Penglai Small Noodles

Penglai small noodles are a celebrated snack of Yantai's Penglai District with over two centuries of history, using the same stretching technique as Fushan noodles to draw even fine strands, yet set apart by a high ratio of sauce to noodles, with the broth simmered from Yantai's famed sea bream, fresh and fragrant.

Tradition holds that in the Qing dynasty a noodle vendor carried his load between Longkou, Penglai and Fushan, and from the Fushan craft evolved the Penglai style; close to the sea, he drew on local seafood for the broth, and so a second great branch of Jiaodong noodle culture grew up alongside Fushan noodles.

Most often eaten at breakfast, a ladle of piping-hot sea-bream broth is poured over the fine noodles and scattered with chives and garlic, then mixed hot — the fish tender, the strands springy, the way Penglai begins its day.

The golden broth simmered from sea bream and the rule of "more sauce, fewer noodles" are what set Penglai small noodles apart from Fushan noodles and give them a flavour all their own.