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Sha Lin Noodle House
Address: 548 West Broadway, Vancouver
Tel: 604-873-1816

Hours:
Mon-Thurs 11:30am-3pm lunch; 5-9pm dinner
Fri 11:30am-3pm lunch; 5-9:30pm dinner
Sat 11:30am-3:30pm lunch; 5-9:30pm dinner

Sha Lin Noodle House

By Russell Ball
Vegan/Vegetarian Columnist
Saturday, December 17th, 2005

** and 1/2 (of four stars)

I think it’s commonly asserted that if you want the freshest Chinese noodles in Vancouver you should visit Sha Lin on West Broadway. There’s a very good reason for that – they are literally made from scratch, right in front of your eyes: the kitchen is walled with glass windows so you can watch the staff at work! Whether you’re in the mood for pulling noodles, pushing noodles, cutting noodles, or dragging noodles you can find dozens, if not hundreds of combinations of noodles, meats, vegetables, and tofu on the menu, along with innumerable sauces, soups, and broths.

We visited Sha Lin on a Wednesday evening at about 7 pm, and the small dining room was completely full with several people waiting at the door. In fact, during our meal there was not one point at which the lineup disappeared. Fortunately we were seated quickly, being a party of two, but larger parties should be prepared to wait as there is only one table larger than four settings in the entire restaurant, and only about 12 tables altogether. To be fair, the staff have no qualms about moving tables around to create the necessary combinations and sizes to accommodate your party size.

Upon entering Sha Lin one could easily become dismayed at the seeming lack of charm and finesse: the windows are permanently steamed up, the floor is bare tile, and the sole decorations are three large posters on the wall showing photos of menu items. The cleanliness is enough to please the Health Inspector I imagine, but probably does not extend much further, and the restrooms are utilitarian at best. I should stress as strongly as I can that one should visit Sha Lin knowing what to expect. This is not a fine-dining restaurant (for example, the menu lists the available beers as “Beer.”), it is an efficient, moderately comfortable production facility for delicious Chinese food!

Being somewhat deliriously starved we ordered what, in retrospect, was a lot of food. Although the multi-page menu can be rather intimidating, there are many options suitable for vegetarians and even vegans (assuming you ask very clearly about ingredients). We opted for an order of boiled vegetable dumplings (12 for only $6!), which are apparently actually fried not boiled, as our waitress mentioned (editorial note: the pan-fried dumplings are not available at lunch). My wife was longing for noodles so she settled on the fried dragging noodles with tofu and vegetables ($8), which included broccoli, bean sprouts, and green onion. After a quick inquiry I decided the House Special Tofu (spicy) ($8) sounded delicious (with bok choy and shitake mushrooms), plus I requested an order of vegetable spring rolls (2 rolls/$3). In addition, I got a small bowl of streamed rice for a dollar (a large bowl costs $3).

In no time at all my tofu and rice appeared; I must say I was quite impressed by the speed of service given how busy it was. The spring rolls and noodles followed shortly thereafter, but the dumplings took some time more, until we were halfway through our entrees: we’d planned on eating them as appetizers! I can’t fault the staff however, as we didn’t anticipate they needed to be handmade to order. As for the food – delicious! The noodles were fresh and the broccoli crisp, plus the subtle ginger sauce showcased the ingredients instead of overwhelming them. All the tofu was exquisite, crisp on the outside courtesy no doubt of a powerful deep fryer; let’s not inquire as to the fat content shall we? Yes, the food was oily, but that is to be expected in this type of cuisine. My House Tofu was pleasantly spicy thanks to red pepper flakes, and the shitake mushrooms and bok choy were not overdone – which can be easy to do. The spring rolls were good as well, and used actual vegetables, unlike some I’ve had which rely on noodles as filler.

The dumplings…what can I say? They were not what we expected, being much larger for one, and served in a very unique style. All twelve dumplings were fried together in a pan, and the fused mass flipped onto a plate dripping with oil. Unfortunately the “fried” taste was rather apparent in each bite and we had to stop after two apiece, in part due simply to the quantity. I would suggest that the dumplings could have used a bit more vegetables, or at least more identifiable pieces of them. Personally, I probably wouldn’t order them again, but if dumplings appeal to you make sure you know what you are ordering, and bring plenty of guests!

Fortunately, the staff at Sha Lin are more than happy to wrap anything and everything up to go – in fact we witnessed a steady stream of takeout-only customers coming and going. Our leftover noodles, tofu, and dumplings were enough to provide another full meal for the two of us the next day, not bad for a total price of $36 including a generous tip! For those reasonable prices, plus the lengthy menu, one could easily visit Sha Lin every week, and order something new every time for at least a year! In summary, Sha Lin does what it does very well, and if you go knowing what to expect you’ll be very satisfied and will come back again and again: there is efficient service, a great menu, reasonable prices, and best of all, excellent food. I hope to see you there!

(photographs by Michael Chin & Russell Ball, © 2005)

Other photos:
Fried dragging noodles with tofu and vegetables
Scallion pancakes

Russell Ball is a hard-working employee of the Ministry of Children and Family Development. He is an accomplished amateur vegan chef, but still tries to leave his kitchen for outside cooking once in a while.