Dubai-it: The little noodle shop that's bringing people together in Dubai

Dubai: Running a small noodle shop in one of the busiest tourist destinations in Dubai – Al Seef – has been an exercise in friendship for Chinese expat Yasmeen Yang. The 41-year-old came to Dubai at the age of 18. Starting off in the hotel industry, to work on her English skills, Yasmeen worked in the luxury retail sector for a few years, before moving into entrepreneurship in 2015. That’s when she met her future husband – Okan Denizdolduran – a Turkish entrepreneur. “I had a shop where we sold dresses in the Chinese Pavilion at Global Village and he came with his uncle to run a Turkish baklava, coffee and ice cream kiosk, which was behind the pavilion, that’s how we met,” she said. Today, the couple run several ventures together, including a Turkish coffee shop and dessert business. Their noodle restaurant, however, came about almost by accident. “Our main business was the Turkish coffee shop in Al Seef and a shop space opened up nearby. The management asked me if I wanted to take it … perhaps run a Chinese restaurant,” she said. And even though Yasmeen had no experience running a restaurant before, she decided to give it a try. “I honestly don't have a restaurant background, but I do everything from my heart. Sometimes that's better than having a background,” she said. The little noodle shop in Al Seef has built a loyal community of customers, some all the way from China, who visit Dubai and make their first trip to enjoy the Xuzhou Rice Noodles soup or other authentic Chinese recipes.Photo credit: Abdullah Al Matrooshi Bringing a taste of home to Dubai After starting the restaurant, Yasmeen quickly realised that she needed to brush up on her culinary skills. A few months into opening shop, she travelled to China, to learn traditional recipes and offer an authentic taste to customers. While her shop is called Hong Kong noodles, the cuisine is from the Xuzhou province, where Yasmeen grew up. The star of the menu is the Xuzhou Rice Noodles soup, but Yasmeen offers different options to cater to the tourists who come to Dubai from all parts of the world. "I learnt the recipes myself and I taught my team. Our chef, who is originally from Nepal, is really talented and learnt very quickly,” she said. But because she only wanted to keep items on the menu that she knew the authentic recipe for, the menu remains limited to a handful of items, like fried noodles and wontons along with the noodle soup. “If I learn more in the future, maybe I'll add more,” she said. More than a bowl of noodles But what sets the small noodle shop apart in Dubai's competitive dining scene is not just the authenticity of Yasmeen's hometown recipes, but the sense of community she has created around them. After returning from China last summer, Yasmeen began sharing snippets of her daily life and the stories behind her food on social media, simply to spread positivity, she said. The response though, has been unexpected and overwhelming. In just a few months, her account has built a loyal community of followers who now travel from across the UAE, and even from China, to visit her little restaurant in Al Seef. One such customer, Tony Gu, spoke to Emirates 24|7 about his recent interaction with Yasmeen, where he messaged her before his flight from Hong Kong, telling her that he would be reaching Dubai the next day and would come to her restaurant. Tony Gu with Yasmeen at Hong Kong Noodles.Photo credit: Abdullah Al Matrooshi “This is my second trip to Dubai,” he said. “I first came in January and I liked Al Seef very much … it is similar to Xintiandi, a commercial district in Shanghai. This, to me, was like the Middle East’s Xintiandi,” he added. While scrolling through social media before his next flight to Dubai in June, he came across one of Yasmeen’s videos – sharing stories from her little noodle shop at the restaurant. He dropped a message on the video, telling her he would be visiting the next day. A memorable visitor For Yasmeen, the short message on the video meant the world. "I came to restaurant and I was so excited. I told all the staff, 'My brother is coming today.' And honestly, they were a little puzzled, because how much food can one customer eat,” she said, laughing. “But for me it meant so much to see someone travelling all the way from China and telling me he wanted to eat at my restaurant,” she said. A community that gives back Since then, though, similar stories have become almost routine. One customer watched her videos while jogging in Mushrif Park before driving over with his two children. Later, he returned with his mother and extended family. Another customer from China asked her to surprise a friend for his birthday, with Yasmeen going out of her way to not just offer a cake, but a compulsory bowl of noodle soup. “You have to have noodles on your birthday,” she said. “Long noodles represent a long life, good health and endless blessings,” she added. With her videos being shared in China as well, she had another coup