my quest for a good bowl of nrm (neuro-mien aka taiwanese beef noodle soup) has gone on for years. bowl after bowl, I was never satisfied fully. some past FAIL nrm equations:

meh broth + AMAZING noodles + crappy beef = kam hong garden

meh watered down broth + aiiight noodles + crappy beef = both mandarin noodle house/deli

okay broth + boring noodles + good beef = kingburg kitchen

oily as hell broth + ok noodles + okay beef = dai ho

amazingly flavorful broth + crappy noodles + so so beef = cheng du (and now the broth is just meh. so sad, so sad)

amazing broth + okay noodles + meh beef = friends taiwanese mommy

needless to say, I gave up on the search…

 

then last sunday (yes, thats 2 sundays in a row for us) we had a hankering for some xlb’s (xio long bao aka soupy pork dumplings)  from dean sin world and made our trek to the sgv to get some of these juicy pork wonders.  little did, I know I’d find my favorite bowl of nrm.

the first time we came to dean sin world was with our sgv guru, kungfoodpanda, aka, our homie, stinky for  some no frills XLB’s (which are fantastic) and shanghai panfried baos (u can skip these).  the kind women working there also brought out a free test bowl of nrm which was not on the menu. it was…well…NOT good. it was horribly sweet and everything else in the bowl left one confused to barely make it out to be nrm.

so back to this past sunday and my hankering for some xlb’s. of course, as ALWAYS, I was also craving soupy. what else is new right?  yes, its true, soup/broth consists of 50% of my meals. I crave it every morning, every every evening. when the weather is cold, when its hot, u get the idea.  good soup/broth is important. we took another stab at the nrm after attempting to pronounce noo-roh-mien about 20 times ( since the women there dont speak a lick of english and finger pointing is useless bc the nrm is not listed on the menu. non-chinese speakers and koreans like us are pretty much SOL)

after the first taste of soup and then slurp of noodles  and bite of tendon….WOW, this was extreme makeover to the MAX

I immediately exclaimed,  this is my favorite bowl of NRM!!

dsc_5171

nrm

oh what a beauty…

AMAZING broth + good noodles + tons of juicy, delicious beef/tendon = my new favorite bowl of NRM @ dean sin world

the broth is really an amazing thing. it’s rich in beef flavor with a slight sweetness and has almost a velvety smoothness, all WITHOUT being oily. super beefy and brothy does NOT mean it has to be oily (i.e. dai ho) the other extreme is flavorless broth like mandarin noodle house/deli and kam hong garden. this broth is the most refined and balanced  nrm broth I’ve had. it’s not overloaded with spices but still so flavorful. the noodles are not kam hong caliber but they’re slippery with a slight bite that reign above most of the other nrm noodles I’ve had. and then the beef and tendon. WOW. the bowl is LOADED with the most delicious and juicy tendon. love it, love it!!

also, the  most delicious bite I’ve had in recent memory are these morsels of pure comfort and yuminess that can also be found here

dsc_5183

these sesame turnip cakes when fresh and pipin’ hot are quite the savory, sweet, doughy, flakey deliciousness in-yo-mouth. flakey outside with warm doughy inside and bursting with sweet and savory turnip. yuummmmyyyyyy the turnip filling reminds me of the korean banchan moo-namul. pure comfort.

my new happy, happy  place, dean sin world

dean sin world, 306 n garfield ave #2, monterey park, ca 91754. (626) 571-0636.

About these ads