Despite the summer season, I’ve eaten a lot of noodles this summer both at home and in noodle shops, and I’d ideally like all the places I’ve eaten at to stay open, so consequently, I’m posting reviews in the hopes that it will inspire more people to eat there!
Dagu Rice Noodle is located in #YYC’s Chinatown along Centre Street just beside Dragon City Mall. The location is bright with lots of seating, and is easily accessible via public transit. The tables would be friendly for people with limited mobility but their restrooms are located down a set of stairs (so not ideal if you are unsteady or need assistance in and out of the bathroom). Their menu focuses on noodle soups and sets, and they also have a bubble tea menu (which I haven’t tried).
Dagu specializes in individually served noodle soups – the ‘Crossing the Bridge’ noodle soups come deconstructed with all of the toppings in small bowls so you can customize the broth to your liking. As an adventurous but also incredibly picky eater (I hate onions) this was ideal (I just left the onions out). I had the Mountain Cliff Mushroom Crossing the Bridge Rice Noodle Soup which came with sliced pork, ham, corn, wood-ear mushrooms, bamboo shoots, imitation crab sticks, tofu skin, and seaweed on the side; the broth itself came bubbling hot (press play!) and had enoki, maitake, and shiitake mushrooms in the broth. I loved this soup! The mushrooms were tender and not mushy, I could cook the pork to my desired done-ness in the hotpot, and the toppings were abundant. It wasn’t too salty and did not feel heavy at all.
The base of the regular rice noodle soups is significantly more herbal and the soups come ‘assembled’ – all the toppings are already inside. My fellow diner had the Braised Bone-in Beef soup – this came with two large beef ribs and was also very satisfying! I preferred the less herbal broth of my own order, but both are very good options! Dagu offers reasonable add-ons for 1-3$ if you’d like more protein – you can add pork or beef slices, shrimp, and tofu to your broth as well!
I’m almost looking forward to the next rainy day so I can order this soup again!
sakura, lovely. 