The mung bean noodles at Chengdu Taste are among one of the most ordered dishes at this Sichuan favorite. It’s a perfectly portioned appetizer for any-sized table and the ideal primer for an inevitable string of tongue-numbing dishes. The cellophane noodles are thick and really soak up the pool of blood red chili oil. Dry chili flakes and diced jalapenos add to the repertoire of spice, and the dish is always finished off with an eye-popping sprinkling of finely minced green onions.

Fronted by Taiwanese natives May and Jim Ku, Dai Ho Restaurant specializes in small-batch Chinese noodles. They’re only open 3.5 hours each day, but the husband and wife duo are in the kitchen as early as 6 a.m. for prep work. The noodles are handmade and pressed five times to achieve a sufficiently “Q” (al dente in Chinese) texture. The menu selections are very limited. The beef noodle soup and dan dan noodles are solid picks, but the zhajiang mian here is a stand out. It’s labeled as “pork bean dry noodles” in English and consists of minced scallions and ground pork seasoned with a rich paste made out of fermented soybeans.

Guilin noodles have a reputation in China for being strongly pungent – a result of the heavy amounts of pickled vegetables. Guilin noodles take advantage of the rural and river landscape of the Southern Chinese city. It’s a rice noodle-based dish mixed with fried peanuts, peppers, pickled vegetables and a protein of choice - usually fish or horse meat in Guilin, but in the States it’s always fish. The heat level is nonexistent, but on the side of each table is a house-made chili sauce made with dried chilies, garlic and fermented soybeans for those craving an extra kick.

Chef Shi Peng is one of the few people in the Southland who is capable of whipping up knife-shaved noodles, or dao xiao mian, by hand. Peng has been making noodles with a blade for more than 25 years and makes a mean beef noodle soup. The noodles are thick and chewy and accompanied by a wonderful assortment of pickled vegetables, cilantro and large cubes of beef shanks. No MSG is added and the broth is very light – a true standout from the earthy and heavy broths of its local competitors.

Sam Woo on Las Tunas closes their doors at midnight, making it the perfect stop for a late-night snack. Go straight for their wonton and roast duck noodle soup. The egg noodles at Sam Woo are imported directly from Hong Kong and the broth is made with an intricate combination of pig bones, dried shrimp, dried fish and shrimp shells. Found inside this soup are Hong Kong wontons and Sam Woo’s famous roast duck – the skin is slightly crispy and sweet from a thin, maltose glaze and the meat is deliciously tender from hours of marinating.

Shenyang, a city in Northeastern China, is extremely close to Korea in terms of location and even culinary tastes. There’s a special dish simply called Shenyang cold noodles on the menu that parallels Korea’s naengmyeon. The noodles are made in-house and sit in a salty and sour beef-based soup. It’s paired with a beautiful assortment of kimchi, braised egg, thin slices of meat and cucumber, and a smattering of sesame and cilantro. The broth is icy cold and the perfect solution to a warm Los Angeles day.

Silk Road Garden is L.A.'s Uyghur food specialist. At the heart of the menu, you will find long hand-pulled noodles drenched in a cumin and meat sauce. Known as laghman noodles in English, the noodles are freshly-pulled and so frustratingly long you might even want to ask for scissors. It’s served with stewed lamb, onions, tomatoes, wood ear mushrooms, bell peppers and cilantro for garnish.

Yunnan Restaurant is a Sichuan and Yunnan fusion joint known for tongue-numbingly spicy dishes and their “Crossing Over Bridge” noodles that offer relief from all of that spice. The origin of the name is disputed. One version claims that it’s simply the name provided to a scholar by his wife when she literally crossed a bridge to purchase rice noodles. The dish is analogous to chicken noodle soup – homey and rich enough to be the perfect hangover cure. Though the dish is often prepared tableside in Yunnan, it is served pre-made at Yunnan Restaurant. The rice noodles swim in a chicken broth paired with thin chicken slices, tender bamboo shoots and tofu bean curd pieces.