Yi mein (yi-mian noodles)

What it is

In Yanshui and Kaohsiung, yi mein are egg noodles served dry with meat sauce, sliced pork and bean sprouts, soft with a slight chew. In Tainan, guo-shao yi-mian is a single-portion pot of fried noodles cooked in broth with seafood, sliced meat and egg. Some shops, like Cheng Shi, use a light kombu broth with clams or vegetables.

Where it comes from

Cantonese yi mein is traditionally credited to the Qing official Yi Bingshou. For Tainan's pot-cooked version, accounts differ: one links it to Japanese nabeyaki udon, a legend tells of a chef who accidentally fried noodles at an official's banquet, and a Tainan food-business owner interviewed by Mirror Media dismisses both as unorthodox. A popular account traces Yanshui's noodles to Fuzhou cooks who came with Koxinga, which is why they are also called Fuzhou noodles. Mirror Media says the pot-cooked dish became a Tainan favourite through the Sakariba snack market.

How it is made

Yanshui noodles are made with duck eggs in place of water and sun-dried instead of using preservatives, which gives them more bite. For guo-shao yi-mian the noodles are fried so they keep, then cooked to order in a small pot of broth with the toppings.

How to eat it

In Tainan, pot-cooked yi-mian is a full meal on its own. Elsewhere, order the dry noodles and add chilli if you like heat. A bowl of pork thick soup is a common partner.

In Kaohsiung

That same food-business owner reckons Tainan eats more pot-cooked yi-mian than the rest of Taiwan combined. Yanshui has its own dry style, and Kaohsiung's A-Wan, open since 1963, learned its noodles from a Yanshui relative.