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Video (00:16) Fresh noodles are stretched by hand at the new Magic Noodle in St. Paul.

How much are those noodles in the window?

Freshly made noodles in a soup.
Freshly made noodles in a soup.

Hannah Sayle — Sharyn Jackson, Star Tribune

At Magic Noodle (1337 W. University Av., St. Paul, 651-369-6688, magicnoodleusa.com), you can watch the hand-pulled noodles being stretched from a window between the restaurant's kitchen and the dining room.

The new Chinese noodle shop on St. Paul's University Avenue specializes in the traditional hand-pulling practice, by which fresh dough is stretched, twisted and folded into strands for use in soups and stir-frys. The result is a noodle that's springier and chewier than the dried variety found elsewhere.

Here, the noodles come in five signature bowls (Taiwanese tomato and beef brisket soup; Chongqing spicy noodle soup) and a handful of fried noodle entrees.