Dancing Noodleier

Don’t let this title lead you anywhere because my guess is that the your guess would be completely off as to what your about to read. The 27th of March brought with it besides a week of exams a desire to get off of campus and out into the real world for dinner. So out the door and onto the street my merry treo went at 7:00pm hoping to beat the rush (by going late and yes 7 is late in China). A quick taxi ride downtown to follow a recommendation given by speaking professor delivered us to Hai Di Lao restaurant.

The front was intimidating, blazon in fiery red and shimmer gold paint and neon signs. The building dominated its surroundings even though it stood only a few stories high. Its glowing signs and the commotion of guest lead to the conclusion that it must be worth the drive down. This conclusion came about because it was now 7:45 a time when most Chinese seem to be long done with dinner. A jot up the small flight of stairs delivered us to the dinner and fun.

Once inside we were greeted by an attendant that offered us a grey liquid that I would most likely classify as soybean tea. Then even before sitting down in the packed waiting room we were whisked away. Yes! We thought, westerners get special priority or seating whatever it was we were going to eat soon. Our collective hopes were dashed and as we were deposited deep within the belly of the restaurant to sit at small plastic chairs. A quick glance around the room revealed that some fortunate souls were sitting at tables and enjoying real food but scattered within the alleys between tables were those of us condemned to the purgatory of only seeing and smelling of good food. A row of us forsaken souls huddled together drink our grey liquid and glancing towards the doorway leading into the room, hoping, hoping for our moment of liberation.

Then it came! They pointed at me! I was sure of it. A quick finger gesture at myself and a nod confirmed it. Yes! Dinner! We walked back out of the maze that took us deep inside the restaurant towards the front and a table being cleaned by the fastest bus service I’ve ever witnessed. As for dinner it was the traditional Chinese Hot Pot with Beef, Spinach, Lamb, Lotus, and Cabbage boiled on the table in either spicy or bland water. We finished dinner with the local brew (Yangjing and Qingdao) and then waited for the magic to begin.

See the true reason for coming to this restaurant was to see the dancing noodle man as my teacher called them. When your done with the main course a bus boy/noodleier (I made it up) comes out and twirls a 12 inch piece of dough. Taking that 12 inches he turns into a about a four foot circle that he proceeds to dance and twirl with. To say the least the event is quite enjoyable and the noodleier takes great fun at trying to throw the noodle in the guest direction causing them to flinch. If you want a mental picture imagine the gymnasts that do twirling with streamers in the Olympics only now they twirl and dance a roll of dough in-between tables and guests. After two rounds of noodles and $25.00 spent (Total cost for dinner, drinks, etc) we returned home. It was only 9:30, an early night by any standard but I swear we needed our rest for tomorrow we rode to Tianjian on a train doing 350kph (217mph).