edible ENDEAVOR
Chop Chop
Bringing Authentic Street-Style Noodles Into Your Home
E
by EMILY TREADWAY ugene Lin and Steve Har, founders of the Austin-based
Compared to the conventional flavors of supermarket ramen, Chop Chop
company Chop Chop, want to redesign America’s instant
offers Tom Yum, Kimchi Udon, Tokyo Curry and Penang Curry. Lin and
ramen experience. “Having both grown up in traditional
Har call Chop Chop’s kitchen the “funk lab” because they’re not afraid
Asian immigrant households, our childhoods revolved around instant
to come up with tastes that may be unfamiliar to the average American.
noodles,” Lin says. But these were not the bland, dry, packaged noodles
According to Har, there’s soul, harmony and a ton of umami that make up
sold in supermarkets: Lin and Har want to introduce people to the true
the flavor of each bowl of Chop Chop’s noodles.
flavors inspired by the street food of Asia. “Our flavors are bold and uncensored, our ingredients wholesome and clean, and our noodle bowls as convenient to make as they were when we were kids,” Lin says. Chop Chop produces homemade, fresh-frozen noodle soup bowls that are sold in the freezer sections of select local independent grocers and national market chains in Austin. For the noodle fanatic, Chop Chop’s Club Mian delivers noodle bowls directly to customers’ doors. Members get to mix and match noodle cups and have their orders delivered at the beginning of every month. Chop Chop also delivers
explains, “but there’s also parsnip as a topping so that when you taste sweetness, you’re doing so in layers. In our Tokyo Curry, we make a curry roux by hand, so you get all the complex flavor from turmeric contrasting with the spiciness of cinnamon.” Chop Chop makes a cold brew kombu dashi — their vegetarian broth base — which combines mushrooms, alliums, miso, gochujang and tomatoes. Many of these ingredients have gone through a fermentation process that brings out the deep savory flavors usually found in traditional meat and bone-based broths, but “in a way that is healthier for you and more sustainable for the planet,” Lin says.
individual orders for non-
The typical grocery store product focuses on simplicity over complexity
club members, too. Chop
of taste for cost reasons. And while Lin admits there are lots of exciting,
Chop is Lin and Har’s third
up-and-coming Asian food brands, he and Har never want finances to
venture together, and it is
hinder their creation of complex flavors or great taste.
their most personal one. “It’s a labor of love,” Lin states. The friends first met
photo by SARA RYAN
“We use agave to introduce caramel-like sweetness that adds depth,” Har
at an innovation and design company
where
both
worked to help corporations and startups create new, healthier and more sustainable food brands. Then they worked together with a
Each dish is inspired by an authentic, personal experience, Har says. “Our noodle bowls are moments that we treasure and, in a way, are frozen snippets of time we want the people of Texas to get a taste of.” For future flavors, they want to create nostalgic, yet innovative dishes based on not only the experiences of their youth but also on their knowledge of Asian street food blended with the best of Texas.
specialty coffee chain in Shanghai, and after spending more than a
“We felt it was time to create an elegant take on an iconic product like
decade in Asia, they returned to an America where Asian
instant ramen,” Lin says. “And what better place to do that than from
products at grocery stores were often the cheap commodity
Austin, Texas, where comfort food is treated with respect and craft?”
choice. These choices represented “neither the Asian experience nor our Asian American experience,” Lin notes.
To experience authentic Asian noodles in your home, place orders online at chopchop.cc.
In response, Lin and Har decided to make their own healthy, plantbased street noodles with no artificial flavors or additives, while still providing the expected convenience of instant noodle bowls. “No need to watch over a stovetop for hours on end,” Har says.
Eugene Lin and Steve Har by JULIET YZNAGA 14 / EdibleAustin.com
EdibleAustin.com / 15
