Mein Mein (vermicelli) thick soup at Jiang Hu in the dusk by the river, with pork ribs, bonito and onion soup, radish, hot tea, listening to enka

At dusk, when most people are just stepping away from their daily work, at "Jiang Hu" in Kaohsiung, the dim yellow lights have just come on. Arriving at the wooden tables and chairs by the counter, with Japanese enka playing in the background, the handsome owner A-Zhang deftly moves his tongs, serving up a bowl of wheat vermicelli thick soup with pork ribs and bonito flakes. One impatient sip is astonishing: the sweet, fresh broth, the noodles soft but not mushy, and the perfectly judged starch thickening. "There's no secret, just use fresh ingredients and you've got it right."

It lookslike a very "jianghu" boss, cooking the childhood snack "wheat vermicelli thick soup" to survive

A-Zhang, who just turned 45 this year, has a sharply defined face and a trendy hairstyle that are hard to forget, and the origin of the shop name "Jiang Hu" is also related to his looks. "Because I look like I have that 'jianghu' flavor!" he laughs heartily. But in fact, before opening the shop, his career had only ever been related to design; he had done advertising design and vehicle exterior design.

For A-Zhang, wheat vermicelli thick soup was his daily afternoon tea after school during his student years. "Every day after class I'd go to the noodle stall and spend 30 yuan on a bowl of wheat vermicelli thick soup as a pre-dinner snack." Six years ago, A-Zhang's life hit a low point, and he turned to the restaurant industry to learn. A friend suggested, "Why not just sell the wheat vermicelli thick soup you loved so much as a kid?" That started A-Zhang's wheat vermicelli thick soup business.

The shop was named Jiang Hu. He said that besides the homophone of the character "hu" (thick), he also wanted to change people's views of "jianghu." "Now when people hear jianghu they think of gangs or scheming, but the original meaning of jianghu is a place where people come and go."

Eating wheat vermicelli thick soup all over Taiwan, taking notes after eating, and experimenting in person

To open the shop, A-Zhang spent a full year traveling around the island eating wheat vermicelli thick soup. He said that after typing "wheat vermicelli thick soup" into the internet, he first combed through a large amount of material, then searched for famous wheat vermicelli thick soup shops all over Taiwan, and went to eat at them in person. "At that time I brought my two kids along; when they got hungry, we'd just go to the next wheat vermicelli thick soup shop."

Knowing he did not come from a restaurant background, A-Zhang chose to make up for it with diligence. Whenever he came across new knowledge or ate at another wheat vermicelli thick soup shop, he would write detailed notes, recording everything from the most direct smell and taste to the ingredients and methods. Later he experimented with different wheat vermicelli. "I cooked them for ten minutes, half an hour, and one hour respectively, then let them cool for different lengths of time, to see how the different wheat vermicelli differed."

After experimenting, A-Zhang finally chose red wheat vermicelli. He said that wheat vermicelli thick soup across Taiwan generally uses two kinds, white wheat vermicelli and red wheat vermicelli. The difference is that red wheat vermicelli has been roasted, and because of that it can be cooked for a long time without falling apart, while roasted wheat vermicelli can be mass-produced more easily than sun-dried wheat vermicelli, and its quality is more stable.

"Fresh ingredients are the king of deliciousness!" Broth simmered daily