Yunnan's most famous dish - not very impressive

Every single guide book I've read (I've actually read one written by a Chinese person, you'll be glad to know) raves on about Yunnan's most famous dish, 'Over the Bridge Noodles' 過橋米線. The story behind it is kind of romantic I guess. It goes that there was a scholar, once upon a time, who had to cross the bridge to go to his lessons. His patient wife had to deliver him his lunch everyday (yes, I mean, wtf?!), but by the time she arrived, everything would be cold. But one day, she delivered him some chicken soup which had a thin film of fat on the top, and it remained warm, so she used this idea to make her husband a noodle dish each day.

So today, Over the Bridge Noodles is basically a bowl of hot soup (stewed with chicken, duck and spare ribs), accompanied by a variety of raw/semi-raw foods which you put into the noodles to cook at the table. Yesterday I went to try, and my version had quail eggs, chicken, several unidentified pieces of pork, beansprouts, and Chinese chives:

The woman next to me was laughing at me as I was assembling it all - although I look the part, they can always tell I'm a guilo really :) The soup wasn't actually all that hot, but the chicken was actually cooked, the pork really thin, so it did all cook very quickly.

But I must say I was pretty disappointed by this. It was a lot less greasy than I'd imagined, but it is pretty much a boring bowl of soup noodles, and the soup wasn't all that exciting. I was later told that I had to go to this really famous place in Kunming, 江兄弟, which is really famous, and most importantly run by some former students of my homestay mum's! I think I'm going to stick to my hot and spicy lunch noodles for now, until Caris and the crew arrive in Kunming for our eating fest anyway! :D