The Times
Chitra Ramaswamy headed to a remote stretch of arterial road next to a bus depot between Leith and Portobello, where a young chef owner called Sally hand-pulls a style of noodles invented in Lanzhou, northwestern China in 1915, and serves them in a beef-bone broth flavoured with a secret blend of herbs passed on by her father, who has a restaurant in Lanzhou.
“The bone broth is silky, translucent, deeply savoury yet fresh and light”, while “the biang biang noodles are beltlike, chewy and aggressively hot.”
The canteen is “as no frills as fast food gets” and “a small miracle” – Chitra loved it so much she keeps returning for Lanzhou lamian (beef noodle soup) and sweet, slightly smoky Lanzhou tea “unlike any other I’ve encountered”, containing dried roses, yellow crystal rock sugar, goji berries and jujube.
Chitra Ramaswamy - 2026-07-26
