Unlike Foong, I had not yet written on any local delicacy in Guilin (桂林). Let me introduce to you Guilin rice noodles (桂林米粉). Guilin rice noodles have long captivated me few months before our Guilin trip when I first read about this delicacy in some of the Guilin travel sites. I did some findings prior to writing this post. I found out that Guilin folks has started to eat rice noodles since some 2,300 years ago! Gosh, that is a long history! At that time, Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) of the Qin Dynasty 秦朝 (221 – 206 BC) sent his troops into the region in his attempt to unify China. The troops were not accustomed to the climate in Guilin plus food supply difficulties due to the fact that the region is located in mountainous areas, many of the soldiers often get hungry and sick. Besides, the troops also had trouble eating the local food. A cook thus created the Guilin rice noodles.
Since the Qin Dynasty, Guilin rice noodles have been the local breakfast staple. On our second morning in Guilin, I set out to locate this local delicacy for breakfast. We found this restaurant named Chong Shan Restaurant (崇善米粉店) located on Zheng Yang Pedestrian Street (正阳步行街). I could see that this restaurant is quite popular among local folks because there is always a long queue waiting to go in. You have to make your order and pay at a counter at the entrance. A coupon is then given to you and you can use it to claim your food inside the restaurant.
Outside Chong Shan Rice Noodles Restaurant
A long queue!
Redeem your coupon for the rice noodles
Inside the restaurant
This is our rice noodles. If I am not mistaken, it is called pickled vegetable rice noodles (卤菜粉). Rice noodles are of course made of rice starch. I would call it the bigger size version of our very own Malaysian style rice vermicelli (bihun).
Pickled vegetable rice noodles
Guilinggao
There is a board inside the restaurant giving advice on what is the best way to eat this picked vegetable rice noodles. One has to first stir and mix well the rice noodle and the topping. The noodle and the topping is first eaten without the soup. Once the topping has run out, you can add soup to the rest of your noodles. Besides, there are also various sauces and spices you can add to your noodles. Unfortunately, I only found out this a little too late!
A piece of advice!
A pot of soup
We continued to have rice noodles for our breakfast in the next few mornings. We had also tried the famed horse meat rice noodles (马肉米粉). However, too much of the same food makes you throw up! Nonetheless, Guilin rice noodles are a must try local delicacy when one is in Guilin and Yangshuo (阳朔)!
Horse meat rice noodles
Horse meat rice noodles
Technorati Tags: Guilin, Guilin rice noodles
The Guilin Rice Noodles by Life Is Like That, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Malaysia License.
jam | 
October 19th, 2009 | 
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kaka (1)
Yeah, I feel like throwing up already if I continue eating those rice noodles! Haha! I wonder how they can eat that every morning for breakfast! It’s OK to eat it once in a while though. But I actually like that they put in nuts – very different from the noodles here in Malaysia.
The guilinggao was not up to my standard. So watery like tong shui. I think I still prefer our own Koong Woh Tong’s version :em20:
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I would like to have Guilin rice noodles once in a while, definitely not everyday.
Horse meat noodle as in using horse meat?
I see they put kacang in there. Unique.
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Yes, using horse meat, this is what I had been told. Ya, putting nuts in and eat with noodles is quite unique! But it taste nice :thumbup_tb:
[...] Go here to see the original: Guilin Rice Noodles | Life Is Like That [...]
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Wow! Can have the best of both worlds of Guilin; we have “karya” in Jam’s blog and “butter” in foongpc’s blog and put the two together we get “roti yin-yong” great combination, no kopi aw kaw kaw leh :hk76:. Is the horse meat “tough”?
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Very interesting description indeed, Chea! The horse meat is not rubbery, in fact it is as tender as pork.
i dont know abt u guys but i would love to try the noodles. they look nice
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I like the taste of Guilin rice noodles, but definitely not eating everyday.
Is that really horse meat in that noodle dish? I don’t think I can stomach that….coz I will be thinking of the poor horsey….eeks.
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I think it is really horse meat. We didn’t think too much and just swallowed it! Anyway, only got a few pieces in 1 bowl.
:em23: WOW!…love eat the noodle with groundnuts in…delicious…mummy! Other thing is that it is smart to use the “coupon system” in their trading… very orderly
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Ya, it’s delicious!
The rice noodles look like our laksa noodles, which also taste nice with soup or fried with sambal. :thumbup_tb:
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Exactly right! The rice noodles are our laksa noodles look alike!
Looks like our local assam laksa noodle. I think it is also available here.
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Indeed the Guilin rice noodles look like Penang assam laksa noodles! This is the most accurate description :hk32:
It seems like asam laksa noodles le
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Yup, you are right! Both are made of rice starch.
[...] I had read about a back area that would allow you to summit the mountain!) and then to grab some Guilin noodles. (Chinese noodles have become my new obsession!) Perhaps that is why I have gained some weight, [...]
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