similar to before, just as tasty, but I could have done with some scissors to tame those noodles. Again it’s slurp and suck and wipe and then repeat. Glorious.
Oh and the beer, I must mention the beer. Cold and crisp Budvar, a perfect partner to the noodles and served in rather cool glasses, too.
Do we need dessert? A low groan across the table suggests one person has thrown in the napkin, but in the interests of a full review I give it a go.
Sichuan Bing Fen (Ice Jelly) is made from pectin rich water which becomes jelly like and is then ‘let down’ with some pure water and then sugar syrup surrounds it. It’s very cooling and refreshing and not at all filling, it was well worth trying.
So we finish our lagers and leave happy. Stranded is just the latest outpost of Liu Xiaomian, you can also find one in Carnaby and in a pub in Marylebone.
So if you find yourself stranded inThe Strand, craving beer and noodles before perhaps heading into the station, then despair not. All is not lost, Liu Xiaomian is here to save the night.