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The story:

It is said that over-the-bridge rice noodles was first made in Mengzi County in South Yunnan more than 100 years ago. At that time there was a south lake outside the county town. A bridge zigzagged to an islet in the lake, where it was quiet and very suitable for people to read. The story goes that a xiu cai (xiu cai was a scholar in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1616-1911) dynasties who passed the imperial examination at the county level) was attracted by the peace and quietness of an island there. He settled into a cottage on the island, in preparation for further official examination. And his wife sent the meals to him. But the xiu cai was usually too absorbed in his books that he often forgot to eat his meals. When he finally realized it, the meals were cool, and he just ate a little and became thin as time went by. His wife was worried about this. One day, she cooked a fat chicken and sent it in a pot to her husband and went back to work. After some time, she went to see whether her husband had finished his meal. This time, he forgot to eat his meal again. But to her surprise, the chicken broth was still warm. It so happened that the oil layer on the surface had preserved the temperature of the broth. The overjoyed wife found a good way to do meals for her husband. From then on, she often prepared some broth and rice noodles before hand, and crossed the bridge and cooked the prepared ingredients in the hot broth. And the local people also like this kind of food, which they called over-the-bridge rice noodle.
Yunnan people introduced over-the-bridge rice noodle into Kunming in 1920

(per serve)

  • 60 gm (2 oz.) beef, thinly sliced
  • 60 gm (2 oz.) pork loin, thinly sliced
  • 60 m (2 oz.) shrimp, cleaned and de-veined
  • 4-5 scallops
  • 60 gm (2 oz.) boneless chicken breast
  • Mung bean sprouts
  • Scallions, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 115 gm (~¼ lb.) round rice vermicelli
  • 180 ml (3 cups) hot, reduced chicken stock
  • 60 ml (4Tbsp) hot vegetable oil


  1. Cook vermicelli noodles and set aside.
  2. Slice all the seafood, meat, and vegetables and arrange on serving dish.
  3. Place 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ginger and ½ teaspoon white pepper at the bottom of a serving bowl,
  4. pour in hot oil, add chicken stock, and stir.
  5. Everyone adds their portion of vegetables, meats and seafood to the hot liquid and eats it with their
  6. noodles.