Strands of Bliss

MOIAN NOODLE | 莫乙安
Address: B2/F, Hubin Dao, 168 Hubin Road, Huangpu District (near Jinan Rd.) | 黄浦区 湖滨路168号无限极荟购物广场B2层(近济南路)
Telephone: N/A
Hours: Daily 10:00 – 22:00
Price: 30 – 50 RMB/person
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: 3.5/5

Mixed reviews on Moian.

This is Moian Noodle’s second location, the first opened up a few years ago on Dagu Lu. This high tech noodle eatery offers a variety of Chinese noodle dishes – beef brisket soup noodles, spicy bullfrog noodles, gong bao chicken noodles, crab noodles, mapo tofu noodles, amongst many more. While the restaurant is located on the basement level of the mall, the space is inviting, open and clean with a slightly modern décor style.

I mentioned this was a high tech spot. Here’s why: the menu and ordering system is all done through a station of iPads. There are different options to scroll through their menu offerings and depending on the dish, you can customize based on noodle type (thin noodles, small wide noodles or wide noodles). For those who are picky about coriander and green onion, you can specify what you’d like. With mobile payment, the whole process is quick and efficient, with the dishes coming out pretty fast as well!

We chose a variety of noodle dishes and some sides for our Friday lunch. While some were better than others, we really enjoyed the noodles across all dishes. I prefer the wider noodles, but they all had a nice chewy bite.

 

Spicy Hot Noodles (红油销魂面) | 28 RMB

Given the name of this dish, I was preparing to wash down the spice with my iced tea. But to my surprise, I found this completely lacking any spice. The sauce was also a bit on the dry side for me, but I tossed in some chili sauce to kick it up a notch. The crushed peanuts gave it a nice crunchy, nutty taste. I should note that my friend who can’t eat hot foods actually tasted the spice, so perhaps it depends on what level of spice you can eat. Recommended.

 

Mapo Tofu Noodles (麻婆豆腐面) | 32 RMB

If you love spicy mapo tofu, then you’ll appreciate the numbing spice (麻辣) in this dish. After tossing the noodles with the mapo tofu, the strands were glistening with the spicy sauce and each bite was satisfyingly tasty and spicy. Strongly recommended – if you can eat spicy!

 

Tomato Beef Brisket Noodle Soup (番茄牛腩面) | 42RMB

We opted for a skinnier noodle for this dish and while the noodles had a nice consistency and bite, the broth was a disappointment. It was watery and lacking in any tomato and beef flavor. The pieces of beef however, were tender and soft. Not recommended.

 

Fried Chicken w Basil (无骨战斗鸡) | 25 RMB

These fried chicken bites were tasty and crunchy. The fried basil offers a nice light herb flavor when eaten together. A solid side dish to noodles. Recommended.

 

Chinese Cabbage w Pork Sauce (卤肉鸡毛菜) | 15 RMB

Is it just me or do others feel obligated to order a veggie side dish when consuming large bowls of carb filled noodles? While this dish is nothing particularly special, the veggies have nice flavor with the minced pork. Recommended.

 

Bliss Tips:

– The mall’s food court and restaurants get packed during lunch hour. Suggested to go after 1pm.

– There are noodle sets available if you’re looking for a lunch deal!