Many northerners who come to Jiangnan will be surprised by the eating habits here: they are obviously in the south, but they eat wheat noodles even more fiercely than northerners.
Needless to say, Su-style noodle soup, thin silver noodles, red and white noodle soup, and a wide variety of toppings, you can eat it for a month without getting tired of it. He can be called the "squad leader" of Gangnam.
But who is the candidate for "vice squad leader"? I think Hangzhou noodles and Huzhou noodles can take over.
Let’s take a look at these two noodle restaurants.
Hangzhou-Fuxing Noodle King
/ Tomato juice mixed with Sichuan, kidney flower slices/
Hangzhou is a city where legendary small noodle restaurants emerge in large numbers. Kui Yuan Pavilion, Zhuang Yuan Pavilion, and Deyi Lou; to Juying Noodle Shop, which is on the tip of the tongue, and its contemporaries Zhonger Noodle Shop and Huijuan Noodle Shop; to the new generation of Internet celebrities Fang Laoda Mian, Lao Qiaotou, and Chen Baliang. They are emerging one after another. According to friends from the Industrial and Commercial Office, the total number is close to 9,000.
But no noodle shop has the confidence to call itself a "king" like Fuxing Noodle King.
The so-called Fuxing refers to Fuxing Road, a food street in the old town of Hangzhou - not the kind of food city planned by the government, but a hard-core food gathering place that grew naturally based on the surrounding communities.
On a review, a search for food along Fuxing Road yielded 27 pages of results!
It is said that the predecessor of Fuxing Noodle King was the uncrowned king who fought his way out of this highly dense catering battlefield.
Today’s Fuxing Noodle King’s new store has moved to Hedong Road, but it still maintains the characteristics of the uncrowned king.
Queue is of course the first element.
Fuxing Noodle King really has the confidence of a "king" and uses a transparent kitchen that is rarely seen in Chinese noodle restaurants. According to fellow catering experts, the cleaning cost of a transparent kitchen for open-fire Chinese dining is at least double that of a traditional kitchen.
Correspondingly, there is no cashier in the front hall. You can say "I want pork liver noodles" through the glass to the aunt who is frying the toppings, and then scan the QR code to pay. There is no one to supervise you, and there is no waiter. Recommending products and serving dishes to you.
To put it bluntly, these unconventional settings are due to the self-proclaimed "king" of the noodle shop and its confidence in the quality of its products.
The toppings are fried and the noodles are cooked at the same time, and the hand holding the spoon is flying up and down, dizzying.
The sparks generated by the collision of food fat and high temperature roll up to a foot high, and the aroma catalyzed by the high fire is unmatched by any Michelin-starred restaurant. This is the source of courage for diners who wait in long lines to stick to the queue.
Look up and look at the unit prices of the noodles. Shredded pork with Sichuan noodles is 15 yuan, large row of noodles is 15 yuan, and sliced ??noodles are 15 yuan... The most expensive fried eel with shrimp is 46 yuan. To get a feel for it, it should be in Hangzhou. Regular price for noodles.
Tomato sauce mixed with Sichuan is the signature of Fuxing Noodle King. Although the authentic Hangzhou-style Sichuan is mixed with chives and shredded pork and I have never seen it with tomato sauce, but after trying it, I still think it is authentic. Hangzhou noodles taste.
Why? The characteristics of Hangzhou-style Sichuan noodles are more oil, high heat, and raw noodles. It is smoother than fried noodles and has a wok-like flavor than stir-fried noodles.
Fuxing Noodle King’s tomato sauce mixed with Sichuan all covers these characteristics. Tomato juice replaces soy sauce, and the fire explodes with a dense taste of sweet and sour, which is very watery and refreshing Jiangnan flavor.
Pianerchuan is a compulsory course to test whether Hangzhou’s noodles are authentic or not. In order to reflect the authenticity, Fuxing Noodle King, in addition to the traditional Pianerchuan, also offers waist flower Pianerchuan and fried eel Pianerchuan. Sichuan, shrimp loin slices and crispy fish fillets are the four "kings of fried" Sichuan cuisine.
The noodles used to make Pianerchuan noodles are long and flat alkaline noodles with a slightly raw core. The noodles have a refreshing and strong texture. Hangzhou people call this feature "raw cage". If you see the popular thin round noodles, handmade noodles, and small wide noodles, they are all unqualified.
