Keep Your Noods to Yourself at Xingfucun's Futuristic Solo Dining Joint 23 Seats

Joey Knotts, Contributing Editor | Dec 11, 2019 11:30 am | Add a comment | 522 reads

Austrians party with strudel, and the French eat with their poodles, but in Japan, the craze is secluded noodles. The island nation invented isolation-booth noodle dining because, despite what extroverts will tell you, there is something comforting about eating alone, especially if you don’t have to look at other strangers (or worry about them looking at you). The trend seems to have caught on at 23 Seats, sister restaurant to the perennially heaving Bei 27 Hao in Nali Patio, and just below Korean hotpot joint Gou Gou Guo.

Deceptively high-tech when in fact very simple, 23 Seats features a row of private dining booths surrounding a narrow serving corridor linked to the kitchen in the back. Customers who come alone for a meditative bowl are seated at a two-foot-wide booth with dividers on either side to protect from peeping eyes. When your order is ready, the screen between you and the kitchen opens up just wide enough for the food to be slid out, once again protecting you from having to make eye contact with another person. Should you want to socialize, meanwhile, the dividers can be folded off to the side so that small groups may be seated together.

The menu is as simple as the layout: choose between three different types of noodles such as classic beef noodle soup, dry and spicy, and cold vegetarian noodles at RMB 28 each; or customize your own 'Lahuhu' hot-pot style dish from the list of ingredients for RMB 38 (add noodles for RMB 10 extra).

What the menu lacks in options it more than makes up for in customizability, with the option of six different noodle thicknesses, from 1 to 15mm, and three levels of softness. For the No. 23 noodles, spiciness options are ranked from zero to three.

The food does not disappoint. The high-quality ingredients will please those familiar with Chinese noodle dishes, while the noodles have a surprisingly satisfying bite for lamian. You can also pair your meal with various sides as well as in-house-made fruit sodas, served in charmingly simple cans with bits of fruit in the bottom for extra authenticity (RMB 23).