Casserole Big Bowl of Noodle

You know a place is super Chinese when you order a can of coke and they give you a can that is room temp, cold one pleaseeee. So this place is one of the stalls in New World Mall and I was really happy with my casserole, OMG it woulda been perfection in the Winter time. Also, there is a casserole deposit of $ 2, once returned, you get your money back.
The food:
Sour & Spicy beef pot– It was a pipping hot casserole with cabbage, yam noodles which had a great texture and chew, slices of beef, wood ear mushrooms and french fry cut potatoes. The broth was great, the flavor was subtle but flavorful at the same time and it had a nice sour punch which was nice.
Fish w. Sour veg pot– I thought this casserole was great as well. The fish was nice and delicate and the broth is amazing as well.

After what has felt like years of chowing down food from various New World Mall stalls, I FINALLY branched out to «Old Street» Casserole Big Bowl of Noodle, a stall that, like LaoMa and a few others, has withstood the test of time in this ever-​changing cafeteria. (RIP Happy Kenji Beef Noodle!) Although their menu has not changed as far as I’m aware, their marketing has: they now have pictures of some of the more popular casseroles on the front glass, which have attracted more customers like me to try them out.
For my first attempt, I got the hot and sour beef casserole. The order came our relatively fast and in a clay pot for which you have to provide a small deposit. The amount of food is definitely enough to fill me up; I didn’t even see the point in having the side of rice, since the casserole includes glass vermicelli, along with napa cabbage, potatoes and a generous heap of thin fatty beef. Like the rest of the Unilocalers here, I also thought the broth was very light in flavor, but I personally like to customize the flavor and spice level of my dishes, so the fact that the existing flavor was very light allowed me to add a ton of chili oil and Sriracha as well as a bit of vinegar to make the dish perfectly delicious.
As a side note, I didn’t know you could customize the spice level right at the counter. As I was returning the clay pot for my deposit back, the cashier noticed the containers of chili oil and Sriracha on my tray and said, «Next time just tell us you want it really spicy. Our spice level is even hotter than what you put in!» Looks like I’ll be back for more!

I am a newbie when it comes to The New World Food Court. During my surveillance of places to try, I notice Casserole Big Bowl of Noodle. It had some hustle and bustle of a busy stall. Besides, I saw dumplings. Sold.
The front display of there stall is full of buns, dumplings and other goodies I am not familiar with, but all look good. I asked the lady behind the counter using the international method of rubbing my index and middle fingers with my thumb as I pointed to some delicious looking dumplings. She wave the five sign with here hand. Sold. As she preceded to package my ordered, I notice she was placing 8 dumplings. Since I wanted to try a couple of more stalls, I wave the half order sign with my hand. Sold.
The transaction took all of 10 or so seconds and I could not have been taken care of better. The lady was very accommodating and patient with me since I know «zero» Chinese. Service outstanding.
The dumplings, well outstanding and delicious. Fried, not oily, but moist. Thin skin. Tasty filling. Did I say they where large, about 3 or so inches long. Half order $ 2.50 (4) just the right amount of food.
I need to do some research on Chinese casserole dishes because the ones I saw being prepared looked awesome and delicious. Next visit.
Overall, Casserole Big Bowl of Noodle is a very nice stall with friendly service. There is some good cooking going on and I can’t wait to go back.

My first time trying this place after passing by this place many times was just on the north side of ‘meh’. I got the chef’s special noodle soup or whatever it was called. It had large chunks of flank, tripe, and tendon in it. It also had wood ear, bok choy and other assorted vegetables. It was definitely a hearty stew. You could survive on one of these every other day if you were lost in the forest. However, if you were lost in the forest, you’d probably have a hard time finding this. The good part about this stew was that it wasn’t over salted. Being over salted tends to be a problem with a lot of these soup places in the New World Mall food court. The down side to this was the flavor became bland after settling to room temperature. It was tasty with potential to be tastier. Like I said, just north of ‘meh’ so it gets 4 stars.

