Think of Shi Miao Dao as your go-to when you’re in desperate need of a steamy bowl of noodles. Located within VivoCity’s Food Republic, this stall is the first international outpost of China’s biggest restaurant chain specialising in Yunnan’s famous dish — “crossing the bridge rice noodles”. The story goes — daily, a wife would dutifully carry an earthen pot of boiling broth across a bridge to her scholar husband studying for the imperial exam, and would only throw in the ingredients and noodles to cook when he was ready to eat. At Shi Miao Dao, the earthen bowls are pre-heated to keep the broth hot enough to cook the thick vermicelli noodles in just 10 seconds. What really sets this place apart from most noodle houses is the slurp-worthy Tomato Sauce Rice Noodles ($8.50), a flavourful broth built on the original soup base that has been brewed for six hours from chicken and pork bones. It's best to toss in all the ingredients like beancurd skin, black fungus, ham and quail egg while the soup is still hot.
Avg Price: $10 per person
Photo by Burpple Tastemaker Felicia Sim