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The owners have applied a calculated polish to the second branch of this Chinatown noodle bar. Shake machines gyrate with stainless-steel cylinders of taro-spiked ice cream; shimmering silver shingles dangle from the ceiling to announce the 40 ingredients and half-dozen noodle varieties available that day; and attractive women in logo-baring uniforms await to construct your bowl of brothy goodness. Fight your way past the hungry mob of business men and iPod-packing teens, and you’ll be rewarded with a pile of bouncy noodles spiked with fatty slices of tender beef shank, stalks of al dente Chinese broccoli, or, oddly enough, whole hot dogs. Though it might be tough to contemplate the perfect bowl (will it be curried squid and pigs blood or turnips and Spam?) over the cacophony of staccato conversation, Chinese pop, and brazen slurping, take solace in the fact that the chicken broth and the arsenal of sauces can make friends out of nearly any combination of ingredients, no matter how seemingly disparate. — Matt Goulding

Beef stew, $1.25; seasonal veggies, $1.25; curry fish balls, $1.25