It sounds simple enough but at 1 + 1 Dumplings Noodles there are more than just these two well-loved items on the menu.
Perhaps they use those two words just to get you in the front door.
What you find inside, however, is a menu that is all about food from the Xinjiang province in north-eastern China, which very much differs from the Shanghainese food that we find more commonly at Chinese restaurants through Melbourne.
About 60 per cent of the population of Xinjiang province is Muslim and this is why you will find lamb and beef dominate the menu.
There are pork dishes to choose from too, including pork and prawn dumplings ($11) which arrive hot and juicy, 12 of them in total, and are lovely dunked in the black vinegar on the table.
A spoonful of the chilli oil sitting in a pot next to the vinegar doesn’t hurt either.
Another element to this region’s food is big flavours.
A dish of housemade noodles is served simply with thin slices of tender beef, chunky slices of garlic, whole dried chilli and lots of onion — don’t eat this before an important meeting or on a date!
It is a delicious but cold dish, something I questioned when I first tasted it and was happily told that this was how the dish should be but if I ever wanted something hot, just say so. The service is like that, easy, helpful and understanding that you may be eating something you’re not familiar with.
In regards to the lamb, the kebabs ($2 each, minimum four) are fleshy chunks of grilled lamb on long metal skewers, very simple and very tasty.
The lamb dumplings are good, moist and take well to the chilli too.
Exploring the menu further, you can really test the boundaries of what appeals and what you’re prepared to try — lamb kidneys or jellyfish anyone?
Take 1+1 in your stride when you eat here, it’s not fancy, with its white tiled floor and simple prints of waterfalls down one side of the room.
It could do with a good dust and spruce up but if you come here with an open mind and are in the mood for a culinary adventure, you’ll have a great time.
