Street Eats: Bargain Basement Yunnan Rice Noodles at Taste of Shuhe

There seems to be a growing trend among restaurants in Beijing of opening a more casual (and lower-cost) offshoot from the establishment's main venue. TRB has Hulu, The Rug has The Rug Café, Ke Cong He Chu Lai has Aoyama Lab ... And now reliable Yunnan hotpot buffet provider House of Shuhe has expanded to rice noodles with Taste of Shuhe in Shimao Shopping Mall.
 

Despite the unpromising location, they've done their best to bring Yunnan to the mall basement via the decor – gray bricks, flowers, windows made of bamboo, and paper lanterns entice diners in while the menu centers on over a dozen kinds of rice noodles, most of them served in soup. That includes perhaps the region's most famous “crossing the bridge noodles,” or guòqiáo mǐ xiàn (过桥米线, RMB 26), a ubiquitous dish in Yunnan province and offered here in the style often found in Mengzi in the southeast of the province. Featuring sliced beef, bok choi, tofu skin, scallion, and of course rice noodles, with chrysanthemum and mint to cleanse the palate, the dish is light in flavor and perfect for summer, while the chicken broth was delicious and hearty.
 

READ: Spicy But Pricey: Modern Yunnan Restaurant Yumricee Opens in Topwin Center
 

Dry noodles (干拌米线 gān bàn mǐxiàn, RMB 22) are also a good choice while the weather's warm given that they're served cold and garnished with assorted vegetables and mushrooms, and flavored with cilantro, scallion, nuts, vinegar, soy sauce, and chili oil. If it seems too light for you, there is a self-service corner with all kinds of Yunnan chili peppers and herbs that you can add at will. Stand boldly before it, and fearlessly scoop up whatever you would like to try.

Adapting to café-style promotional tactics, Taste of Shuhe has a stamp system allowing diners to buy-eight-get-one-free, which is a nice little incentive to keep people coming back. For the rest of us, it's unlikely that we'd seek this little noodle joint out unless we were in the area and on the prowl for a cheap and decently executed bowl of Yunnanese comfort food.

Taste of Shuhe
Daily 10am-9pm. B1, Shimao Shopping Mall, 13 Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District (5701 8360)
束河人家之小束河：朝阳区工体北路13号世茂广场·工三B1层

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Photos: Dianping, Tracy Wang