Casserole was underwhelming, lacking flavor in a serious way. Too bland for me to return

My 200^th Review!
While I was getting a $ 5 bowl of noodle from Lanzhou, my wife decided to splurge and get a $ 7 bowl of beef noodles from CBBN along with their dumplings.
Aesthetically, their bowls are nicer and much bigger than Lanzhou’s. My bowl of noodles looked puny next to my wife’s (A girly man’s bowl, as Hanz and Franz would say). Taste wise though, my noodles were the winner. CBBN’s noodles were okay but the broth was really bland. The best part about it was their beef which was chunky rather than the thinly cut pieces in mine. Still, I would probably never get their noodles cuz of the broth.
The dumplings were another story. They were flavorful, huge and filling! I think they could be a meal just by themselves if you aren’t too hungry. What is up with the oversized food at this place? Don’t they know sometimes less is more? However, no complaints from me about the dumplings. The skin was a bit doughy but it needed to be in order to hold up all that porky goodness.
I could come back for the dumplings. Did I mention they are huge?

oh my lord their beef noodle soup was the BOMB!
i arrived nyc hungry and chilly and this hit the spot like no body’s business!
bok choy forever!
the noodles, beef, and bok choy was in the hot soup. hmmmm…
won’t forget you CBBN!

Although not their namesake item, this food stall offers fried pork buns, an awesome street food that is best had piping hot. The ones we tried weren’t freshly made but were decent versions nonetheless, breading not too heavy, meat ok.

You gotta give a deposit for a casserole dish because people were stealing the clay pots! You can get it yourself at an Asian grocery store… why steal their clay pots?! Geeeee.
It’s okay. Just put in $ 3 deposit for the clay pot and you’ll get it back when you bring the pot back… unless you wanna keep the pot… wait that didn’t sound right!
This weekend… Rich W. saw that they JUST FINISHED making a new batch of Fried Tiny Buns at the Casserole Big Bowl of Noodle. OMG. IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. I gotta go back for their tiny buns and just wait for a new batch to come by. WOW. It was super duper good.
I also enjoy their beef and tomato casserole. It’s not on the menu anymore :(
You just have to ask for it. I love all the stuff they sell in the clay pots… it comes with vermicelli noodles. MY FAVE.
When am I going back next? I almost didn’t recognize it after they changed the look of the stall. Now there are buns and dumplings all over the front of the stall.
The weekends here ARE CRAAAAAAZY! The mall could actually put more tables next to the escalators but instead that area is empty. I wonder why. There is always a wait for a daggone table. How frustrating.

The two times I visited the food court, the people sharing a table with us were eating from Casserole Big Bowl of Noodles. Yes, we were sitting next to the stand so I’m stating the obvious but I couldn’t help but peek what they were eating. So, the boyfriend ordered the premium beef casserole to satisfy our curiosity.
It consists of fatty sliced beef, yam noodles, potatoes and tomatoes, along with a bowl of rice. I was expecting the flavor to be somewhere between sukiyaki and beef stew. The broth was really light and dull. When you go to a regular restaurant, it takes about 15 – 20 minutes when you order a casserole dish. I assume the dish was pre-​made which makes you wonder where the flavor went. The staff recommended the beef and tomato casserole but we ordered the premium beef casserole because in the back of your mind anything «premium» usually tastes good. I might come back to try the noodles but not any time soon.
FYI — they ask for a two dollar deposit for each casserole dish.

Itching to give the New World Mall food court a try, I find myself pointed towards «Casserole Big Bowl of Noodle» for lunch. My meal of choice, beef noodle soup. Here’s the breakdown:
Noodles: Typical noodles you’d get (slightly thinner than udon). It was cooked to give the right amount of bite, not soggy at all. The flavor however was a bit bland as if it didn’t absorb any of the flavor from the broth.
Beef: Cut in small chunks/​slices. Flavored well but a little on the tough side.
Broth: A bit salty and a lot greasy in comparison to others. Definitely had a nice layer of grease left sitting on top. I’m not exactly the most health conscious person when it comes to food so that wasn’t a real turn off for me. The broth although a bit salty, was quite flavorful.
Overall: Figured at a place with «Big Bowl of Noodle» in it you can’t go wrong with the classic. While the bowl was indeed big, the actual solids were about what you’d get in any other noodle soup restaurant. Can’t say that I would be back for that, you can definitely find better beef noodle soup elsewhere. Might be back to give the casseroles a try though.