Walala Asian Noodle House has the broth and the hand-pulled dough to please Orlando’s noodle obsessives

This city’s love affair with Lanzhou-style hand-pulled noodles doesn’t appear to be waning in the least. Orlando, in fact, is a mecca for lamian-iacs, with places like Mr. J Hand-Pulled Noodle, KungFu Kitchen, Caravan and Red Panda Noodle rolling in the dough and welcoming noodle obsessives with (literally) outstretched arms.

Of late, pilgrims have been flocking to newcomer Walala Asian Noodle House on West Colonial Drive, not just for chef Hou’s noodle-pulling mastery, but for the beef-chicken pottage that flavors every bowl of soup. It’s an absolute mother of a broth, and those seated at the counter toward the back of the restaurant can even peek inside the oversized pot gurgling away in the corner of the kitchen.

Through that smudged glass, I witnessed a team of seven stretching, boiling, frying, searing, ladling and embellishing broth-filled bowls with said noodles. At times they preened and played for camera-ready onlookers, myself included, but their faces revealed a quiet delight once paying guests buried their heads and commenced slurping those tender, chewy squigglers.

The classic Lanzhou protein pairing — thinly shaved beef shank ($15.95) — lends some pho-like feels, but the pliant and luscious braised beef short ribs ($16.95) won me over. With slices of white radish, cilantro, scallions and chili oil, the soup is a favorite of Yafei “Sophia” Yan, who owns the noodle house with her father, Jian. Apart from providing recommendations, Sophia is schooled in the art of hospitality — even has a bachelor’s degree in it from the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland.

“I’m trying to teach our staff how to engage more with customers,” says Yan. It seems to be having an effect. At least it has on Lin, an affable server who brought out small samples of meat for me to try, like the zingy “secret recipe ground beef” that I wound up tossing into my broth once the cubes of braised short rib were finished. He even brought out extra noodles.

I came to learn that extra noodles are offered to anyone who requests them — yes, free noodle refills at Walala. The name, BTW, is a play on the word voilà!, which Yan often used in French-speaking Lausanne. “We wanted the name to be fun, so Walala! Here it is!” Fun is one way to describe the very bright yellow interior; Miss Chiquita Banana running wild inside an IKEA furniture store in dystopian Blade Runner L.A. is another.

“I wala-love these skewers,” said my wife, after slipping some chunky morsels of cumin-dusted grilled beef ($11.98) into her yap. Their pure, beefy flavor had me feeling the same. Then there was the spicy sliced beef shank I enjoyed with flat, wide “hor fun” rice noodles ($16.98). Fiery? Oh hell yes. I quite enjoyed watching sweat beads rapidly bubble onto my dining partner’s face while the jerky-textured meat transformed the broth into a ruddy pool. A sip of “hand-pounded lemon fruit tea with silver flower fragrance” ($5.98) helped minimize the burn.

What about dumplings, you ask? There’s no shortage of options here in the Chinatown Plaza, so of course they offer dumplings. You’d do well to sample the bundles of boiled chicken with shiitake ($12.98) and the house specialty pan-fried buns with pork ($11.98). Just like the noodles, I couldn’t resist their pull.

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This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2025.