GOLDEN WHEAT(LAO BIAO 老表) — Restaurant in Champaign

Absolutely stunning! Wow, this new noodles place opened half year ago really makes me feel jealous about people who currently live in Champaign. One thing to note though, since this is a couple restaurant, their speed is kind slow. So if you are in a rush, this place might not work.

I just graduated here last year and went back because of the make-up commencement. I had some plans on visiting my favorite restaurants during my undergraduate. I saw this new noodles place on the previous PvP location and the menu looks very authentic. I read some reviews and since I am a huge noodles lover so I had to change my plan and give this new place a try.

I dont usually write long reviews but bear me lol. It is absolutely worth it and can be ranked to the top 3 bowl of noodles I had here at U.S.(Yes, comparing to all those famous noodle places in big cities.) I ordered the Pork Elbow CQ Noodle with extra fried egg(I usually won’t but the owner recommended it) Everything is just on point. Soup is very very flavorful, aromatic but not overly salty(which is an universal con for all those famous ramen places) Noodles are definitely hand-pulled. Not too thick but very chewy. Those two together makes you already know that other soup noodles here will be good as well. The topping is surprisingly good! I said before that I dont usually order pork elbow for soup noodles. But man, their pork elbow is exceptional. It is flavourful, soft in the skin part but actually kind chewy in the meat part, which I absolutely love it. Fried egg which I ordered for extra is also perfect, golden outside but inside it is still fluiding. Shengjian Bao(pan fried bao) is disappointly good lol. It is not the same as the picture and I think it is from frozen food. But they actually manage to still make them pretty good, which is unexpected after I saw their appearance. The wonton is also the best I had in town. Their meat stuffing is just on point again. The wonton skin and stuffing are all appropriately chewy, neither too soft as frozen food nor too hard as some careless mistakes in not cutting the meat enough.

The owner is a Chinese couple in their 40s or 50s. Very very kind, almost make me homesick. It is one of those restaurant that makes you feel confident about its food as soon as you talk to them. The husband cashier has a very kind northern part Chinese accent (where people are good at making hand pull noodles). The food is very very authentic. Portion is large and price is absolutely fair.

The owner indeed seems like they dont know English. But dont get intimidated by that if you dont speak Mandarin. When I entered the place, all people dine-in are actually not Chinese. The items on menu have English explanations. And the cashier is just so kind and patient. They are relatively new in town so give them sometime to find some bilingual cashier and improve. I saw some reviews on yelp gives this place one star just because of this. Those ratings are so lame. Those people are just not true foodies. If I enter some place whose owner dont speak English, I will begin to feel excited because that's a sign of authentic food.

Cant wait to give this place another shot tomorrow! People who love noodles on campus should definitely check this place out! My ranking for Chinese noodles place in campus now is: Golden Wheat C-U La La Noodle(kind inconsistent now, have many nice dry noodles option but it depends the chef's cooking feeling on that day lol) Middle Summer lounge (just dont go, everything tastes like plastic. I give them three tries and all different things I tried are not on point. It's kind hard to do that lmao.)

No photos because they are too good and I finished them...

We went to Golden Wheat around 5:15 pm on a Saturday evening for a warm meal on a cold day. The person at the counter was very friendly and helpful as we looked at the menu and asked questions about portion size, spice level, and ingredients. She told us the noodles are hand made on site which is a plus since we love fresh ingredients. A nice bonus is that they will give you additional noodles on request (to add to any leftover broth). The portions are generous (my wife took home half her bowl). Each of the bowls come with a sprinkle of herbs and greens, but the meat, noodles, and broth are the main stars. The heat can be ordered to your preference, from mild to slightly spicy to hot. We also ordered an appetizer: 10 steamed buns (which I forgot to take a picture of). It was delicious, comforting food and the inside has more than sufficient seating. My wife, son, and I look forward to our return here so we can try more items...

Long wait time not good option if you’re in a rush. Noodles were okay but not super great there are better authentic Chinese restaurants on campus. Staff was very condescending in a rude way toward me it was obvious they didn’t want me inside their restaurant and I didn’t feel welcome. Perhaps the reason for this treatment was due to the fact that I’m not a Chinese student. If you’re a Chinese student perhaps you’ll receive much better treatment or maybe they just treat all customers in that regard (but I’d sure hope not.) Anyway overall based off my experience I wouldn’t necessarily recommend there are some other really great Chinese restaurants within a .5 mile radius. Although you could tell they try to recreate the Chinese experience as if you’re inside a restaurant in Beijing and their menu is written in mandarin which is a really nice touch so I give them...