Umami Goes Vegas (2010): Day 3: Noodles

The Great-Las-Vegas-2010-Noodle-Search continued on Day 3, as Umama called Umami's sister, Dr. Sher, for restaurant recommendations in Las Vegas and Noodles came up.  Not the dish, the restaurant in the Bellagio, and, specifically, their roast duck noodle.  Dr. Sher is a huge fan!  Umami thought it was basically going to be expensive saimin (Noodles is in the Bellagio, after all), but we happened to be in Bellagio and if Umama wants to try it . . . !

So, we go to Noodles, and Umama engages the waitress in a discussion about whether the "Roast Duck Noodle" is, in fact,  arp tui mein.  Now, arp tui mein, to a Hawaii diner, is essentially Chinese noodle soup with a duck hindquarter that's been more stewed rather than roasted.  The soup picks up some of the flavor of the duck, and the meat gets to be falling-off-the-bone tender.  It's a different preparation from just placing some roast duck in noodle soup.   Umami likes the version at Ken Fong's in Honolulu Chinatown (will now have to go there for lunch just to get a pic . . . Umami's a dedicated journalist that way).

But now Umama is asking the waitress specifically for the arp tui mein and the waitress is nodding yes and patting her thigh, indicating that the dish includes a duck leg.  Umama is reassured, the waitress is from China, after all.  Still, China-Chinese food is different from Hong Kong-Chinese food which in turn is a little different from Hawaii-Chinese food, and there were almost certainly shades of meaning and dialect between Umama and our waitress, so Umami tried to tell Umama not to get her hopes up.  And this is what we got:

This is not an arp tui mein.  Rather, this is a very nice roast duck noodle!  It appears the waitress interpreted Umama as wanting the duck leg pieces of the roast duck.  It's also a rather petite bowl of duck noodle (pic on the right gives you a little better sense of scale), but the serving of duck was generous enough and there's actually a good amount of noodles in the bowl.  The soup was very good, more . . . nuanced than, say, Aloha Specialties saimin.  

Here's the thing, though.  This is a $14 bowl of duck noodle.  Times two, with a large beer, plus tax, gave a total tab of around $45.  Now, nothing against the food which is good, but it's not so good that Umami views this as the best way to spend $45, when a little more gets him into Joe's for some stone crab claws and hashbrowns . . . !

So, Umami can't say that it's a "must try," but if you want a good roast duck noodle, Noodles is a great choice.

Noodles
Bellagio
3600 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 693-7223
bellagio.com/restaurants/noodles.aspx