Don’t forget to rub the elephant's head for good luck on your next visit! Green jade is a symbol of good luck, wealth, and good fortune. Welcoming you into the foyer is a large jade elephant. Walk up the hallway to the foyer and you'll notice the hallway is lined with wooden kirins, a mystical Chinese creature that wards off evil spirits. We designed our building exterior, including the brick walls, red stilts, and our green roof top with all this in mind!Īs you enter the building, you're welcomed by a grand fountain that was put in place based on the ancient Chinese practice of Feng Shui, in an effort to evoke good fortune. In Chinese tradition, red symbolizes good luck, while green symbolizes health and prosperity. The little details that surround, will give you a glimpse into traditional Chinese architecture. Special Noodle – Daily 11am-10pm Fri & Sat 11am-11pm.Ĥ15 Ocean St., SC specialnoodle-santacruz.You may not know it, but everything about the architecture and décor of Ding How was put in place by a Chinese architect for the purpose of good luck, good fortune, and good wealth. Special Noodle has filled that long vacant gap. It’s been so long since we had a notable Chinese dinner house. The adjoining larger dining room has already hosted birthdays, anniversaries and big graduation parties. The abundant staff here is eager to please. Ranging from dim sum pastries to a long list of stir-fry, stone pot, claypot and chow mein, the menu spans Cantonese greatest hits as well as many regional specialties. Light and tender, these hand-made dumplings are what Special Noodle is all about. The steamed dumplings were the case in point, coming alive with even deeper dynamics once they’d been dressed to our taste. Splash rice vinegar and soy on plain white rice and enjoy the transformation. The red chili oil can take you into incendiary territory with the flick of a wrist. You’re able to customize every dish to your own taste. The added beauty of the entire dining experience here, as in all top Chinese restaurants, is the line-up of condiments. Tender, yet full of brilliantly balanced flavors, it lent itself to whatever we chose to add: shake on some chili oil, drizzle with dark rice vinegar, hit it with a splash of soy sauce. And I wouldn’t share!Ī steaming basket of pork and cabbage dumplings ($10.99), made with a feather-light touch, showed off the handiwork of this kitchen. The wontons were gossamer as lingerie, filled with vibrant flavors. Each spoonful-which we added to our bowls along with the outstanding white rice ($2)-was succulent, moist, addictive. Piled high with pliant baby bok choy, garlic and a dusting of minced peanuts and fresh scallions over the silken wontons. ![]() The generous portion arrived swiftly in a deep red bowl. We cut through the sweetness with soy and chili sauce, and voila! Fun food for adults.Īnother day at lunch we inhaled a bowl of enchanting, complex red oil pork wontons, tumescent as a baby’s thigh, and loaded with that undeniably bold fragrance of red oil ($13.99). Love love love them and these were unbeatable ($14.99).įamilies will like the house sweet & sour pork ($18.99), lightly batter-fried and slathered in a rich red piquant sauce, along with onions and green peppers. A platter of vegetable chow fun blew me away with wide bands of all-star chow fun noodles slathered in a light garlicky glaze and tossed with tiny florets of fresh broccoli, crunchy bean sprouts and long ribbons of sweet onion. We added chili oil, soy and rice vinegar to these gorgeous dumplings filled with spiced shrimp ($18.50), another specialty showcasing the restaurant’s housemade pastries. Another order of circular soup dumplings, paper thin and tender as butter, arrived each one twisted up into a pointed top. The sweetness of the yellow bean paste played counterpoint to the powerful beauty of minced ginger, garlic, rice wine and dark soy, all of which saturated the tiny bits of minced pork, and by swirling, added punch to the matchstick carrots and cucumbers. ![]() An undertone of sesame oil grounded the layered flavors of this house specialty-I recommend it to anyone who loves Chinese cuisine. ![]() The bowl of succulent noodles arrived, bordered with cucumber and carrots and a mound of intensely spiced minced pork, all of which was to be swirled into the tender, house made noodles. By the time the music had switched to early Miami Vice classics, our order of Old Peking Minced Pork Dumplings ($14.99) arrived, along with two very cold Tsingtao beers ($6.50). The country and western soundtrack and the inviting red booths made our first visit to Special Noodle as memorable as an authentic diner in a David Lynch film.
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