Review: Gui Lin Noodle House (Edmonton Chinatown Series)

* This review is part of a 2015 series of reviews on restaurants in Edmonton’s Chinatown! Check out other reviews in my Edmonton Chinatown Series here! and as a family plug: do consider visiting King Noodle House Pho Hoang, my family’s restaurant, as a Chinatown option too! *

Gui Lin Noodle House Edmonton

Gui Lin Noodle House at 10626 97 Street.

Every Tuesday for a long time, my dad and I go for lunch. Tuesday’s are a day off at our family restaurant. Back when I worked at CTV we usually went for lunch at Pho Rice Pot, a Vietnamese restaurant across the street from the newsroom. We knew the owner, the food was pretty good, and the location very convenient for quick work lunches. When I started at NAIT we switched our weekly lunch locations to north-central.

One of the places we would regularly try was a Vietnamese place across the road from our own family restaurant (King Noodle House) in Chinatown called Uyen Uong. Their soup wasn’t good but their rice and vermicelli dishes were solid. Sadly Uyen Uong closed a couple weeks ago. (The restaurant business can be so damn tough :()

Almost immediately after closing though, Uyen Uong reopened as Gui Lin Noodle House (10626 97 St.) – a Chinese restaurant that focused solely on noodle dishes.

My dad and I tried Gui Lin this week as part of our weekly lunches and I must say I really enjoyed it!

Gui Lin Noodle House Edmonton

Inside Gui Lin Noodle House.

They don’t have an exterior sign yet. Inside, they basically repainted but if you had been to Uyen Uong prior to closing, it basically looks the same. It’s very clean.

Gui Lin Noodle House Edmonton

The menu at Gui Lin Noodle House.

The menu features three pages of noodle dishes – they really stress the Gui Lin style here. Their meats range from minced pork to pork belly, pork hock, lamb brisket and beef brisket. They had soups as well as dry dishes. Prices are fairly reasonable – between $10-$13 a bowl.

It looked like they had no appetizers but we discovered they do – it’s just listed only in Chinese on small signs on the walls. (I assume this will change to incorporate English in the future, not sure why it doesn’t already).

Gui Lin Noodle House Edmonton

Appetizers apparently, lol.

(Note: after I tweeted this, my friend Lesley translated the appetizer sign for me!)

Service was fast! Only way to describe it. Walk in – boom seated. Menus given. Orders taken. The food came out in less than 10 minutes and it was good.

My dad ordered the Lamb Brisket Lo Vermicelli Gui Lin Style – $12.95.

Gui Lin Noodle House Edmonton

Lamb Brisket Lo Vermicelli Gui Lin Style – $12.95 – at Gui Lin Noodle House.

I ordered the Pork Belly Vermicelli in Soup Gui Lin Style – $10.75.

Gui Lin Noodle House Edmonton

Pork Belly Vermicelli in Soup Gui Lin Style – $10.75 – at Gui Lin Noodle House.

We both really liked our dishes. I thought the flavours were great. Both had great combinations of meat, pickled vegetables and noodles. The noodles are round vermicelli, like what you’d find in a pho bun bo hue. Also, I’m a big fan of the pickled veggies.

Gui Lin Noodle House Edmonton

Not the best side soup to accompany vermicelli at Gui Lin Noodle House.

My dad’s dish came with a side broth palette cleanser that was not good at all. I wondered if it was the same broth base for my soup dish but my soup dish tasted significantly better, perhaps because the mix of meat and vegetables soaked into the broth to create a tasty flavour-splosion.

Gui Lin Noodle House Edmonton

Fried Macaroni with Minced Pork Gui Lin Style – $10.50 – at Gui Lin Noodle House.

We also ordered a Fried Macaroni with Minced Pork Gui Lin Style – $10.50 – to bring home for Mike. I was curious how an Asian take on macaroni pasta would taste and the answer is: good! I liked it more than Mike did (had a few bites). He said there wasn’t enough meat, the macaroni was good but he didn’t like the clumpy vegetables. He’s a picky vegetable guy though.

Gui Lin Noodle House Edmonton

My lunch date!

Overall, I think Gui Lin is a fantastic noodle spot. The food is great, the service was super, super quick, and the space is really bright and clean.

I can tell this is a place I’ll return to! If you’re in the mood for some Asian noodles that isn’t my parent’s delicious pho, I’d recommend checking out Gui Lin! Promising start for this new addition to Chinatown! I’m sorry Uyen Uong didn’t make it but here’s hoping this place does okay.

So have you been to Gui Lin Noodle House? What did you think?!

Linda


Cui Hua Gui Lin Noodle House on Urbanspoon

6 Comments

  • Just went last night! Had the brisket in soup gui lin style. We went in thinking it was still the Vietnamese spot but was pleasantly surprised by the food here. A great combination of sour and spicy. Loved the pickled vegetables too. Wish I had known about the appetizers. Any idea what they were?

  • Linda Hoang says:

    Hi Matthew! Thanks for your comment!! Glad you enjoyed it. My Chinese friend translated it for me it is two pork knuckles dishes, one stirfry veg and the other bacon prawns skewers!

  • Lisa T. says:

    Great review Linda and menu looks good. New resto to try out! The appies on wall are Bacon & shrimp Skewers/ Yu Choy Vegetable/ Braised Pork Knuckle with Nam Yu Fermented Beancurd/ Salt and Pepper Pork Knuckle. Bon appetit! :)

  • Emily says:

    “My dad’s dish came with a side broth palette cleanser that was not good at all. I wondered if it was the same broth base for my soup dish but my soup dish tasted significantly better, perhaps because the mix of meat and vegetables soaked into the broth to create a tasty flavour-splosion.” From my experience eating Gui Lin noodles in southern China the broth served on the side is intended to be added to the noodles it is served with. This way the customer is able to control the amount of liquid with the noodles. Just ate at this restaurant last night with a party of 15 people including children. This family run restaurant was very accommodating.

  • Douglas Herbert says:

    Was back at your family’s restaurant last night for my #26 fix of tendon…lol just love that flavor and texture, and the beef balls are pretty good as well…While sitting there, noticed the new restaurant, and asked your dad about it. He mentioned it was only a few months old. I remember the old restaurant. Anyway, had to pick up some stuff at the Italian Bakery, so thought I would see what their menu looked like, and was very interested in a few of the dishes. One of the ones of great interest was the pork belly soup, and the pics you provide make it a sure order for me. Also looking forward to trying the pork hock soup as well. I think that macaroni looks great as well. Will give it a try tonight. Would be great to have 2 great places to eat at in the same block so close to home.
    BTW, love your honest comments on other restaurants other than your own, though it is tough to beat…

  • charles Tang says:

    thank you for sharing your experience/opinion

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