Bowltiful has opened a new restaurant in Swanston Street, Melbourne, bringing the number of franchised locations to three. Five more stores will be opening soon in Victoria, three in NSW, and there are plans underway to launch the brand in Queensland, South Australia and WA.
Bowltiful was founded in 2019 by Charlie Zhang. Born in Lanzhou, the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China, he moved to Melbourne as a high school student. With him came his love of authentic Lanzhou noodles.
The noodles are hand pulled in the Lanzhou style, which involves working the balls of soft dough hard in straight, quick tugs. All Bowltiful chefs train for at least six months with expert Lanzhou masters to learn the art. The noodles are all made in house from scratch, stretched and pulled into nine different thicknesses and shapes, then cooked to order. For noodles this fresh that takes no more than 60 seconds.
Choose your own noodle
Bowltiful prides itself on having the largest range of ‘choose your own noodle’ varieties, with each serve topped with hot broth and a range of traditional Chinese toppings. As a Chinese Muslim, Zhang was the first to offer Lanzhou noodles that feature on pure halal.
There are also vegetarian options and Lanzhou-style burgers.
Bowltiful franchisees are passionate about continuing the Lanzhou tradition. A simplified onboarding, training, and operational model is designed to provide all the tools and support a franchisee needs in order to focus on providing the freshest Lanzhou noodles and building the restaurant’s success.
