Dishes
Milkfish rice-noodle soup
虱目魚米粉湯
Also called: milkfish belly soup · 虱目魚肚漿湯
Milkfish belly and fish paste in a light broth with rice noodles, an early-morning bowl in Kaohsiung.
Photo: 迷惘的人生, CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo: bryan... from Taipei, Taiwan, CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo: bryan... from Taipei, Taiwan, CC BY-SA 2.0What it is
Thick strips of milkfish belly, skin on, in a thin starch coating, served with plenty of fish paste in a clear soup. The rice noodles are slightly thick with a bit of bite, and the broth picks up the sweet richness of the belly fat. You can usually swap the noodles for rice.
Where it comes from
Milkfish is the most popular fish in Taiwanese cooking, prized for tender meat at a low price. Taiwan developed an outdoor hatchery technique in 1987 and has since been one of the biggest producers of milkfish fry in the Indo-Pacific. Kaohsiung holds an annual milkfish festival.
How it is made
The belly is cut into thick strips with the skin left on and given a light starch coating. It is served in the soup together with fish paste, and rice noodles go into the bowl.
How to eat it
Breakfast and early lunch are the hours for it. Locals mix the soy sauce and wasabi on the table into a sweet, slightly sharp dip for the fish. Try a piece or two plain first.
In Kaohsiung
In Yancheng, Kaohsiung, the roughly 60-year-old stall inside the Dagouding covered market is treated as an old-style Kaohsiung breakfast.
Where to eat it in Kaohsiung
Sources