Kung Fu Noodle brings the famous hand-pulled noodles of Lanzhou, China, to Columbus

Bob Vitale, Columbus Dispatch

Updated July 12, 2024 at 8:35 PM·3 min read

The rope of dough in chef Wei Dong's hands is folded in two. With a shake and a stretch and another fold, two becomes four. Shake, stretch, fold, twist: eight. With each stretch, each shake up and down, each fold and each twist, the strands of dough become thinner and more plentiful. Eight becomes 16. Sixteen becomes 32. Thirty-two becomes 64.

And in a few more seconds than it took you to read these paragraphs, there are enough strands for a bowl of beef-noodle soup, dandan noodles, tomato-egg noodles or any of a dozen other noodle dishes on the menu at Kung Fu Noodle.

The restaurant, which specializes in the food of Lanzhou, a city in northwestern China, started in the Dayton suburb of Kettering five years ago and expanded to Columbus in late May.

Kung Fu Noodle is a new restaurant in Columbus that specializes in hand-pulled traditional noodles. Chef Wei Dong demonstrates how to make the noodles in the kitchen. He has been hand-pulling noodles for over a decade.

"I love cooking. I always loved to invite friends over to have a little food," said Dennis Zhang, who was a civil engineer with a Dayton auto-glass company when he decided to enter the restaurant business. "They all really loved it."

Central Ohio restaurant news: Saying goodbye to some old favorites

Kung Fu Noodle has built a loyal following in Dayton and was one of three Ohio restaurants — along with Express Deli in Brook Park, southwest of Cleveland, and Livery in Montgomery, northeast of Cincinnati — named to Yelp's annual 100 Best Places to Eat list in January.

Hand-pulled noodles are what Lanzhou is known for. It's in an area of China that's generally too dry and too cold to grow rice, so wheat is a bigger crop and noodles take a bigger role in its cuisine.

Lanzhou also is located along ancient trading routes, which explains spices such as cumin that season skewers of tofu and lamb. Zhang said the food of his hometown uses salt over soy sauce.

Its most famous dish, Lanzhou beef-noodle soup, will remind you slightly of Vietnamese pho with its braised beef slices, cilantro and dark broth with a hint of cinnamon.

Dandan noodles and wonton in a Sichuan peppercorn sauce are among the spiciest dishes on the Kung Fu Noodle menu. More typical are mild, comforting dishes such as tomato-egg noodles (it's a popular breakfast dish in Lanzhou) and "Bite of China" pork-noodle soup, which includes tofu, ground pork, carrots and potatoes.

Chef Wei makes noodles of various sizes to order, Zhang said, so the pulling, stretching and twisting process is repeated for about 150 bowls a day. Oil helps keep each strand separated, and each serving goes from the chef's hands straight into a pot of boiling water.

Will there be a table open?: Columbus restaurants fight the perception among diners that it's hard to get reservations

The fresh, chewy noodles come at a premium. While they're the automatic addition to dishes such as the Lanzhou beef-noodle and braised beef-noodle soups, stir-fry upgrades from lo mein to hand-pulled noodles cost an extra $3. (They're still a bargain at $13.95, though.)

Noodles make the dishes at Kung Fu Noodle look and taste familiar, but Zhang said he and his wife weren't sure at first whether their entire menu would go over well with American diners more accustomed to Cantonese and other more common styles of Chinese food.

Appetizers such as cold and spicy pork ears, beef-tripe skewers and barbecued chicken gizzards might remain out of bounds for many, but he said he has seen customers expanding their Chinese-cuisine comfort zones.

It seems dough isn't the only thing being stretched at Kung Fu Noodle.

Braised beef-noodle soup served at Kung Fu Noodle.

"Customers used to call to order General Tso's chicken or orange chicken. 'Do you serve egg rolls? Crab rangoons? What kind of Chinese restaurant are you?'," Zhang said.

"They will start with dandan noodles, and then they'll start exploring."