One Noodle Friendship

One Noodle Friendship is a small Chinese restaurant tucked inside an arcade between the Preston Market and High Street. Owner Bill Feng opened it in 2011 and it quickly became a local favourite. Feng wanted to open a place where you can make fleeting yet meaningful “one-face friendships” with the staff and other patrons over a hot bowl of noodles.

The generous and easily shareable portions certainly help with that. Affordable noodles and dumplings are made fresh daily. The most expensive item on the menu is just shy of $19, but most dishes sit around the $15 mark.

You can’t go wrong with the classic Lanzhou-style beef noodle soup: soft, melty bites of beef on top of springy wheat noodles swimming in a dark and aromatic broth. Vegetarians can grab the tofu or spinach noodle soups or an order of the bright green vegetarian dumplings, which come filled with tofu, spring onion, and noodles. If you like a kick of spice, the chilli oil dumplings are must.

There are only soft drinks here – no booze and no BYO. Luckily, you’re not too far away from High Street’s bars. If you can’t quite nab a table (it’s a small spot) or you just want to keep the dumpling party going, make sure to grab a bag of 25 or 50 frozen dumplings on your way out.