The comfort of neighbourhood noodles

by Annabel Jackson

Having a great little Chinese restaurant in my neighbourhood matters to me, so I’m pretty chuffed to have Tse Noodle close by. This snug, unpretentious nook in the town centre is to my mind home to some of the highest-quality rice, soup noodle, and dim sum dishes Oxford has to offer. And I like the space: simple wooden benches cram together near the open kitchen area to foster a lively, convivial atmosphere. At the heart of it all is its founder and head chef, Shuman Tse.

Tse Noodle’s story is slightly different to those of the other small businesses setting up shop on the offshoots of Oxford’s bustling Cornmarket Street. At the age of 17, married but with no formal education, Shuman emigrated from his hometown in Hong Kong to Oxford on the advice of his brother.

This was 1966 — the year England won the World Cup, the Beatles were at the height of their fame, and Shuman began his journey into the culinary business. ‘I started by washing dishes in other restaurants, spending my time in busy kitchens, before moving onto cooking some simple dishes,’ Shuman explains. But Shuman is an entrepreneur with a big personality, and within two years he was already opening his first restaurant in Oxford with his brother: there, he became an expert in the Chinese, Cantonese, and Sichuan dishes served in Tse Noodle today.

Despite only opening in 2019 — Shuman had previously owned the restaurant Opium Den, a five minute walk from his current location — Tse Noodle has thrived within the student community, becoming an instant go-to for lunch breaks and dinner dates.

Part of its success no doubt stems from Shuman’s warm and gregarious character. When asked why his restaurant is so popular, Shuman candidly laughs, ‘I think they like me!’ And it’s true: to enter Tse Noodle for a bowl of classic Sichuan spicy beef is to also hear about global politics, Hong Kong life in the 1960s, and the ways Oxford has changed over the years. Customers are charmed by Shuman’s honesty when it comes to the affairs of the world — in Shuman’s own words, ‘people call me opinionated, but I’m not opinionated — I just tell the truth!’

Shuman’s unique capacity for making friends — for breaking down the usual formal distance between customer and business owner — has turned Tse Noodle into a social hub for the local community. Every fortnight, Shuman will put on food ‘parties’, inviting friends to the restaurant for free food and conversation. The highlight dish is congee (a traditional breakfast food in parts of China) served with youtiao (fried dough — or, as some label it, ‘Chinese churro’). As many of the guests are from China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, Tse Noodle has also become a great meeting-point for Oxford’s Chinese community. ‘It’s a good idea to get my customers involved — they come here often, so I want to give them something in return,’ Shuman says of his parties. ‘I want to give back to my friends.’ Shuman’s desire to thank his regulars transforms business from an impersonal exchange of payment and goods into a thoughtful, reciprocal relationship, an exercise in generosity.

Oxford city centre is in constant flux, with waves of incoming students, academics and professionals coming in and out each year. Shuman has been living in Oxford for 55 years and he knows it better than most. He likes that ‘you can meet all sorts of people from all over the world,’ but he also laments the slow commercialisation of the streets in the town centre. In what’s now the Burger King on Cornmarket Street, there was once Fuller’s Café, a favourite of Shuman’s. ‘Everyday for lunch I would get tea and toast, or a teacake with butter. And they would use proper tea, not teabags! But it’s not there anymore.’ Yet the popularity of Tse Noodle is a testament to the time and money young people are putting into small businesses, both to enjoy their idiosyncrasies and to prevent them from seeing a similar fate. Students are keen to keep these little places alive, and Bimble is all about making sure that happens.

Tse Noodle has personal resonance for me, too. Living next door during the third Covid-19 lockdown, and chatting in front of it in study breaks was a tonic to my isolating and difficult days. It’s a small gem within Oxford’s sandstone streets and I’m keeping it in my Bimble so that I don’t forget.

Check out Tse Noodle and more of my favourite places on my Bimble.