A Deep Dive at Uncle Zhou Henan-Style Chinese Food

Although noodles are the main draw at Uncle Zhou, it's hard to go wrong with any of the traditional Henan-style dishes at this bustling Chinese eatery.

How to write an article on Uncle Zhou (pronounced “Uncle Joe”), a busy Chinese restaurant that moved to Plano from New York in late 2019? Well, this article could easily be a tender love letter to Chef Zhou’s dial oil noodles, the vinegary, oily and flavor-packed noodles that will surely excite your taste buds as you ponder whether the entrée is one of the best noodle dishes you’ve ever had the pleasure of eating.

However, a well-deserved amount of ink has already been spilled celebrating this house-special dish. It's been written about in the Michelin Guide, which included the Henan-style Chinese eatery in its restaurant guidebook when it was in Queens, New York. It’s also been mentioned multiple times in The New York Times, and in regional publications and travel sites. More recently it was trending on Instagram.
Similarly, much has been said about the other noodle plates and dough-based dishes for that matter, like the beef hand-drawn wide noodles or the pork and chive dumplings. Uncle Zhou built its reputation on its hand-drawn noodles, and it's easy to see why. So, order the noodles: It’s a must.

Still, it would truly be a disservice to ignore the other masterful dishes on Uncle Zhou’s menu and focus only on noodles and dumplings.
So, let’s consider some other dishes, like the dry stir-fry mushrooms with thick-sliced, perfectly tender mushrooms, coated in a batter that crunches with every bite. The entire dish is topped with chives, garlic, chilis and a subtle hint of Chinese peppercorn that sends a slight numbing sensation through the mouth.

If aroma is an important part of your dining experience, you may want to order the cumin fish filet. This dish does not quite tickle the nose — rather, it completely engulfs your sense of smell and fills it with fragrant cumin. Only when you bite into one of the fish filets can you truly appreciate the diced garlic and cilantro stalks that perfectly complement the flavor of the dried cumin.
Uncle Zhou does have a few menu items that pickier eaters may shy away from, such as the dry fried pork intestines or the sliced beef and tripe tendons. But, if you are even the slightest bit adventurous, this is a place where you cannot go wrong in terms of flavor. The Henan-style pork belly, for example, is wonderfully prepared. Each bite has an excellent fat-to-meat ratio and is coated in a sweet and salty sauce.

If you are unsure of what to order, the servers seem genuinely excited to give their recommendations. This is how we found out about the dragon eggplant, which you won’t want to miss. Our server told us their favorite way to eat a couple of the dishes we ordered, including the spare rib kou wan.

The restaurant also deserves special praise for serving up its high-quality food at reasonable prices. To that end, it has received the Bib Gourmand designation from Michelin, which is awarded only to those restaurants deemed the “best value for the money.”

It is probably obvious, but we consider ourselves lucky that Uncle Zhou moved here from its former home in New York. Henan-style Chinese food is far less common in North Texas than its Sichuan counterpart, and Chef Zhou consistently produces food that leaves us wanting more and more.

We will leave you with a tip: arrive early or be prepared for a wait. Uncle Zhou is walk-in only, and it fills up quickly. Fortunately, the kitchen churns out orders with surprising haste.

Uncle Zhou, 8200 Preston Road, No. 110, Plano. Monday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. and 5–10 p.m.