Pangsit udang kuah (Shrimp dumplings soup): Great nibbles to start – it warms up that street-vendor feel to begin my dining experience at Mie Zhou. The large bowl is a combination of chewy shrimp meats and soft dumpling doughs. I ended up eating my chicken noodles (below) with this soup.

Mie Ayam Kecap (Chicken noodles with soy sauce): Honestly I did not enjoy my share of this dish. Even though I can go gaga over garlic, I personally prefer soup dishes without those fried shallot sprinkles the Chinese usually love to put on everything. Despite my general inclination toward something with minimum dressing, this is just too bland. Too much garlic sprinkles to start with, and too little ingredients to spice up the plain, cold noodles. Soup is almost equivalent to salted water with a dash of soy sauce. Even though everything tasted much better once you’ve poured the whole soup into the bowl of noodles and stirred the whole mix, there’s still no particular taste that really stood out for my tongue.

How to eat your Dandan Tsukemen: #1. Grab just the right amount of noodles to gulp, #2. Dip it into the dandan sauce, and #3. Seize the delish.

Dandan tsukemen: Dandan noodles have been a Sichuan classic since the peak of the Qing Dynasty. Dandan noodles are a particular favorite in Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan region, as the people there have traditionally favored foods that are spicy (think Mapo Tofu). Lots of peanut butter, lots of chili oil and chili, chili pepper, and perhaps some more sesame oil too… all of which are my favorite (and sinful) ingredients. Noodles are served on a separate bowl and topped with fresh minced chicken, and you just have to dip them all into the thick and buttery dandan sauce. The fact that everything’s fattening is blatant here, but how can you resist anything this good?