I-Kyu Noodles

Last night was the first episode in the new Jamie Oliver show: Jaime's American Road Trip.  This series follows Jamie as he travels across the US visiting all sorts of foody spots and really delving into American cuisine, and not just hot dogs and burgers.  This first episode started in New York where he visited underground 'anti-restaurants', an Egyptian area and a Chinese area that wasn't your average visit to Chinatown in Manhattan.  The restaurant he chose to visit was run by a family new arrived from the Szechuan region of China.  Here Jamie watched the family hand-pull their own noodles, create their own dumplings and prepare their signature dish Dan Dan Mien. Dan Dan mien is a noodle dish of spicy ground pork, with spring onion and coriander, the key ingredient being the incredibly spicy szechuan peppercorn which has a numbing effect on the mouth.  Wil and I were drooling over the TV even though we had recently feasted on a bowl full of spicy red prawn curry, not to mention dessert.  I vowed to research this dish and prepare it in the not too distant future. 

Today we went on a little bit of an adventure only to return closer to home in search of a good meal. Wil (of course) was feeling like some sushi so we decided to head towards Kaz Sushi which we knew had good lunch time specials. Unfortunately we had missed the lunch boat and so we kept wandering.  Heading then in the direction of Shizen we decided to head up Fisgard and around the corner, but as we paused at the traffic lights I spied a little something that had long been on my to try list.

I-Kyu had been recommended to me on my first day here, on my first visit to Plenty on Fort Street. It was here that I had been recommended to visit Daidoco and that was an excellent piece of advice so I was definitely keen to follow suggestions for noodles.  When we stood waiting for the little man to light up and begin walking the open light at I-Kyu caught my eye. I gestured to Wil and he followed as I walked off most determinedly towards the noodles. It looked good, it looked cheap and it had Dan Dan Mien on the menu. We were inside with mugs of green tea in our hands before we could think twice. 

Luckily for us Dan Dan Mien happened to be the special of the day, served with a small entree bowl of wonton soup. We both chose this, accompanied by some spring rolls which were fresh and hot and served with a nice, sharp dipping sauce. I managed to decline the dumpling this time (I have a weakness, more on this later) and shortly thereafter our wontons arrived. The broth was full-flavoured and meaty though clear and with tiny pieces of green onion. The wontons themselves were silken and disappeared in seconds. I personally would have liked a little more spice, but that is probably a hangover from my dumpling addiction.

Before long the main course arrived and both our bowls of noodles steamed. Just as the chef on Jamie's show had showed him, we took our chopsticks and destroyed the artfulness of the presentation, mixing all the ingredients together. And then we dug in. Wil made his usual noises. I echoed these. We barely spoke to each other as we delighted in our lunch. The szechuan peppercorns were subtle with just a hint of spice that left a nice tingle on the tongue - next time I'll add extra chili, I saw some being cleared from a recently-vacated table. The pork was fragrant and the noodles oh so fresh. I was in love.  I think Wil was too, he said he'd come back again, and again, and again, and again.  I'm still keen to look up the recipe and try my own version but I'm pretty sure we'll be back to I-Kyu.  Next time I want to try the hot n sour prawn soup or the Shanghai noodles. But not before the dumplings.

* I-Kyu also sell their handmade noodles, wontons, spring rolls and dumplings for you take home for later. I think we'll be hitting up some these sooner than later