What’s better than regular Chinese beef noodles? Hand-torn Chinese beef noodles. Today, I went to Arcadia (just east of Pasadena) with Angelina and Gabriela to eat some authentic Chinese food. We decided to go to 101 Noodle Express because it’s close to Westfield Santa Anita Mall and it has hype reviews in Yelp.

The restaurant specializes in xiaolongbao, beef rolls, dumplings, and beef noodles. Their veggie dumplings are delicious for all the vegetarians out there. We wanted to have some xiaolongbao but they were out, so we got crispy pan fried dumplings instead (thicker skinned than gyozas). We also ordered beef brisket and beef tendon noodles. The beef was super tender and well seasoned with Chinese five spice. The noodles were also nicely al-dente.

Top to bottom: beef brisket noodles (hand-torn), beef tendon noodles (regular), pan fried dumplings.

We walked in the >100F heat to the mall after. We were fanatics of stationary, so we checked out Daiso, a Japanese chain where everything is $1.50 (wayyy better quality than Dollarama) and MUJI. We saw their new food hall that had Instagram hotspots like Matcha Matcha, Side Chick, and Uncle Tetsu’s Cheesecake. We were too full to eat anymore, but we will be back.

We are planning Thai or Vietnamese food for lunch next weekend, but I am also open to your recommendations!