Sing's Noodle House- Handpulled Noodles in the Mall

The find on this new spot was kind of a low hanging fruit. I'd noticed signs in the window of the storefront immediately across from Lao Sze Chaun in the mall in early September. I stopped by twice last week to try their noodles.


The place was packed on both visits. The service could not be any nicer or more attentive.
Its a good sign when the first thing that you see when you walk in is the noodle guy snapping his dough up and down in a glassed in bump-out off the kitchen:


The menu is pretty limited for Chinatown divided into six categories: Hand-pulled noodles, noodle soups, stir fried noodles, chow main fun, appetizers, and dumplings. Here's a pic of the first half of the menu:


The funny thing about this menu is that it seems overly translated somehow, tagging on a descriptor of the protein in front of "hand-pulled noodles". Some of us do understand what niu rou mian means, after all. It could be that the broths/sauces/flavor sets are the same for all the dishes and the meats are the only variation. So on the maiden voyage I ordered something I recognized, which was the first thing on the menu, Dan Dan Noodles. I also split an appetizer of "Aromatic Mixed Platter" that consisted of gelatinous cold cuts of pig ear, sliced beef, and beef tendon. This was simple and all good, especially as the meats warmed to room temp and the gelatin became tender. Back to the noodles– I've experienced Dan Dan with different levels of soupiness, from full on soup to saucy noodles. I've had it hot and cold. So I get that this dish has a range in and of itself. What I usually expect is a similar set of ingredients and flavors– noodles, ground pork, and spinach usually spiced with chiles and a heavy hand with the Szechuan peppercorns. (Sorry my phone died before I got a pic). The version here was unlike any I've had– a nest of noodles with a ladle of thick meat gravy on top. A few moments later we were presented a side car bowl of a mild clear broth flecked with cilantro and scallion. I asked the server if we were meant to pour the broth on the noodles or dip the noodles and she said we should enjoy them separately. So, the noodles– on the thicker side and nicely chewy, really good. The dish as a whole was totally a Bolognese. The meat sauce had the same consistency as a ragú with a mild chile heat and almost no ma la to speak of. It was definitely satisfying on an early cold afternoon this fall, but unexpectedly mild.

Intrigued, yet not completely satisfied, I returned a few days later for a soup. Beef Stew Hand-Pulled Noodles from the Hand-Pulled Noodles section to be exact. I'm actually not quite sure what constitutes the "Noodle Soup" section of the menu offering these choices: Dry Noodle, Line Noodle, and Rice Noodles. Perhaps they are all pre-made noodle products, rather than the hand-pulled.

It looked great, definitely a mild-looking clear broth. I am no expert of niu rou mien, but this is what I was hoping for and I do understand that the soup has many variations in terms of seasoning, and yes, I was expecting something like Katy's (ditto on the Dan Dan). The noodles were, again, pretty fantastic. The beef chunks were quite tender and I even enjoyed the huge, jiggly chunks of cartilage. And I found the spinach missing from the Dan Dan in this bowl. The not-so-great elements, however, were the thin, insipid broth and the astringent, presumably mass produced pickled cabbage shreds.

I want to give this place more chances and hope for the feedback of others, which is why I decided to post about it. Perhaps I am not ordering right or I was hoping for this to be a different style of cuisine than it actually is. There are a few less-ambiguously defined dishes on the menu that could be winners- such as Mala Cool Noodles as well as exciting protein choices like oxtail. The noodles are great, so its worth a shot. Let me know what you think!

Sing's Noodle House
2171 S China Place
(312) 225-2882

According to that menu, niu rou (la) mian is "beef hand-pulled noodles", not "beef stew hand-pulled noodles". That could explain the different broth.

Dan dan mian is usually noodles with gravy, sometimes all mixed up, but often that is left to the diner. Greens may or may not be present. Katy's is the only place I've ever had it as a soup, which always struck me as unusual (albeit delicious). Their "Sichuan cold noodles" are much closer to what others call "dan dan mian" (but tons better).

cilantro wrote:According to that menu, niu rou (la) mian is "beef hand-pulled noodles", not "beef stew hand-pulled noodles". That could explain the different broth.

Dan dan mian is usually noodles with gravy, sometimes all mixed up, but often that is left to the diner. Greens may or may not be present. Katy's is the only place I've ever had it as a soup, which always struck me as unusual (albeit delicious). Their "Sichuan cold noodles" are much closer to what others call "dan dan mian" (but tons better).

