The hands that pull the noodles

There’s a new noodle house in town where you don’t only get to savor its specialties but also get a closer look on how the noodles are actually made. Located along Iloilo City’s premiere heritage showcase - JM Basa Street, the Tarzan Magic La Mien Noodle House highlights the Chinese influences in Ilonggo food and food ways.

It opened just a few weeks ago and diners, mostly of Chinese descent, have been coming back to this restaurant because of the allure of the freshly made, hand pulled noodles that is said to be flavourful but also of the gastronomic exhibition of pulls, twirls and stretches diners see and enjoy.

FRESHLY MADE

They only make the noodles when a customer places an order and that accounts for the freshness in taste. The kitchen is visible through a glass window and it was quite a sight to see the noodle guy doing his gastronomic stunts in full view of the hungry customers.

The noodle maker pulls out a plain looking dough and on a floury surface, he starts rolling it into a manageable length. He then starts twisting the long strip of dough like a gourmet acrobat. After a while, he stretches it as long as he can be then “doused” again with flour. The pulling, twisting and stretching continues until the once-long strip of dough becomes all stringy like noodles! These noodles are then cut to the desired length then dipped into boiling water get rid of the flour at the same time cooking it a bit.

All these happen within two minutes and I thought they would need to put it through a contraption to get them all to separate. It turns out somewhere between the pulling and twirling, he magically to turn a lump of dough into beautiful, fine noodles!

NOODLES AND DUMPLINGS

Another kitchen staff then assembles the order by placing noodles, sprouts, chives and meat in a bowl then fills it with broth. It was almost like having a bowl of Lapaz batchoy if not for the bean sprouts and a spiced flavourful broth.

The freshly made hand-pulled noodles are full to the bite and they’re not too salty nor does one get dizzy after a bowlful. Though it’s just a regular noodle but its freshness gave it character that complements the meat and vegetables in the bowl. Good thing the soup is savory good that unknowingly; it almost disappeared revealing the noodles. And you can ask for extra bowl of broth too!

I also had a side order of dumplings made with ground pork and kusay as the main filling ingredients. Kusay is an aromatic spice usually used in making pancit Molo filling. And even the dumplings have freshly made wraps which I also chanced to see.

It had balls of dough being flattened in the floury table then immediately filled and shaped. They had to make the dumplings in batches since the steaming process takes a bit longer.

But it comes out delicious too, as steaming hot dumplings made its way to my table. Even without dipping it in the chili sauce or the toyo-sili concoction, the savoury filling complemented the fresh taste and nice texture of the dumpling wraps.

ME TARZAN, YOU MENU

As it turns out, the owner of the noodle house is actually (nick)named Tarzan as I casually talked with the servers. And that’s the only information I can “pull” out of them. Their complete menu is still in the works but as of now noodle soups (beef and halo-halo), dumplings and pancit dishes make up their array of items. They also have this turo-turo area where cooked dishes are displayed for the customer.

Whether in any pancit dish or noodle soup, I always look for and try the noodles first. If it’s good, I’d gorged on the noodles more than the “sahog” but if it’s not then it stays on my plate. And it was a noodle feast at Tarzan Magic La Mien Noodle House – I just love the taste of its fresh noodles! I guess there’s the Chinese belief that noodles give long life as it is served there as long as it can be. Not to mention made fresh, right before you eyes!

The Tarzan Magic La Mien Noodle House is located along JM Basa Street, a few steps from the corner of Arsenal Street. It opens daily around 9am and offers free delivery through (033) 336-3592

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