Misc. Chicken Fried Noodles - 鸡杂炒面

If you follow KeHua North Road south, just across the second ring sits a large, high class shopping mall called the Brilliance Tianfu Centre 白联天府. (Tell cab drivers: Beilian Tianfu) There is lots to eat here: a couple of very high end Chinese restaurants including one that specializes in mushrooms, a KFC, an Ajisen (oft pirated, Hong Kong - based ramen chain), 'Thai' barbecue, one of the few Subway franchises in town, and a pretty Taiwan style cafe called Bellagio. It's all very expensive though, and if you happen to work nearby and just need a quick lunch for a few yuan you head to the third floor by the grocery store where there is a dingy food court crowded with mall workers.

The character 杂 (za2) means miscellaneous, assorted, or scraps, and is a menu character I learned first to fear, then love. The bad - once I thought I was ordering beef and tendon soup in Hong Kong and ordered 牛杂 (beef entrails) noodles. I'm still not sure what each of the parts were, but they were badly cleaned/cooked and some of the most depressing things I've ever been served. And without even one shred of tendon.

Chinese people love eating 杂, though. There is one street in Chengdu lined with 牛杂 (beef entrails) hot pot places. 杂酱面、 scrap sauce noodles, with ground meat or possibly other animal parts cooked into a thick sauce, are usually delicious. 鸡杂 refers to a very spicy mixture of chicken parts - liver, gizzard, heart, intestines, chunks of neck. Many places that serve quick lunches offer 鸡杂 chao shou, 鸡杂 fried rice, or 鸡杂 noodles.

玉姐面 (Sister Jade Noodles) is the first stall on the third floor food court of Beilian Tianfu. This place is a little unusual since all their noodles are the thick, chewy, knife cut style that get rough at the edges. My 鸡杂炒面 (misc. chicken fried noodles):



I've had these before and loved them, but this time they were too salty and oily and some of the chicken parts were cooked to rubber. Should have sprung for Subway.