Huzhou Beef Noodles
Thin wheat noodles in a dark, soy-based beef broth topped with slices of slow-braised beef, chopped garlic chives and spring onion, with chilli oil added to taste at the table.
How to eat it
Stir the bowl from the bottom before eating so the noodles pick up the broth and the beef slices loosen. Eat noodles and beef together with chopsticks, using the spoon for the broth. Chilli oil, vinegar and pickled greens are on the counter and you add your own; the default bowl is not spicy. The noodles are thin and cook soft, so eat them promptly before they swell. A large bowl is a full meal. Ask for "gān bàn", dry-mixed, if you prefer the noodles tossed in sauce with the broth served separately.
The story behind the dish
Beef noodles are not an ancient Huzhou dish; they became a fixture of the city's breakfast and lunch trade over recent decades, and the style has since spread to other towns in northern Zhejiang, where shops advertise it by the Huzhou name. What defines it is the broth, darker and sweeter than northern beef noodle soups because of the local soy sauce, and the thin noodles that suit a quick meal. Many of the shops are run by families who have kept the same recipe for a generation, and a fair number are halal, reflecting the Hui Muslim families involved in the beef trade.
For reference
Every kitchen does it its own way. What follows is the typical version — ingredients, heat and price shift from city to city and from one restaurant to the next, so take it as a guide rather than a fixed recipe.
If you have an allergy or something you can't eat, check with the staff before you order.