Some winter days just seem to call for a warm, comforting bowl of soup, broth with some soft noodles and a bit of spice. Murfreesboro’s Golden Lanzhou Bowls has established its place in the local dining scene, thanks in large part to its defining dish—Lanzhou Traditional Beef Soup Noodles.
The dish traces its roots to Lanzhou, the capital of China’s Gansu Province, where beef noodle soup has long been a staple, a nourishing dish traditionally constructed out of a thin, simmered broth, hand-pulled wheat noodles and sliced beef.
On a recent visit to Golden Lanzhou Bowls, a group of newcomers found a table and were greeted almost immediately by a server bringing glasses of water for everyone and a complimentary starter: crispy, fried wide noodles, crunchy and feather-light, accompanied by a small dish of sweet chili sauce for dipping. A delicious, crispy little beginning to the meal—Chinese chips and dip.
Ordering here is done primarily through table-mounted tablets, which customers can use to scroll through all of the dish photos, descriptions and prices, and then place their order, though servers are nearby to answer questions.
Soft jazz plays quietly in the restaurant’s dining room, many of the tables hosting diners who appear of Asian descent—a reassuring sign for those looking for regional Chinese cuisine “Americanized” as little as possible. The menu actually contains Chinese characters for everything, as well as English dish descriptions.
The lunch special on this particular day was sesame chicken with rice and broccoli, priced at $8.99, and it arrived as a genuinely generous plate. For value alone, it’s a strong recommendation. Quite tasty, as well. Regulars suggest popping in specifically to see what the daily lunch special is, as it’s often an excellent deal.
As far as the beef noodle soup , Golden Lanzhou Bowls prepares its house-made noodles in three styles—angel hair, regular or wide—and serves these in a large bowl of broth accompanied by thin slices of beef, translucent pieces of radish rounds and a scattering of finely chopped scallions in its signature dish.
“The beef noodle soup did not disappoint,” said Alan, a Yelper from Nashville. “The beef was tender; the noodles were fresh, springy and perfectly chewy.”
Diners can order this dish regular (medium spicy), no spice or extra spicy. At first glance, the visual of a bowl, ordered regular, arriving at the table with a generous pool of chili oil floating on the surface mingling with the soup, gave a customer a bit of concern as to how hot it may be; the dish was not overly spicy at all, however. The spice was just about right for a large bowl, loaded with the long, soft noodles.
“The spice level is very manageable and you can always add more later. You have to add a splash of vinegar and get the tea egg, trust me,” said another pleased customer, Ellen. “My husband loves the chicken curry rice and we often get the Chinese hamburger along with our meal. I highly recommend.”
Beyond noodle soups, Golden Lanzhou Bowls boasts a deep lineup of dim sum and small plates, including the Xiao Long Bao, delicate steamed buns filled with minced pork—super soft and fluffy! The exterior of these bao is like the fluffiest type of roll, but even more so, being steamed as opposed to baked.
Other bao varieties include Hong Kong-style sweet BBQ and Shanghai-style BBQ pork.
The menu also offers fried or steamed dumplings, steamed custard buns and shumai (shrimp dumplings).
The smashed cucumber gets a lot of positive feedback from customers, but the restaurant was out of that on a recent day (a testament, perhaps, to its popularity).
Instead, one diner opted for the Chinese broccoli, drizzled in a sauce layered with flavor—hints of peanut, ginger and chili. The leafy portions of this green vegetable tasted excellent, though the thicker stems were a bit tough. Still, for diners who want some green with their noodles, buns, dumplings and rice, it works. The restaurant offers seaweed salad, as well.
The Chinese hamburger arrived with a crisp, flaky exterior—hand pie-style, along the lines of a puff pastry—stuffed generously with bits of chopped beef tossed in a sweet and tangy sauce along with small pieces of green pepper. The texture was outstanding—crunchy outside, tender and meaty within. One diner likened it to a “flaky Asian sloppy joe.”
Another playful item was the Korean-style hot dog, essentially a corn dog’s Asian cousin, battered, fried and served with ketchup and mayo. This comes in a sausage variety, like a corn dog, or a cheese-only version, like a big cheese stick.
There’s also kimchee, fried wings, crab rangoon and tea eggs—hard-boiled eggs cracked slightly and simmered in tea, creating a marbling pattern and spiced taste.
“I hadn’t had tea eggs since my childhood, and they were just as I remember them. This is probably the only place in the area that makes them,” said Alina Lou, who also enjoyed the pickled vegetable beef noodle soup with wide noodles.
“The broth is so flavorful and the noodles had great texture,” she said. “The generous spoonful of pickled mustard greens complimented the broth very well. Prices are reasonable for the amount of food you get. My bowl of noodles was enough for two meals.”
Other soups at Golden Lanzhou Bowls include egg drop soup, miso soup, hot sour soup and wonton soup, and the menu is packed with other Asian favorites—orange chicken, kung pao, chow mein, fried rice, General Tso’s chicken, katsu (deep-fried chicken breast cutlet) and Mongolian beef.
“The General Tso’s was easily the best I’ve ever had—perfectly balanced, not overly sauced or battered,” another diner posted in a comment. “The noodles and broth were also amazing.”
Clearly, the place features mostly Asian cuisine, but a traditional Cajun-style crawfish platter, with sausage, corn and potatoes, also makes an appearance.
Golden Lanzhou Bowls sits next to Hair Five-O, tucked into the shopping center at the corner of Lascassas Pike and Northfield Boulevard, a plaza that once housed a Food Lion. Several units remain vacant.
Recently, management cut a new side doorway that will connect the restaurant to the adjacent space, which is slated to open soon as a plant shop, selling vases, houseplants and build-your-own arrangement packages, hinting at a growing community within the plaza.
Some critique the value at the restaurant, and, yes, the main soup dish, at $17, may not be the satisfactory choice for everyone.
“The size of the soup is extremely small for $16.99. My bowl was almost all noodles with five extremely thinly sliced pieces of beef,” reported a customer, Keaton. “I also ordered a Korean style hot dog, which is basically a corn dog. But when it came out it there was no meat and all cheese inside. When I asked the staff, they told me they had run out of the ones with meat. Doesn’t that seem like a great thing to tell me when I ordered it?”
But there’s definitely value to be had at the place with its specials and small plates. The restaurant appears very clean, the tablets make for a streamlined ordering process, and Golden Lanzhou Bowls’ take on regional Chinese cuisine has a lot of flavor and texture to explore.
For those wanting to try a dish uncommon to Middle Tennessee, the warm Lanzhou-style noodles and broth might just be worth the trip.
“They really want to stick to their roots of authentic Chinese food,” another reviewer, Dylan, said of Golden Lanzhou Bowls. “We tried the cucumber appetizer, potato appetizer, Chinese hamburger and the noodle bowl. All very good and I feel like you can’t go wrong with most things on the menu. Only downside is you’re going to spend a decent amount of money here, I don’t want to say they are overpriced because you’re going to get good food, just going to pay the ‘good food’ price.”
Golden Lanzhou Bowls
2053 Lascassas Pk.
Tues.–Sun.: 11 a.m.–9 p.m.
629-201-6087
Lanzhou Traditional Beef Soup Noodles: $16.99; Orange Chicken, with rice and broccoli: $18.99; Xiao Long Bao (steamed pork buns, 3 pieces): $7.99; Korean hot dog: $3.99; Shrimp fried rice: $15.99; Fried dumplings (6): $7.99
goldenlanzhoubowls.com