For pickled vegetables, you should use dry and slightly black pickled vegetables without marinade. Otherwise, they will not be fragrant enough. You must not use wet yellow pickled vegetables. The sourness will affect the pickled vegetables. For the texture of noodles, you can’t use the emerald-green “Potherb Mustard”, which has more flavor but not enough richness;
Bamboo shoots are also a must. Winter bamboo shoots, spring bamboo shoots, whip bamboo shoots, and hairy bamboo shoots are always the best choice throughout the year. There will be no shortage of it. At the turn of autumn and winter, there is a "break" period of more than a month, so use dried bamboo shoots to make up for it. Never substitute wild rice, lettuce, or even king oyster mushrooms.
The so-called "Pianerchuan" is actually the eating habit brought by the royal family of the Southern Song Dynasty from Henan. Noodles meet the Central Plains cuisine "Tangbo" technique. Pour the bamboo shoot slices and lean meat slices into the oil pan, add pickled cabbage soup, and then serve with boiled uncooked noodles.
Following these traditions, Fuxing Noodle King is very authentic. Even with the addition of typical Soviet-style noodle soup ingredients such as kidney, shrimp, eel slices and crispy fish, as well as ingredients such as oil residue, it is still delicious. It can be seen that Hangzhou noodles are distant relatives of Central Plains noodles.
Huzhou-Zhongji Noodle House
/Eel loin noodles, shredded pork shrimp noodles, fried fish noodles/
If we talk about Hangzhou noodles, we must talk about the origin and origin. Bloodline, this is the kind of food that "resides at the top of the temple". As for the Huzhou side, it is more tainted with the scenery of the Jiangnan small bridges and flowing water in the Wu-speaking area, which is the legend of "being far away from the rivers and lakes".
This noodle shop is located in a small town called Lianshi in Huzhou. Starting from here, Wuzhen Scenic Area is ten kilometers away and Nanxun Ancient Town is twenty kilometers away.
Just by looking at these two surrounding place names, you can roughly imagine what kind of town this is.
The name of the noodle shop is very simple. Because it is opened on the main road of the town, "Zhongji Road", it was named "Zhongji Noodle House" on the spot.
It was Saturday noon when I went to eat, and the small noodle shop was crowded. To a certain extent, whether the lunch business on non-working days is good or not is an important criterion for judging whether a noodle shop is outstanding. After all, lunch on weekdays is mostly for filling the stomach, and if you can still afford it on weekends, it is undoubtedly for the taste.
Price in the town is still cheap. Basically, you can eat signature noodles such as pork liver, fried fish, kidney, and tripe for about ten yuan. At 20 yuan, you can get the luxurious "double pouring" shrimp kidney and eel kidney.
The most popular thing in Huzhou is not soup noodles, but "dry noodles". If you don’t make special requests to the boss, you will be given dry pickled noodles by default.
This kind of noodles that has been on the "tip of the tongue" is different from Su-style soup noodles and Hangzhou-style Sichuan noodles. The so-called "dry picking" does not mean that there is no soup, but the marinade that naturally overflows when frying the toppings is used to lubricate the noodles.
"Pick" is also very important, which means to constantly stir the noodles high so that a small amount of oily juice can be evenly distributed on the noodles.
The noodles are Suzhou-style thin round noodles. They become chewy after being stirred in a small pot for a few times.
I ate the most expensive eel kidney, which was very filling. The eel slices were stir-fried with the fungus, which gave off a rich wok aroma. When you took a bite, it was crispy; the kidney flowers were stir-fried with the bamboo shoot tips. It cooks quickly and has a light and tender flavor.
Two different flavors of toppings poured on the noodles are like the moment when morning and darkness meet, igniting the light in the eyes of diners.
The 12-yuan shredded pork and shrimp noodles are a surprise. The combination of pickled vegetables, shredded bamboo shoots, dried fragrant vegetables and shredded pork is a refreshing white color, with the addition of pink shrimp. It is as beautiful as the misty rain in the south of the Yangtze River. . The shrimps are smooth and tender, and the shredded meat is chewy. You must hang it on the noodles and scoop it into your mouth to live up to your life.
In order to experience soup noodles, the boss prepared another fried fish and pork noodles with soup. The fried fish is thin and large, fried to a crispy texture, and softened by the noodle soup. The taste of fish, fried fish, and chive shredded pork soup come together. This is by no means a taste that can only be tasted in big cities.
It is particularly worth mentioning that Zhongji Noodle House’s Huzhou wontons are also very authentic. Giant wontons are probably the most famous snack in Huzhou besides rice dumplings and Qianzhang Bao. In addition to pork, bamboo shoots, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and chopped green onions are also added to the stuffing. Wonton soup must be made with shredded eggs and bone broth.
Regular customers will ask for a bowl of wontons with soup to eat with dry pickled noodles. There is no need for additional drinks. The staple food and soup are included.
As for the taste, just look at the picture and imagine it.