Won Ton Noodle Soup from Joy Yee
Item Purchased: Won Ton Noodle Soup from Joy Yee
Location Purchased: Joy Yee’s Noodles / 1335 S. Halsted St. / Chicago, IL
Price: $6.50 + tax
Review: Soup, simple soup. I get a kick out of how so many Asian restaurants create a whole new section for their menu by simply throwing their other dishes in that salty fish-tasting broth. Voila. Soup. Just add other menu items! Usually soups are less expensive, but just as filling. Ordering a soup dish from an Asian restaurant is a good way to save money while still trying various foods. Just think of it as replacing half of your order with flavorful hot water. Or don’t… That might be kind of gross, come to think about it.
In the case of , the other menu item was won ton. I have only tried this ubiquitous Asian cuisine appetizer dumpling/pasta in its fried form (usually complimentary with a carry out order and stuffed to the gills with pork and cream cheese). The prospect of tasting an unfried won ton was wholly alien to me.
It turns out that unfried won ton tastes a lot like kreplach. A thin, oddly shaped strip of pasta is wrapped around a ball of meat (at Joy Yee, it is a subtly spiced beef meatball) and twisted together like wrapping paper around a bowling ball. The won tons come submerged in a hugantic plastic container of the heavily spiced broth I described above. Alongside, you receive a quart carry-out container full of plain flour noodles a bit thicker than vermicelli and thinner than conventional spaghetti, that you can dunk into the already packed broth as you see fit.
Though this is a rather plain dish, mild in flavor, I found it satisfying. Joy Yee’s soups certainly are the best value in the University Village area around UIC. I finished a little more than half (making sure to polish off the numerous won ton hanging out at the bottom of the broth) before I was too stuffed to continue. This sure beats paying nearly $10.00 for a lunch combo that will leave you wanting more over at Quiznos or $.50 for a box of dehydrated noodles at 7-Eleven.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Leave a Comment