From Xixi to the High Parish District, and then to Yuhang Liangzhu, there are many stores in Zhong'er Noodle Restaurant. In fact, as one of the first batch of local noodle restaurants in the form of chains, Zhong'er has gained good attention by relying on the advantages of franchising and is among the well-known noodle restaurants in Hangzhou. Of course, if you ask about the memory of Zhong'er in old Hangzhou, you still have to count the huge red signboard of the Baochu Road store, and the relatively small façade.
Zhong'er's Katagawa and Bichuan are not outstanding among Hangzhou noodle restaurants because the round thick noodles used are too heavy in starch and have a poor taste, lacking the texture of northern noodles and the crispness of local fine noodles. In contrast, the soup of the noodles in the store is worth mentioning, not light in color but light in the mouth, with a thin layer of fat hanging on the surface, and a moderately salty noodle soup underneath, which can make people warm on a cold winter day.
For friends who have made a special trip to taste, I recommend Zhong'er's pork liver noodles, tripe noodles and Hangzhou Sanxian. As a topping, pork liver is much less likely to appear in Hangzhou noodles than pork loin, probably because the texture of pork liver is inherently less smooth than pork loin, and it is more likely to go overboard, resulting in a further decline in taste. Zhong'er's pork liver is wrapped in fat when it comes out of the oven, crispy and without too much visceral smell, and the gravy seeps out to the taste buds, which adds flavor to the delicious soup. Zhong'er also has a variety of unique beef/mutton noodles in the store. Taking tripe noodles as an example, the tripe soaked in clear soup does not have too much seasoning, but it is better than the original taste, and the right heat maintains the refreshing taste of the tripe, but the beef/mutton in the store is in a finished or semi-cooked state, and the noodle soup is added to the noodle soup after the customer places an order, and occasionally the taste is affected by the situation that it is left for too long. Hang San Xian is more like a sea and land chowder, with river shrimp, tripe, mushrooms, and green vegetables, the taste is light and does not lose the umami, even if the girl eats the whole bowl, it will not be too much of a burden.
Overall, Zhong'er is far from the top of Hangzhou in terms of various noodle dishes, but there are still merits in soup and beef/mutton noodles. It is worth mentioning that the sanitary environment of the old store on Baochu Road is not good, and some basic services such as cleaning tables sometimes need to be reminded by customers, which is worthy of criticism.
