Ming Wa Noodle

Ming Wa Noodle Restaurant Review:

Ming Lu Liu, who put the Ming in Ming Wa, has presided over this bare bones Chinese restaurant in Alhambra's World Plaza for more than 25 years. A glass storefront contains mirrored walls, wood tables, fluorescent lighting and not much else. She directs more attention towards the food, including house-made noodles and dumplings. Pork pan-fried dumplings tout thin skins, with juicy leek and scallion-flecked cores. Ming Wa elevates basic chicken and vegetable chow mein with thick, fresh noodles. Pungent pickled mustard greens known as pot herb accentuate pork fried rice or shredded yellow fish soup. Hot-and-sour soup is also especially good at Ming Wa, with tofu, wood ear mushrooms, scallions, egg strands and pork providing welcome contrast. Vegetables are a strength at this down-home restaurant, whether it’s a thick-skinned gourd called si qua, which is sautéed with dried shrimp, or blistered string beans with soy and dried shrimp.