Another specialty is a-bok jengban, thin slices of beef served in a broth and topped with slivers of golden egg pancake, green scallions, red sweet peppers and white pear that is as crisp as an apple.
The plainest version of the hot soba is served in a broth brightened up by pinches of yuzu and mitsuba.
Main courses include grilled salmon with sumac butter; Provencal beef short ribs braised in red wine; cumin-spiced chicken; and porcini-crusted seared halibut served in a light broth of poached garlic, warm arugula and wild mushrooms finished with a lapsang-infused oil.
This combination of moulded pork fat and thick white cuttlefish takes some chewing but, served in a good broth of spring onions, is delicious.
But as a consolation, China Tasty may be the only place in the west SGV to serve real Lanzhou-style noodles - chewy, pully things hand-thrown to order by a chef whose talents are displayed in a glassed-in kitchen - which you can get stir-fried with meat and vegetables or served in an intense broth of beef or lamb.
His signature dish comes in two versions, the first of which, "bouillabaisse," is the more traditional, served in a saffron broth with dabs of rouille on large croutons at the edge of the dish.
There is also very good crab cappelletti, the stuffed hats of pasta served in a garlicky broth with a delegation of Manila clams, and spaghetti alla chitarra, with crisp guanciale and melting prosciutto, red onion, a slap of chicken broth, pecorino Romano and a soft poached egg.
But overdone halibut with lentils and tough baby turnips had little focus, and exotic-sounding but ordinary-tasting wheels of rainbow trout, served in a bowl of broth, came with honshimeji mushrooms whose crispness was unfortunately cooked out.
