Photo courtesy of Ten Second Noodles

As Chinatown begins reopening, we’ll visit restaurants who are shaping Chinatown’s future. This is the first installment.

In a food-obsessed country, Yunnan is a destination. It is tucked in between enormous mountains, and many rivers flow through it. It’s home to a number of indigenous populations unknown to most Boston diners, possibly even to many people in China. Twenty-four distinct peoples live in Yunnan. The characters for Yunnan include the “South of the Clouds” characters. It’s bordered by Sichuan in the north and Laos and Vietnam in the south, Myanmar to the west, Guangxi to the East.

Yunnan’s most well-known dish is “Crossing the Bridge” Noodles. The story behind this name includes a scholar (of course) and dutiful wife (naturally). He isolated himself to study for exams (saw that coming, right?) on an island in the middle of a lake. His wife, who usually prepared a meal and carried it to the lake, was running late one day and simply grabbed what was handy: a rich broth simmering away and a bunch of raw ingredients, then rushed to the lake to feed her husband. Surprised to see the broth had been kept warm by a layer of fat that had risen to the top, she quickly added her raw ingredients to the hot broth and our famous Guoqiao Mixian noodle dish was born.

Lucky for us you need not be married nor a scholar to enjoy this classic dish. And you don’t have to schlep across a bridge! Just pass under the paifang and climb a few steps into Yunnan Ten Second Rice Noodle. 

While the eponymous dish is often compared to hot pot, it’s not cooked at the table on a burner, but arrives at the table, piping hot, in a stone bowl. Diners select their broth – eight to choose from – then watch as several components are cooked, swishing them into the bubbling broth (In a nod to the pandemic, Vicky mixes the dishes in the kitchen as of now, but this will change as we let go of some of the hygiene worries of this era).

Before enjoying your noodles, you may hear “qin man yong” (enjoy your food). As you do, maybe offer a prayer of thanks to that dutiful wife for inventing this dish?

Owners Kenny Zheng and Vicky Chen, a husband and wife team, brought this franchise to Chinatown and have quietly opened this, their third shop. They also have shops in Quincy and Allston. 

Taking over the lease and space formerly occupied by Doris Huang (our true Peking Duck queen), they first experienced delays with licensing, then delayed shipments from China. In fact, the pandemic-related challenges caused them to push their opening timeline more than once. Finally, now they are open, softly, while they try to fully staff up and get the operation humming. 

While some family-owned businesses are closing, some corporate franchise operations are bringing fresh tastes and new life to Chinatown. We have come to accept that Chinatown is changing. With so many empty spaces where businesses once thrived, it’s exciting to have new businesses filling out our quieted streets. 

Vicky says Yunnan is the flavor of Chinese food and she has customers who have followed her from Quincy and Allston to come eat with her at her newest location. Before embarking on this path, Chen visited five different locations to see how they operated and whether they were thriving. She decided this would be a business that could succeed here. The advantages of opening with a corporate background were significant: they had quality training in China, they have the parent company sourcing authentic noodles for their restaurants, and the corporate branding helps when business owners have little staff to do things like build a website. DoorDash helped with that. 

Still Chen notes, in general, her other businesses are down, possibly as high as 50% down. Supplies and other costs are up. One unique strategy Chen and Zheng are trying is providing a buffer for tipped employees. They are trying to look at historic records and to make employees whole if the business is still climbing back to normal levels. 

Many of the items on this menu will appeal to a broad audience: popcorn chicken, skewers, spring rolls, Takoyaki, and rice noodles. The menus also include offal (tripe, gizzards, tendon) and the popular mala flavors from the neighboring Sichuan. All stocks are made from scratch and the noodles are imported.

Next up: Waku-Waku Ramen, Get Excited.

Shi Miaodao 

Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodles 

60 Oxford Street

617.654.8220

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10:15 p.m., open 7 days a week