Authentic Chinese Street Food that leaves a comforting feeling
Text Mark Taylor Photos Andrei Chertkov
A selection of the delicious dishes on offer at NuFace in Baltijaam.
“The most popular thing at NuFace are the Dan Dan noodles,” shares Hele-Riin Vackermann, the company’s event planner and social media manager. This dish made of pork minced meat, sauce, peanuts, rucola, and fried onions has been a runaway success.
NuFace, which has two locations (in Baltijaam and Ülemiste City), is run by the owners of Tallinn’s most authentic Chinese restaurant, Han’s. However, the Sichuan cuisine on offer was not quite what some Estonians had envisaged. “People associate noodles and dumplings with Chinese food so they came to Han’s and asked for them, but it is not this kind of restaurant,” explained Vackermann.
But because people kept asking, they decided to open NuFace, a specific noodle and dumpling place. “However, the combination of noodles and dumplings is a bit of strange one for Chinese people. As dumplings are street food, but noodles less so,” shared Vackermann.
At NuFace you will not just find noodle dishes, but also a variety of handmade dumplings and bao. The last of which was my personal favourite, although all the food tasted was delicious and left a very comforting feeling in my stomach.
You will not only find Chinese food on the menu at Baltijaam, but also drinks, including Tsingtao beer and a delicious lychee lemonade. That’s not all, the stand next to NuFace, named MamaHuhu sells bubble tea, a very popular drink in China (and now the rest of the world).
Between NuFace and MamaHuhu, there are shelves containing Chinese treats such as Mochi. Which are a perfect after-dinner indulgence or gift to take home to friends and family.
As well as their location in Baltijaam turg, there is also a NuFace restaurant in Ulemiste City (open Mon-Fri 11 am-4 pm), where there are some extra items on the menu, including dishes with noodles hand-pulled on site, as well as Nepalese dishes by a Nepalese chef.
It is at this location, where they also organise Chinese cooking courses. You can learn how to make dumplings, hand-made noodles, various Sichuan dishes, and more. “It’s not as difficult as you would think,” explains Vackermann. Also stating that the courses for up to 30 people take place “every two weeks, you can find out about them on our Instagram and Facebook pages.”
Baltijaama turg, Kopli 1, Tallinn (open daily 11 am to 7 pm)
Ülemiste City, Sepise 8, Tallinn (open Non-Fri 11 am-4 pm)
A.Lauteri 5, Tallinn (open daily 12:30 to 9:30 pm)
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