Thanks for the clarifications. I will try the "Beef Hand-Pulled Noodles" next time.
The more typical versions of Dan Dan I have tried seem to have a thin sauce ladled onto the noodles, then topped with ground meat.
The meat is seasoned, but not saucy. At Sing's the meat seemed to have been cooked in a sauce until thick and reduced, like a ragú. My experiences are limited to Katy's, Lao Beijing (cold and soupy, though not soup per se), and a few versions around Flushing Queens. I'd be curious what you think of Sing's rendition.

Following up on Jefe's lead, Jazzfood and I had lunch at Sing's on Friday after finding Go4Food closed until 4:30 for some reason.

Sing's Noodle House


As Jefe posted, Sing's is located directly across the Chinatown Mall from Lao Sze Schuan, albeit in a much smaller space than LSC.



Sing's has a relatively one note menu compared to many of the other Chinatown restaurants, but it's quite a note; featuring fresh hand pulled noodles in several different forms.

Sing's Hand Pulled Noodles




There are a few other items on the menu besides noodles in their many forms, such as these excellent fried pork and chive dumplings.

Sing's Pan Fried Pork & Chive Dumplings


But the place isn't called Sing's Noodle House for nothing. We also had a couple different varieties of noodles, starting off with this beautiful bowl of Soup Noodles with Braised Oxtail, which they call Ox-Tail Hand-Pulled Noodles on the menu.

Sing's Ox-Tail Hand-Pulled Noodles


The noodles were perfect; a little toothsome but the perfect accompaniment to this bowl of mild broth with assorted veggies, ginger and preserved napa cabbage. A spoon or two of their decent chili oil perked this dish up nicely.

We followed the soup with some Pan Fried Shaved Noodles with Duck. This particular combination wasn't listed on the menu, but it was not a problem for the kitchen.

Sing's Pan Fried Shaved Noodles with Duck


This was my favorite dish of the day. The shaved noodles were similar to Katy's pancake, except they were cut much thinner and were softer and more delicate than the Katy's version.

I'm very excited to have Sing's in the Mall. Although they don't have a broad menu, I'm looking forward to returning often to work my way through their offerings. The Aromatic Mixed Patter that we saw on the next table looked particularly interesting.



Sing's Noodle House
2171 S China Place
Chicago, IL 60616
(312) 225-2882

Open 7 Days 11:00 AM - 12:00 AM

Be still my heart. With first choice Go4food locked down for private event and no seafood hot and sour soup or razor clams to be had, my pout began to form. Quick thinking on plan b and c led to trying Sing's as a back up. Really glad we did. The shaved noodles were, and I'm quoting my chow partner "as satisfiying as Katy's but in a different way". I loved everything about them. The irregular shapes (and therefore consistancy and texture) paired w/the crisip vegs and roasted duck have had me thinking of them ever since. The soup was quite nice, and I quite enjoyed the pickled napa that lent a bit of brightness (I asked, they make it in house) but these noodles doused w/chili oil were really to my liking. The pork-chive dumplings we had were wonderful as well. Thin skinned, crispy, savory, acidy (w/a splash of vinegar and more chili oil), really well done. Can't wait to get back and explore.

Many thanks for posting the sign outside. The name in Chinese is Lan Zhou La Mian--Lanzhou being a city rather famous for its noodles. As I recall, they have their own kind of beef noodle (still called niu rou mian, but not the same as the Taiwanese kind). I will be here soon.

Chicago game changer. If they're TRUE OGs, you'd be able to ask 'em for "belt sized", "extra thick", "extra thin", "chockstick thick", flat, round, etc.

I wonder if they'd make zha jiang mian out of the hand pulled noodles. I don't see why not. $7.25 for dan dan mian borders highway robbery, though... It's just chili oil, sesame paste, scallions, ground pork...

BTW the gentleman with the noodles looks like the same guy who used to make the noodles at Hing Kee.

Shaved noodles are quite different from the Katy's pancake. The shaved noodles are made by someone shaving the noodles directly from a ball of raw dough directly into the boiling water. Katy's pancake dish is made by slicing already fried pancakes and then stir frying them.

Line noodles on the menu refer to thin rice noodles (mai fun in Cantonese). Rice Noodles (on the menu) refers to the wider rice noodles like chow fun (not as wide as chow fun, not as narrow as pho noodles).

CrazyC wrote:BTW the gentleman with the noodles looks like the same guy who used to make the noodles at Hing Kee.

I think you're right. He looked very familiar to me and I just couldn't quite place him. I think he recognized me as well.

I thought his noodles were good at the old place. I guess the guy manning the wok is doing more with them at Sing's....

