Weilin's Noodle House

I was wandering around Rotorua Sunday night looking for lamb dinner. I passed Weilin's Noodle House, took note of the menu, but as it didn't feature lamb, I decided I'd check it out later. Later was noontime today, when I thought potstickers might make a nice lunch.

Weilin's Noodle House
1148 Tutanekai St.
Rotorua, New Zealand
tel/fax: +64.7.343.9998
Su, M, W: 1100-2100
Th-Sa: 1100-2200

Weilin's is the kind of basic, down-to-earth noodle and dumpling place that's becoming more common nowadays, largely, I suspect, because of the increase in emigration from parts of China outside the southeast. It features noodle and dumpling dishes, which are mostly a northern specialty, although there are some rice dishes on the menu. Wang's, in Magoon Sq., Somerville, MA, USA, is another example of this kind of Chinese restaurant.

Weilin's menu includes a whole host of noodle dishes, both soup and dry, and some rice dishes, in both regular ($6-12) and large ($8.70-16) size. If you order one of the many different noodle soups, you also choose your noodle type: Hokkien, egg, yangchow, rice noodle sheet, rice noodle stick, or udon (50 cents extra).

I had the dumplings, which come in five varieties: pork and bai2cai4 (a.k.a. in Cantonese as bokchoi), egg and chive, beef and celery, vegetarian (mushroom, cabbage, and tofu), and pork and chive. An order of 15 is $7.80.
They came hot off the pan, obviously hand-made, and though on the salty side, were still quite good.

Weilin's also has a few kinds of filled buns: bbq pork/pork mince, for $1.80 each, pork and vegetable buns at $1.50 each, and red bean buns at 4 for $4.

I wasn't expecting to find a place like this in Rotorua, so Weilin's was a nice surprise.