I’M not someone who typically enjoys fine dining, especially when I go abroad.
My rule for eating out while travelling is simple – find wherever’s cheapest and most popular among the locals, and have whatever they’re having.
It’s a measure that hasn’t steered me far wrong whenever I’ve been somewhere unfamiliar and has even led to me discovering some of my most memorable eating experiences.
However, on a recent fleeting visit to Shanghai, it was the Michelin Guide I was following rather than the Chinese people and it led me to a dish that was not only one of the best I’ve ever eaten, it also cost me less than £1.50.
Having lived in China for four years before, I consider myself to be something of a noodle pro.
During that time I travelled from city to city and tried as many of the country’s different noodle dishes as I could, while also learning how to make them by hand from a pair of Chinese grandmas.
And the noodles in Wei Xiang Zhai (味香斋) are definitely among the best I’ve had anywhere in the world, let alone the rest of China.
The family-run restaurant has been popular for more than 80 years in the city’s Huangpu district and draws people from all over the globe, keen to slurp down the simple yet succulent food on offer.
I considered myself extremely fortunate to be among them, as I took a seat at one of their tables on a quiet Sunday evening.
In my rusty Mandarin I ordered a bowl of their signature dish, sesame sauce noodles – a simple meal of chewy hand-pulled noodles, buried within a pool of rich and silky sesame sauce.
From the first bite, it was easy to see why they’re so popular.
For such a simple combination of little more than tahini, peanut butter, soy and vinegar, the sauce was thick and velvety and so very moreish.
Fortunately, the dish provided something other Michelin guide establishments often fail to – a big enough portion to satisfy an appetite.
For the princely sum of £1.40, I was given a huge bowlful of the elegant, nutty strands, enough to leave me suitably stuffed, with plenty of change leftover in my wallet.
Given it’s such a celebrated restaurant, Wei Xiang Zhai remains a very humble establishment, housed in a small unassuming building between a supermarket and a run-down dumpling place.
There ought to be queues out the door, yet there were plenty of available seats when I arrived for my visit.
It could easily be missed with a blink, as could its sister branch in the Baoshan district, which is just plonked unceremoniously on a corner next to a primary school.
It deserves a great deal more fanfare than it gives itself, with so many locals completely unaware of how much of a special place they have right on their doorstep, despite it being added to the Michelin guide in 2021.
The only mention of this accolade is a small plaque on the wall that could easily be ignored.
In trying to find the restaurant, I asked friends in the city and locals where it was, all of whom had no idea what I was talking about.
While I initially took great joy in feeling like I was some kind of well-informed connoisseur, in on a wonderful secret, I ultimately was disheartened by the fact that so many people, especially those closest by, will walk past the restaurant every day not knowing just how good it is.
For now, I’m glad to have been among the hordes of food tourists who have travelled from far and wide to try the noodles.
But I hope that in time the restaurant will get both the support it truly deserves because it was by some distance the best £1.40 I’ve ever spent.
Meanwhile, this noodle restaurant in London is like actually visiting Tokyo.
And these hidden gem restaurants can be found in London’s tourist traps.
