Beijing Restaurant Review: Long Xiao Bao
If we had to make, say, a top-ten list of the Worst Ever Noodle Broths to Get In Your Eye, Hunanese spicy-sour would be number one. It stings, dude. It’s hot. It’s acidic. Societal norms advise against wearing protective goggles to a noodle restaurant. Fuck societal norms.
Hunanese noodle broth stings the tongue as well. But when we slurp it – rather than unwittingly flinging it into our corneas – the sting is a different sensation entirely. This sting, we imagine, is why long lines of customers trail outside Long Xiao Bao’s Sanlitun SOHO doors every lunchtime.
We’ve had many, varied noodle soups in Beijing. And still, Long Xiao Bao adds something new to the pot. Even in this noodle-slinging capital, Hunanese joints are sparse. Which is why what follows is a requisite explanation of the cuisine of Hunan province.
In two words: spicy and sour. But in more: Hunan is the home of fiery fare, and we don’t mean the sort of slow-building, long-game numbing variety of Sichuan. Hunanese is immediate, spicy lightning. It is a pile of dried chili peppers, topped with pickled chili peppers for good measure. It is the macho cuisine of Hunan’s most famous resident, Chairman Mao. It is not for the faint of heart. Do not get the broth in your eye.
A proper Changsha banquet would leave you in delirious pain. But Long Xiao Bao takes China’s most aggressive gastronomic tradition and fits it into aesthetically pleasing wooden bowls, pairing its broth with mild, rubbery rice noodles. Visitors to the shop can select dry or soup noodles (RMB19-39), and then choose additional toppings. We love the soft egg dumpling (an additional RMB5) atop ours. And we strongly recommend adding extra scallions, which serve as delightful oases of cooling flavor.
Long Xiao Bao’s aesthetics go a long (xiao bao?) way towards making an aggressive cuisine seem calming and gentle. The restaurant design is genuinely inspired. Thin iron bars crisscross the wood-paneled space, as if we’re eating in a hip, stylish jail. The music overhead is accordion-laced coffee-shop European bubblegum, which is exactly what our mind’s ear hears when we think of Hunan and its fiery chilies. (It’s not.)
Long Xiao Bao is a lovely stew of heat and calm in the middle of the 95-percent worthless Sanlitun SOHO.
Just don’t get the broth in your eye.
For more bar and restaurant news, click "Read more" below.