Had to wait for a seat on Saturday afternoon. Agree upthread about the chive dumplings, delicious. We had the Dan Dan and beef stew noodles. Hate to say this, but meh. The noodles are definitely the highlight, and not spaghetti noodles that other shops are trying to pass off, but the soup, just wasn't tasty. The Dan Dan mian is what I am familiar with the Taiwanese style that I ate probably once a week when living in Shanghai (Wu Jing Tang) . The meat paste, cucumbers, then adding the broth. The problem with the Dan Dan here is it didn't have enough chili oil or complex flavor at all. Same with the beef stew soup. It was more like tendon soup, but tendon soup was a separate entree. I doubt I'll be back, but if I did, I'd go with the hand pulled fried noodle. I overheard a Chinese guy say that they were Shanghai style, which I haven't had since Mandarin kitchen got rid of their regular menu.

Just realized I never posted on my lunch there last week. I really enjoyed it, though with no illusions of comparing it to something I ate in another country. No offense but I don't know what the point of that is--if you say you don't like something because it doesn't taste good to you, or that the place up the street does it better, fair enough. But saying it doesn't taste like what I ate every week when living 7000 miles away just doesn't make any sense to me--how could it? Does anything ever?

But I digress...

I shared orders of the fried pork and chive dumplings, Shredded Kelp in Sauce, the Aromatic mixed platter (tendon/pigs ears, marinated beef), Roast Duck Hand Pulled Noodles (a soup) and the Pan Fried Shaved Noodles with Beef. I enjoyed the meat platter more than the similar dish at LSC. The kelp was our attempt to eat something besides carbs and fat at the meal and they were very tasty--tangy, satisfying--I'd order these again. The dumplings were probably the least interesting to me because, well, they aren't all that different than a 100 other places. They're fine but I'd probably opt to save stomach space for other items.

As for the noodle dishes--I loved them both. The Roasted Duck and noodles was my favorite. Broth was aromatic, richly flavored but clean and relatively light, and a perfect backdrop for the fantastic noodles. I could eat that regularly. The pan fried shaved noodles were also delicious, though definitely heavier. I also really enjoyed the accompaniments--several different condiments including excellent chili oil. Personally, I'd much rather add my own to taste than have the dish be completely overpowered and overly oily--but that can depend on the dish.

Service was also excellent. I look forward to returning. Much as I admire Tony H. and his empire, it's great to see a few quality independents making a name for themselves in Chinatown!

Best dish for me= shaved noodle with tripe. Really good and one of those tricky type dishes where it was sometimes hard to tell what was noodle and what wasn't , which made it even more interesting .

Also, forgot to mention that they deliver within a 3-mile radius (unfortunately, I'm out of the range )

@boudreaulicious, because the conversation was that others hadn't had Dan Dan like this one before. All I was saying was that this version seems to be very authentic in presentation, but not very complex in flavor. Geez.....

had been trying to get to Sing's since the initial reports, finally got in for a snack on Sunday after the game, planning to go back this Saturday.

enjoyed these pan fried pork and chive dumplings a bit:



also these steamed buns with soup pork and seafood were something I was thinking about quite a bit the next day. Tender wrapper, just the right ammount of seafood funk:



thought the noodles in the pan fried hand pulled noodles were fantastic, chewy in the right way.:



didnt get a taste of this dish: Spicy chicken handpulled noodles, but it looked damn good:

Sadly, Sing's has closed, at least temporarily. It's completely dark and the windows are papered over. There is a "closed for remodeling" sign on the window, so there is hope that they will open again if you're a glass half full type of person.

Sadly, Sing's has closed, at least temporarily. It's completely dark and the windows are papered over. There is a "closed for remodeling" sign on the window, so there is hope that they will open again if you're a glass half full type of person.

How sad! Does anyone have alternative recos for hand-pulled noodles in Chinatown? A quick LTH search suggests Katy's (not in Chinatown) and Hing Kee (last post in 2011). Not sure if Hing Kee is still a good option?

bluepig wrote:How sad! Does anyone have alternative recos for hand-pulled noodles in Chinatown? A quick LTH search suggests Katy's (not in Chinatown) and Hing Kee (last post in 2011). Not sure if Hing Kee is still a good option?

Hing Kee's noodles are no more. In fact, the guy that was pulling the noodles at Sing's was the same guy who used to do it at Hing Kee. Katy's has easily the best hand made noodles in the area, but as you said, not in Chinatown. Go to Westmont for the best execution, although Oak Park isn't half bad, either.