Gu’s Noodle House opened today in Downtown Woodbury featuring Chinese Lanzhou hand-pulled noodle soup, fried pork buns and more… in a completely new and beautiful restaurant located right on Broad Street.
Gu’s is celebrating their official Grand Opening this Thursday and I’m being told that for the first few days at least through Thursday’s Grand Opening they are offering a 15% discount (check with restaurant for details).
The location at 40 South Broad Street in Woodbury is on the block below Cooper Street (closer to Curtis Ave) in a unit which most recently was a pizza shop.
The ownership did an amazing job fully remodeling the space inside and out, creating an open dining environment which leans towards a modern Asian style.
The dining area seats at least 50 customers, and offers a variety of table configurations including a large family-size table for 10.
A lot of thought was put into the overall design and branding of the restaurant as the the bowls were custom designed with the Gu’s Noodle House logo, as were the utensils (for those that need them!).
As the name indicates, noodle bowl soups are the signature item… and I had no idea that my visit would have me tasting something very unique to our South Jersey area!
Gu’s Noodle House features a Chinese Lanzhou hand-pulled noodle, which I believe makes Gu’s one of very first restaurants in South Jersey offering this style of noodle, and maybe the ONLY one!
The Lanzhou noodle soup appears very similar to ramen soup, and in fact ramen soup is based off of Chinese noodles… but a big difference is today’s restaurant ramen noodles are typically cut from sheets of noodles, and the Lanzhou noodles at Gu’s Noodle House are hand-pulled.
While the noodle style is likely newer to us in South Jersey, it’s actually one of the oldest beef noodles tracing back to the Chinese Tang Dynasty over 1000 years ago!
I ordered a beef brisket noodle soup which after talking further about the options available… front-of-house manager Jackie had them add a couple pieces of chicken into my soup also.
I also tried their unique fried pork buns which are a multiple step process over 2 days to create the puffy Chinese dumpling style dish that when I cut into it, literally burst with flavors and delicious broth!
Gu’’s Noodle House – Woodbury NJ
I stopped in at Gu’s around 11:15 AM on opening day today and while I didn’t ask to clarify, I might have been the very first customer! That being said word seems to of been getting out likely through social media as several customers came in during my visit.
I was lucky enough to grab a parking spot directly in front of the restaurant on Broad Street, but you should be aware that there are public parking lots supporting the downtown businesses, including one across the street (behind the buildings). Check online for details.
As I walked around checking out the remodeled restaurant and then placing my order, I eventually did explain who I was, and what the 42Freeway website was about… which led to a really nice conversation with the restaurant “front of house” manager, Jackie.
Jackie took the time to explain to me that all of the noodles are made fresh each day within the restaurant, and they use a technique where the noodle dough is hand pulled. To back up that explanation he brought out a photo of the chef creating the noodles!
While there are many noodle restaurants in the South Jersey area it seems most of them are cutting the noodles from flat sheets of dough… whereas Gu’s Noodle House is using a very traditional Chinese hand-pulling technique.
The soup is a beef based broth prepared very similar to ramen. In my bowl I was provided a significant amount of the fresh and delicious noodles.
Researching online the soup is described as being prepared without soy sauce… I found it to be very flavorful with a bit of floral/fragrant flavor.
From my experience with ramen at other restaurants, a ramen soup is typically topped with a variety of items including eggs, scallions, fish cakes and more.
But for my Gu’s Noodle House soup, I’m not sure if it was my choice of soup or it’s the style… but I actually preferred that my soup was focused on the three core aspects; a delicious complex-flavored broth, the incredibly fresh and perfectly cooked noodles, and then the proteins (which are marinated in-house before cooked)
I also tried a small order of pan fried pork buns which to me were similar to a Chinese dumpling, where the fresh outer dough is wrapped around pork pieces and delicious soup broth.
The pork buns were served on a rectangular tray which also included a dipping sauce.
Jackie tells me they are also made fresh in house but the process extends over 2 days! On the first day the pork buns are made in a several step process which includes quick-freezing to seal in all the flavors. The next day when they are ordered, they are pan-fried which keeps the top softer and tender but with a golden crispy base.
The pan frying technique made for a perfectly cooked pork bun with the heat focused on the tasty pork and broth!
Gu’s Noodle House is open 7 days a week from 11am-9pm, and on Friday/Saturday open until 9:30pm
Links and Location
Gu’s Noodle House
40 S Broad St
Woodbury, NJ 08096