Chang-an Toushoumen, Nishi Shimbashi 長安刀削麺 西新橋

Chang-An (modern day Xian) was one of the capitals of ancient China, and "Toushoumen" is a special type of noodle, literally translatable as "sword noodle". If you look in the kitchen of this unpretentious Chinese diner you'll see a chef holding a block of dough sloughing off noodles one by one with a special tool, sending them flying in the air into a pot of boiling water. I really enjoyed this unexpected bit of theatre as I watched the chef prepare my Tantanmen (a northern Chinese sesame and pork noodle soup). The homemade noodles were chewy and quite delicious. The broth did not have as much sesame as is often seen in Tantanmen in Tokyo but was pleasantly rich and spicy, topped with fresh corriander. The Tantanmen was served with three meaty shorompo (soup dumplings). All this was only 980 yen. The soup pictured is my dining partner's Charsiumen which by all reports was not too fatty and pretty good. During the week this place gets really crowded but it's better on the weekend, so I'd advise you to go there on a Saturday or a Sunday.

http://r.gnavi.co.jp/a477200/
Tel: 03-3502-6881