My first impression of Yunshang
Rice Noodle involved the nose – it smelled SO comforting. It’s difficult to
describe without experiencing it, but the dining room is encapsulated in a
fragrant but clean smell - almost like tucking your nose into freshly cleaned
sheets that comes out of the dryer. That is, if a Bounce sheet was replaced by
slow cooked bone broth.
The aroma made me even hungrier
for the bowl of crossing-the-bridge noodles I was about to tuck into. A popular
dish from Yunnan in China, Yunshang is serving it from March 15-31, 2019 to
celebrate the grand opening of their newest North York location (unfortunately,
at the single location only). It’s limited to 50 sets per day with the
exception of the first weekend where they will be giving out 100 sets for free
on the 15th and 16th, so if you want to experience
the dish, head in early - the giveaway starts at 6pm!
Undoubtedly, heads turn as the large
wooden platter is set on the table. Each step of the Yunshang bridge rice
noodle ($19.99) is filled with something to enhance the bowl: half a lobster
tail, shrimp, French kiss oyster from Diana’s Seafood, a plump scallop, sliced
beef, quail eggs, fish cakes, imitation crab sticks, enoki mushrooms, Chinese
lettuce slivers, and egg tofu.
Similar to the traditional
noodles, a large bowl of boiling broth is brought out along with raw or lightly
cooked ingredients. Diners are then supposed to add all the ingredients into
the broth, allow it to cook for a minute, then add the noodles and stir to
create a hearty bowl filled with varied ingredients.
Yunshang has changed the recipe
to adapt to Canadian taste buds. Firstly, the traditional layer of chicken fat
floating on top of the soup, which is used to insulate the heat is eliminated
for health reasons. Secondly, while the typical dish tends to be more meat
based, they’ve added seafood to create diverse flavours.
With a choice of five soup bases,
I highly suggest having one bowl with the original base. It may sound plain
compared to options, but I really enjoyed that deep bone broth taste.
Michael, store manager of the
North York location, explains that as soon as chefs arrive in the morning, a
large pot is filled with pork and chicken bones, seafood, and other spices and
cooked for 12 hours to create this broth. After skimming off the fat, they
allow the broth to sit overnight so that the sediments settle to the bottom and
they’re left with a clear consommé the following day. Yes, it takes an entire
day to create the broth, therefore to not try it in its simplest form would be
a shame.
If you’re dining with someone
else, I’d suggest getting one of the other bases to mix into the perfect combination.
For a second bowl, we ordered the Yungshang rice noodle soup with spicy sauce
($9.99). It would have been much too spicy on its own (despite being only two
chilis) but diluting it with some of the original base allowed us to create a
base that had pronounce chili flavours without inciting a coughing fit.
While the ingredients in the
regular noodle soup are not nearly as luxurious as the bridge noodle, there was
nonetheless a nice mixture of meat, seafood, and vegetarian products – the corn
a great sweet contrast in the soup. Even with all the cold ingredients added,
the broth remained really hot, thanks to the heated stone bowl.
The rice noodles (lai
fun) can get a bit soft in the soup, so if you like them nice more al
dante, I suggest adding them gradually as you eat the noodles. Being
fairly neutral, it really takes on the flavours of the soup base and the
ingredients you’re eating with it.
Despite coming with a sizeable
portion of the silky noodles, Yunshang offers free refills for
anyone who’s really hungry or just wants to have noodles with every last drop
of soup. They are serious about making sure customers leave full, noting the
hungriest eater tucked back seven bowls in one sitting! If you find the soup is
getting depleted, you can order more of that for an extra $2.
While the noodles are the draw,
their menu also has a variety of cold and hot dishes. Sure they’re labelled as
“snacks”, but the portions are fairly large and can easily be shared amongst
four people. While I found the batter of the salty popcorn chicken ($6.99) too
powdery and dry for my taste, the deep fried squid tentacles ($6.99) really hit
the spot and were tasty enough that I didn’t need the spicy mayo that arrives
on the side.
For those who prefers something
lighter, there’s also a selection of cold dishes such as offal’s in chili sauce
or vegetarian items such as fresh seaweed tossed with soy sauce and shredded
cucumber with garlic.
Being my first experience having
bridge noodles, I was intrigued on how its name was derived. Unfortunately,
there’s no definitive origin for a dish that’s been around for over a century,
rather Wikipedia offers two suggestions:
The first being a wife crossing a
bridge to bring her husband his daily noodles found that the soup became cold
and the noodles soggy. Therefore, she separated the ingredients and ensured
there was a layer of oil on top to ensure when her husband ate the noodles,
they were at its best.
A less dreamy explanation
suggests the “bridge” is actually just the act of transferring ingredients
between small containers to the bowl. Call me a romantic, but I’m going with
the devoted wife.
While
Michael thinks they will offer the dish on “special occasions” – perhaps during
the opening of their next five stores (the closest being a Mississauga
location) – due to the prep work and food costs it’s definitely something that
won’t be regularly available. Whether you’re a romantic or just someone who
wants an awesome food pic, make sure you head to Yunshang’s North York location
before March ends.
