At Russell Street’s Jin Noodle, a Noodle-Making Machine Slices Dough Straight Into Boiling Water

Russell Street has become Melbourne’s unofficial noodle strip. A quick stroll can take you from southern Chinese rice noodles at Lao Liu Zhou and Superbowls to Korean jajangmyeon at Uncle Yoon and past no fewer than four ramen shops, including the latest, Ginza Kagari. At newcomer Jin Noodle, you can now also find Shanxi-style thick knife-cut wheat noodles, made by a robot.

“A few areas in China [make these noodles], but it’s mainly just from my home town,” says owner Andy Li, who grew up in the province. “It’s very traditional northern cuisine.”

Li is the master franchisee behind Coco Bubble Tea in Australia, but Jin Noodle is his first full-service restaurant and his own concept, which he spent two years developing.

With his franchise background, streamlined operations come naturally to Li. Machines mix and roll dough, and a noodle-cutting machine imported from China slices ribbons of dough directly into boiling water, producing perfectly even noodles in seconds. While knife-cut noodles have traditionally been made by hand, Li says many restaurants in China adopted automation after Covid because of the consistency, greater hygiene and efficiency the technology offered. 

Sauces and sides are still made by hand. With no written recipes to work from, Li and his team built every dish by taste, carefully weighing ingredients and documenting each process so the food could be consistently reproduced.

Northern China’s long winters have shaped a cuisine built around wheat, meat, and rich hearty flavours, but Li has softened some of those traditions for Melbourne diners. Early customers found the noodles too oily, for example, prompting him to add more broth while keeping the original flavours intact.

The signature pork ragu is slow-cooked with pork and chicken stock, cloves, star anise and other warming spices. Noodles can also come with tomato and egg – a staple Chinese combo – and braised beef brisket. Diners can order these dishes as part of a set with herbal braised eggs, house-made pickled cabbage, and diced celery and carrot with peanuts.

Beyond the noodles, a standout is the heritage pork belly that’s simmered with aromatics, fried until the skin is crisp, then slow-cooked in a sweet, spiced glaze. To drink, there’s currently a small selection of Chinese soft drinks, but Li plans to introduce baijiu, another staple from his home town of Datong City, once the liquor licence is approved.

Service is fast, but it doesn’t feel like a standard takeaway shop. Li designed the fit-out himself, drawing on temple architecture and warm copper tones. Hand-cut paper artwork sits alongside lantern-like light boxes. 

Jin Noodle

179 Russell Street, Melbourne

No phone

Hours:

Mon to Sat 11.30am–9.30pm

Sun 11.30am–9pm