Yip

Perth’s single practitioner of bamboo pole noodles returns with new digs in East Vic Park. 

It’s midday, and Erich Wong is stationed behind glass at Yip, bouncing up and down on a bamboo pole. With each spring, the pole kneads floured dough until it’s springy and elastic. After being hand cut, the result is southern Chinese-style zhu sheng mian, or bamboo pole noodles, waiting to be boiled and tossed into bowls for a handsome dining room of 60. Enthusiasts will recognise the technique from Wong’s earlier venture, Noodle Forum, and will be thrilled to hear that he’s back in action at Yip. Judging by the queue, they already know. They’re here to build a meal around a bowl of either thin or flat egg noodles, dry or in soup. Pick dry with a light sauce and it’s soy and pork fat that coat the strands, then go for meats to match, including dark, glistening pork belly char siu with craggy edges, sesame-fried chicken or collagen-rich braised pork belly and trotters. Extras include crab claws, and a creamy Malaysian curry laksa with punch. And if the chee cheong fun is a little one-note, know that the handmade dumplings are some of the best around. Still, when no one else in Perth is crafting noodles like this, if you’re not going double, you’re missing out.