On select Monday evenings, hand-pulled, Lamian noodles become a delicious act of performance art.
Noodle Hole, a passion project from Hole Doughnuts owner Ryan Martin, doesn’t have a menu, waitstaff, or an advanced booking system. To get a seat, all you have to do is keep an eye on @noodle.hole ‘s Instagram stories and message them to set up a reservation.
“I like that people walk in a little confused,” shares Martin. “You just get food and you leave.” He adds, “I’m trying to keep it fun and small. I don’t want it to feel elite or fancy... It’s just noodles.”
Those who are adventurous enough to leap into the unknown are rewarded with a front-row seat to Martin’s zen-like noodle practice, a skill he’s honed for more than five years. Then, you receive a box of noodles, accompanied with a starter and doughnut, all for a suggested donation of $10.
Wearing headphones, with a large wooden table set before him, Martin spends all night repeating the 20-minute process of, in his words, “beating the crap out of the dough,” then twisting and pulling them until springy, cutting them, and finally, finishing them in a vat of boiling water for a few minutes.
“It’s a fun little meditation for me, really,” he says.