LanZhou Noodle shops - ubiquitous quick snack

You can see these on streets near residential areas everywhere in Shanghai.  These dinky (sometime dirty-looking) noodle shops are usually owned by Muslims from Lanzhou, the capital city of the western province Gansu, but could be owned by other out-of-towners from the northern regions also.  Because they're very cheap compared to other types of food, many laborers like to eat in these shops.  For $4-10RMB, you can get a big bowl of freshly made noodles with some meat topping.  Most have photos of the different noodles so you can just point to the one you want.  You can try the "dao xiao mian", which is noodles that's shaved off from a big dough by a sharp, curvy blade.  The only thing is that the soup tends to be pretty oily so you might not want to drink it.  Check to see if the shop is decently clean.  A good sign is if the workers are wearing the Muslim caps and the floor is not full of oily noodles (this is just my guess ;) .