Ji Bei Chuan Rice Noodle Ramen — Restaurant in Edison

At first, I was really excited since they opened a location nearby, and told my friends I really like the food at the 8th Ave. Brooklyn location.

However, portions appear smaller than the 8th Ave. location. Usually, I have leftovers after eating, but this time I was able to finish the entire bowl by myself, but I did not get chicken this time, so maybe that affected it.

The ingredients in the noodles I ordered are different. It was confirmed when I called them to tell them.

For the fish maw rice noodle, they did not have the red stringy looking fungus (cordyceps flowers) which is one ingredient I really like. It only came with one piece of fish maw about 1 inch by 1.25 inches in size. At the Brooklyn 8th Ave. location, it comes with 3-4 pieces. They had quite a bit of those tofu puffs and 腐竹, might as well call it tofu puff and 腐竹 rice noodles instead. The rolled up tofu skin was not tender enough, pretty tough to chew apart. 😅

The rice noodles still have a good silky texture. The soup for the noodle is still tasty, but felt thirsty after drinking it. Usually, that doesn't happen after I eat at the Brooklyn location.

Anyway, I would not recommend that my friends come here after trying it this time.

The service was good, however. They were very polite and attentive. They also listened to me when I told them it did not live up to my expectations.

I hope they improve and have better quality across the...

Would have liked to give a 3.5/5. Recommend: fish maw noodle soup, salt fried chicken*, rice noodles (rice sticks/mi xian/mi fen) Good: dumplings, braised tripe, pork dumplings, chicken stock noodle soup* Ok: braised beef

Hang on to your hats for all these asterisks.

Both the soups are very rich but are on the bland side, the noodles were even more mild in flavor, but had the perfect cook/texture. The fish maw soup has a bit of a peanut butter taste. The fish maw has a very collagenous/gelatinous texture, and has dried morels for a topping. It could be polarizing but worth finding out for yourself. The chicken stock is good as well but the toppings (tofu puff, tofu skin, lettuce) are very mild tasting.

** We ordered the salt pepper fried chicken but there wasn't a speck of pepper in sight.. Chicken was very tender but needed some more oomph on the flavor.

The braised tripe had a fantastic braise flavor but I think it needed more cooking since it was a bit chewy and still had some stinky offal aroma.

Dumplings were nice and the filling has water chestnut for a fun crunch.

As a suggestion to the restaurant it would be nice to have some salt, soy sauce, or additional condiments...

The Fish Maw Chicken Soup was the highlight for me. It was super flavorful and comforting, like something you’d want on a cold day. The broth was rich, and the fish maw added this nice texture that made each bite interesting. Honestly, my biggest complaint is that the soup spoons were too small because I just wanted to get more of that delicious broth with each scoop! Edit: After trying it a few more times maybe the spoons are small for a reason. The soup doesn’t sit well with my stomach.

Then there were the Dry Tossed Rice Noodles. They were just what I was hoping for—perfectly cooked with a nice chew to them. The sauce was savory with a little spicy kick, and the fresh herbs and veggies mixed in added a great balance. The egg was a good egg. It was simple, but sometimes that’s exactly...