Hand Pulled and Hearty

The Pitch

There are noodle shops and then there are hand-pulled noodle shops.  If you are not familiar with the latter, I urge you to drop everything you are doing right now and head over to Nouilles de Lan Zhou in Chinatown to witness this Northern Chinese technique.  It is a sight to behold!

At Lan Zhou, the leader in this category in Montreal, one can watch from a streetside window the mesmerizing process by which the dough is repeatedly twisted, stretched and folded into strands until the desired thickness of noodle is reached.

Due to this latter's popularity, I never tried another restaurant serving this specialty, nor do I know if anyone else does it.  However, recently I was made aware of Les Pâtes Vivantes, a downtown pandemic-era slinger of this delicacy.

The Mood

Occupying a Union Avenue storefront since mid-2020, Les Pâtes Vivantes is Canada's first offshoot of a French operation, with two locations in Paris and one in Lyon.  The space makes heavy use of red on its walls and features Chinese lanterns and other decorations as highlights.

There is a vitrine into the kitchen which exposes the noodle-making process.  The midday crowd was evenly split among an Asian clientele and a lunch-break office contingent.

The Food

With an attention to freshly-made noodles using high-quality flour, Les Pâtes Vivantes delivers on promise.  Granted the menu does include other options using rice and the wok, but why would anyone forego the specialty here?  The noodles are pleasantly springy and chewy, and come either oil spilled, stir fried or in a soup.

A heap of noodles with braised beef was tasty but some of the meat cubes were dry inside.  A bowl of "beef in the sky" – don't ask – soup was hearty and filling, but both dishes were unfortunately not spicy as advertised.

$12.90

$12.90

Oil Spill Noodles with Stewed Beef

$14

$14

Beef "in the sky" Noodle Soup

The Service

With what appeared to be only one waitress for the floor and one cook in the kitchen for the lunch shift, I was initially concerned with slow service.  Not to fret however; our order was quickly taken and food served soon after.  The in-and-out office crowd must approve!

The Verdict

Asides the lack of heat despite what the menu said, lunch at Les Pâtes Vivantes was speedy and hit the spot.  I would gladly recommend it as a quick-fix lunch during the work week.

Its situation on a less-trodden stretch of downtown and lack of a window into the kitchen from the street make it less likely to gather the same following and fandom as Nouilles de Lan Zhou – not to mention the food at the latter is superior.

Still, I look forward to coming back and trying a larger sampling of the menu.

tagged:  DESERVES A RETRY