Instagram Post 2/13/2018

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Cuisine hailing from southwest China’s 🇨🇳 Yunnan province is underrepresented in New York City, but South of the Clouds at 16 West 8th St in Manhattan recently stepped up to the plate (or bowl, more accurately) to help rectify the situation. Not long ago we sampled most of the menu, and the rice noodle soups turned out to be a perfect foil for that evening’s cold snap.
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Broth that has been simmered for four hours is the base for their signature soup, Yunnan Crossing Bridge Noodle, which comes with its own charming fable recounted on the menu. Shown here is the palette of ingredients that would be added tableside. Cilantro, scallions, bean sprouts, silkie chicken, egg, tofu skin, pork, and chicken would customarily be sufficient to run the gamut of components, but the spotlight here was on the noodles.

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Pigs on a Stick, Cucumber Salad, and Yunnan Ghost Chicken (nothing to do with ghost peppers BTW) kept us busy until our Tofu Pudding Rice Noodle arrived. Minced pork in fermented bean paste along with pillowy tofu and a selection of vegetables cloaked the rice noodles, all of which, when stirred together, complemented each other perfectly. Cold Stir Rice Noodle was a less elaborate (i.e., no tofu), and slightly spicier, rendition.
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We finished with Tomato Soup Rice Noodle, probably the spiciest dish we ordered but far from incendiary. As you’d expect, this dish is half a world away from Mom’s lunchtime bowl of Campbell’s, but given the bitter cold awaiting us outside, it was assuredly mm-mm-good! 😋 😋