Destination
Taipei
The story
Ah-Zong Mee Sua is one of Taipei's most iconic single-dish restaurants and the country's most-photographed street-food scene: a permanent crowd of 30 to 50 people gathered around a small standing-only stall on Ximending's Emei Street, holding paper bowls of a deeply-savoury thick brown noodle soup packed with thin wheat vermicelli (mee sua, also called mien xian), silky sliced pig intestine, small local oysters and a scatter of fresh coriander. The name is a proper noun — Ah-Zong is the founder-family's name — and the recipe has stayed unchanged since the stall opened in the 1970s. Sold in only two portion sizes (small and large) with three add-on toppings (chili oil, black vinegar, garlic paste), Ah-Zong Mee Sua is arguably the most-visited street-food address in Taipei.
Method
Rub the intestine inside and out with salt and flour for 5 minutes. Rinse under cold water. Turn inside out; rub with vinegar 2 minutes. Rinse thoroughly. This aggressive cleaning is essential.
In a pot, cover the cleaned intestine with fresh water. Add ginger and spring onion. Bring to a boil, then simmer 60 minutes over low heat until fork-tender. Drain, slice into 3cm pieces, and reserve.
In a large pot, combine pork bones, bonito, dried shrimp, ginger, garlic, spring onions, Shaoxing wine and water. Bring to a boil, skim foam. Simmer 90 minutes over low heat. Strain into a clean pot.
Bring the strained broth back to a simmer. Add light soy, dark soy, oyster sauce, salt, sugar, white pepper and sesame oil. Taste — should be deeply savoury with a strong pork-bonito depth.
Whisk the sweet potato starch slurry until smooth. Slowly pour into the simmering broth while stirring constantly. Cook 3 minutes until the broth has thickened to a heavy, glossy, spoon-coating consistency. This is the classical Ah-Zong texture.
Add the sliced pig intestine to the thickened broth. Simmer 5 minutes so it heats through.
Rinse the oysters gently. Toss with cornstarch to coat lightly. This protects them from overcooking in the hot broth.
Add the mee sua noodles to the broth. Cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cornstarch-coated oysters in the last 60 seconds — they should just turn opaque, not shrink. Ladle into bowls. Scatter with coriander and spring onion. Serve with small dishes of black vinegar, chili oil and garlic paste on the side. Diners spoon vinegar, chili and garlic into the broth to taste, then eat with a spoon.
Tips
- Clean the intestine aggressively. Salt-flour rub, vinegar rub, thorough rinse. Skipping any step leaves a gamey off-note. This is the make-or-break stage of the dish.
- Sweet potato starch, not cornstarch. Sweet potato starch is what gives Ah-Zong broth its specific glossy-thick texture. Cornstarch gives you a thinner, less-glossy result.
- Small oysters. Large oysters overcook and go rubbery in 60 seconds. Small local Taiwanese-style oysters are the classical choice; any small Pacific oysters work.
- Cornstarch on the oysters. This 30-second coat protects the oysters from overcooking in the hot broth. Any Taipei mee sua stall does this.
- Serve immediately. The noodles absorb broth quickly and clump within 5 minutes of plating. Wok to plate to table fast.
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