Start with the experience
Why does this simple bowl matter so much in Quanzhou?
Mee sua soup is one of Quanzhou's most everyday foods. Very fine wheat noodles are cooked into a lightly thickened broth, then finished with spring onion, white pepper and toppings selected by the customer. The result sits somewhere between soup and a loose porridge, but it is made from noodles rather than rice.
The base can be seafood, pork or a mixture, and the topping counter is part of the experience. Fried vinegar pork, oysters, fish, tofu, egg or offal may be added, depending on the shop. A section of youtiao, or fried dough stick, is often dipped into the bowl for contrast.
It is a useful first dish because it introduces three recurring Quanzhou habits at once: savoury broth, careful texture and a meal assembled to the diner's preference rather than served in one fixed form.