Get Your Stinky Snail Soup On at This Shangdu Soho Guangxi Rice Noodles Shop

Spicy. Sour. Stinky. Snaily. Guangxi's famous river snail rice noodles (螺蛳粉, luó sī fěn), which originate from Guangxi's river-strewn Liuzhou City, same province that Chinese Olympian and sporting goods magnate Li Ning, are all these things, and if you want to see why Beijing's celebrity set can't stop slurping this smelly specialty by the bowlful, then follow your nose down to Eighty-Eight Noodles at Shangdu Soho.

The smell of the noodles can be described as impressive. They are polarizing in the way stinky tofu is: some people can't stand the odor, while others can't get enough of it. The “stinky” flavor comes from the broth, which is made with river snails, pork, sugar, salt, and spices. Also lending flavor to the dish are the addition of dried bean curd, sour bamboo shoots, and pickled string beans.

If you'd like to try a slightly less stinky version of the dish, you can order the broth on the side, and have the rice noodles dry-mixed with a thick layer of sliced pork, bean curd skin, peanuts, pork liver, sour bamboo shoots, minced tomato, and other assorted vegetables. The tomato brought some sweetness, sour bamboo shoots and sour beans brought the sourness, chopped chili gave some kick of the spiciness, and pork was flavored with a generous layer of chili oil. We also love the crisp dried bean curd when it’s soaking up the sauce and becoming soft. Yummy.

Spicy food lovers should go for the noodle soups, and they won’t let you down here. Nanning “good friend rice noodles” (老友粉, lǎo yǒu fěn RMB 38) is one of the noodle soups from Nanning, and originated in 1930s, it is heavy-flavored as you expect (or you say “stinky”), with chopped tomato, pork liver, pork and sour bamboo shoots, and hand-cut flat noodles. Choose between non-spicy, mild spicy or very spicy. The noodles are RMB 35-50 a bowl, and can be complemented with different sides, including eggs, pig's feet, and duck feet.

To wash it down, grab a slightly sweet glass of monkfruit tea (RMB 5), which helped calm the burn from the chili (if they would add ice cubes I could probably drink it all day long).

Stinky or not, we will be coming back for sure.

Eighty-Eight Noodles
Daily 11.30am-10pm, Shop 1123, West Tower, Shangdu Soho, 8 Dongdaqiao Lu, Chaoyang District (5869 5651)
八十八粉儿: 朝阳区东大桥路8号院2号楼SOHO尚都西塔1123

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Photos: Tracy Wang