Noodle specialist chef Ken Sun of Sun’s Kitchen demonstrates the fine art of “la mian” (hand-pulled) noodles along with musical accompaniment.There is a five-minute drumming demo at the beginning, as well as more drumming in the middle and at the end.
“La mian” means “handmade” or “hand-pulled noodles.” These noodles originated from the northwestern part of China. Over the centuries, the art of handmade noodles has reached the vast corners of China and has consequently become a part of many regional Chinese cuisines. As a result, different types of handmade noodles have evolved adapting to regional flavours and ingredients.
Lanzhou-style la mian is the most common type of noodles throughout China, especially in north-western China. Many of the small Lanzhou-style la mian restaurants are owned by Hui Muslim Chinese and serve only halal food. Lamian restaurants are the most common halal restaurants in eastern China.
Lamian restaurants often sell Daoxiaomian knife-sliced noodles as well. You can also find Daoxiaomian making demonstration in this video.
You must have noticed the Japanese taiko drumming accompaniment in this video. What does taiko have to be do with La mian? I guess that’s because Japanese love La mian which they call ramen. “La mian” in Chinese and “Ramen” in Japanese are the same in written form, although are pronounced slightly different.