Listed as an “intangible cultural heritage of Kunming city” since 2008, Crossing the Bridge Noodles 過橋米線 carries with it a legend from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). A scholar was studying for the imperial exams on an island city. Every day his wife would make his favorite noodles for lunch and bring them across the bridge over to the island. Unfortunately, the noodles were soft and the soup cold by the time he husband received his lunch.
The wife soon discovered that she could keep the soup hot by insulating it with a layer of chicken fat on top. She further innovated by separating the noodles, toppings, and the soup during the transport. After arriving, she would put everything into the hot soup, sort of "cooking it" on the spot. The resultant dish was perfect. Now her husband could enjoy a fantastic bowl of hot soup with chewy "al dente" noodles and freshly cooked ingredients.
This innovative transportation method spread throughout Kunming and beyond. Now, restaurants serve the dish with the hot soup, toppings, and noodles separately for you to mix together on your own.
We visited a tiny little shop inside of a strip mall called黃老媽 (roughly translated as Granda Huang). Their specialty was ivory tusk grass 草芽 crossing the bridge noodles from Jianshui (建水草芽过桥米线). We had just visited Jianshui, an old city in Yunnan Province with tons of history, just last year.
Ivory tusk grass is a rare and expensive vegetable from the neighboring town of Jianshui 建水. The owner told us that it's hard to get this vegetable anywhere beyond Kunming because if you travel any further, the transport time will be too long and the vegetable won't keep.
"This vegetable is the most expensive thing on the menu. It costs more than the meat!" he said.
This special signature version of Crossing the Bridge Noodles costs 38 RMB ($5.25), which is considered quite expensive, considering the normal ones (where you pick your toppings), cost only about RMB 16-20 ($2-$3 USD).
A lot of places will serve this dish on a mini bridge, which is pretty cute, certainly a nod to the legend of its origins. We reenact the bridge story here by adding 18 different toppings!
This little shop is in a strip mall a little outside central Kunming. It was immaculately clean, and the owner really seemed passionate about his product. The soup was delicious, and, still felt really inexpensive (6 US dollars), even though it's already pretty expensive for these parts.
黃老媽建水草芽过桥米线
昆明市五华区中铁云时代
