西安印象 (Xi’an Yin Xiang) (maybe Xi’an Impression?) at Chinatown is so under the radar it doesn’t have a English signboard. It is a narrow shop, packed when I was there for lunch, but it is so worth the claustrophobia.

According to the staff I spoke to there, Xi’an Impression (I’m naming it) is an outpost from its original restaurant in Xi’an with the same name. Google tells me that they have outposts even in London. The staff also said that they import the ingredients from their Xi’an shop so the food tastes exactly the same. Noodles are hand-pulled. Google also shows they have outlets at Kinex (Katong), Vision Exchange (Jurong), Paya Lebar, Sengkang, and Tampines.

They have 3 signatures, biang biang noodles ($6), roujiamo (Chinese pork burgers, $4.50), and cold noodles (凉皮 $6), and we ordered all three of them.

The cold noodles, which sits on a heap of cucumbers, is good. Texture is smooth and the sauce is sour and piquant – it is appetitising. If you don’t feel like eating anything, this is the dish to order, although it’s quite pricy for just wheat.

Ignore the roujiamo. The meat tastes sweet like strawberry ham and the bun is stiff. It’s pretty bad.

But it’s really the biang biang noodles that people come here for. It is just amazing. I have eaten a few biang biang noodles before and nothing compares to this one. I feel like I haven’t eaten biang biang noodles until this shop. The noodles are translucent and has such a great texture: so chewy but not slimey. And the flavours are fantastic. Complex, deep, earthy, just a tinge of spice to hold everything together. I can’t wait to go back.

Menu

西安印象 Xi’an Impression
People’s Park Complex #01-65, 1 Park Road, Singapore 059108
11am – 10pm daily

Food: 10/10 (for biang biang noodles alone)
Ambience/decor: 5/10
Price/value: 5.5/10

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