When I told her I was going for Wuhan noodles, my mother casually pointed out that Wuhan is the city where the coronavirus outbreak began. She didn’t outright discourage me from going, but I could tell from the tone of her voice that she thought that I would be taking a risk, even though the odds of catching it in North America are low and we should be more worried about the flu instead.

Chinese businesses across the GTA have been reporting slumps in business due to unfound fears of catching the coronavirus. Social media and certain news outlets haven’t helped, spreading misinformation and resurfacing old racist tropes that when it comes to food, Chinese people are dirty, uncivilized and will eat anything including bats, cats or foods that fall outside the norms of Western diets. Last week, The Star reported that Wuhan Noodle 1950 (3621 Hwy 7, Unit 119), a tiny noodle shop in the Liberty Square plaza/office complex in Markham, was getting inundated with prank calls and was the subject of memes and racist videos shared on social media. I felt inclined to give the business a bit of a boost this past weekend, and it turns out I wasn’t the only one.

The tiny two-year-old restaurant with a few tables started to fill up at lunch time on Saturday, with first-timers asking manager Zhengyu Fang what the specialities are (dry hot noodles) and how to eat the noodles (mix everything together with chopsticks before eating). One table had a copy of The Star where the article on the restaurant ran. GTA diners are already familiar with the Lanzhou-style hand-pulled noodle spots that have been popping up over the last two years, but Wuhan-style hot dry noodles are harder to find, despite it being considered one of China’s essential noodle dishes.

The dish originates from the Hubei province and is most commonly eaten for breakfast. At Wuhan Noodle 1950, it’s served for lunch and dinner. The most basic bowl ($8) consists of alkaline ramen noodles mixed with a thick sesame sauce. The noodles are wonderfully bouncy and chewy. The silky sesame sauce mixed with chili oil (ask for spicy to get the full experience) coats each strand to give a deep nutty flavour that is neither dry (sesame paste soaks up moisture like a sponge) or too wet. We got noodle bowls topped with tender beef ($10) and minced pork ($9), though if I were to come back, I’d splurge and try the hot dry noodles topped with crayfish ($16). To round out the meal, we also got what’s called “three delicacies wrapped in tofu skin” ($7), which is a sharable appetizer of beancurd skins layered with sticky rice, pork and dried mushrooms; a street food-style sandwich of a flatbread filled with minced pork ($6), and a spareribs and lotus root soup ($5) in a simple pork broth to cleanse the palate of all the spice. This filling lunch for two came up to $42 with tax and tip.

A viral outbreak should be given attention, but to write off an entire cuisine for a few laughs (or well-intentioned concern) has real consequences for people on the other end of the memes, videos and headlines. I don’t know if I could convince my mom to join me, but I’ll be going back for another bowl.

Food writer Karon Liu writes about the tastiest things he’s recently eaten around the city in this occasional feature. Got a suggestion? Email him at karonliu@thestar.ca.

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