Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 123 - 120: The Number 1 Ranked Breakfast

Qi Yi was really frustrated. Why had he previously thought that he would be the only one attending Yan Yan’s graduation ceremony?

Although Qi Yi had never formally met Yan Yan’s parents, he knew about their liberal attitude and the harmonious relationship Yan Yan had with her family from when the two of them were dating in high school.

This meant attending the graduation ceremony in Melbourne was akin to a covert parent meeting.

The "other people’s child," Qi Yi, wasn’t worried about meeting her parents, but the thought that his long-awaited next meeting with Yan Yan would turn into a scene with many eyes watching made him decidedly more frustrated than excited.

Especially unacceptable to Qi Yi was that his abduction plan had been disqualified before he even started preparing to execute it.

"Qi Yi," Yan Yan began to call out his full name again.

"What is it?" Qi Yi asked Yan Yan.

"Didn’t you hear your girlfriend saying she’s so hungry that she could die?" Yan Yan looked at Qi Yi with a face full of gloom, like she was looking at her "nemesis."

"What do you want to eat? Porridge?" Qi Yi asked Yan Yan.

Porridge is ranked number one among breakfast foods for Wenzhou people.

With each grain of sticky rice distinct, paired with raw soup meat, deep-fried dough sticks, and a choice of salty or sweet soy milk according to personal taste.

Salty rice with salty soy milk, salty rice with sweet soy milk, or even a choice to have all sweet.

Porridge definitely counts as a hometown delicacy that most Wenzhou people abroad long for in their dreams.

But Yan Yan wasn’t among these people.

"No, I want to go for Sanpaifang pig offal noodles." Pig Offal noodles have always been Yan Yan’s number-one-ranked breakfast and late-night snack.

Wenzhou’s pig offal noodles may not be a world-famous delicacy, but in Paris 3rd District in France, Madrid in Spain, and Chinatown in New York, people are also selling Wenzhou pig offal noodles.

Qi Yi, in New York, if he wanted, could still enjoy pig offal noodles, but Yan Yan had not yet found a place selling them in Melbourne.

Pig offal noodles are made with noodles that are two to three times thicker than those traditionally used.

A bowl of authentic Wenzhou pig offal noodles requires chunky noodles with full texture, soft and tender pig intestine, fresh and smooth pig blood, topped with fresh garlic leaves and a special bean paste sauce. Even seasonings like MSG must be the Wenzhou Kuailu brand.

For true food enthusiasts, the choice of intestines is crucial; the best part, the ’dirty head,’ must be selected to maximize the taste of the pig offal noodles.

The most famous pig offal noodles in Wenzhou are from Jinhong Old Brand on Renmin Road, but Yan Yan’s favorite is the Sanpaifang Pig Offal Noodle shop hidden away in an alley. (note 1)

"Aren’t you already very hungry? Why do you want to go so far for a meal?" Qi Yi looked at Yan Yan, who had just claimed to be starving to the point of collapse, feeling like she could faint from hunger at any moment.

"That’s because you don’t understand. With delicious food leading the way, swallowing your own saliva all along, all the hunger turns into anticipation." Yan Yan shared her unique foodie perspective.

The best way to go to a small shop like Sanpaifang Pig Offal Noodles is definitely by taxi or having a driver take you there; otherwise, there’s simply no way to find a place to park.

Wenzhou City is particularly small. For Wenzhou people, a so-called far distance, from Yan Yan’s home on Jiangbin Road to the pig offal noodle shop not far from the Huaqiao Hotel, amounts to just a single-digit number of kilometers.

Compared to Beijing or Shanghai, this distance is considered very close.

Qi Yi didn’t know Yan Yan was an early riser, so he had already eaten breakfast at home.

After Qi Yi went to the pig offal noodle shop, he didn’t plan on eating another meal.

Yan Yan didn’t even ask; once they arrived, she ordered two bowls of pig offal noodles from the owner and even specifically instructed him to add an extra portion of "zang tou" to each bowl.

"I’ve already had breakfast," Qi Yi felt he needed to clarify his situation.

"That’s even better," Yan Yan was quite happy, showing no intention of ordering less.

"How so?" Qi Yi didn’t understand the specific meaning behind Yan Yan’s words.

"It’s good in every way. Otherwise, as a girl ordering two large bowls by myself, I’d probably scare the owner," Yan Yan stuck out her tongue playfully, laughing both foolishly and contentedly.

"So, in this situation, you’re not worried about scaring me instead of the owner? Do you usually eat this much for breakfast?" Qi Yi remembered he had never actually had breakfast with Yan Yan before.

Back in high school, there was a place selling rice rolls right outside the school, when they were dating. Every morning, Qi Yi would always buy a rice roll for Yan Yan who didn’t like getting up a few minutes earlier.

In Wenzhou, the rice rolls are only served in a bowl with broth and meat poured over them when you eat in the shop. If it was a cart specializing in takeout, they’d shape the rice roll into a large ball, with deep-fried dough sticks, mushroom meat filling, and so on, all wrapped inside.

Qi Yi couldn’t help but think that if Yan Yan’s breakfast appetite had always been this astonishing, then back in their second year of high school, his "granddaughter" must have been starved skinny by him.

"Hahaha, normally? Not really. I’m planning to eat yesterday’s dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast all in one go," Yan Yan hadn’t eaten much at the wedding dinner last night, and was too sleepy for a midnight snack.

Plus, after starting university, she could only eat at the Sanpaifang pig offal noodle shop occasionally, since it was so long between visits.

Not indulging in a binge was simply unjust to the long time she had spent yearning for this very noodle shop.

Despite having unabashedly overindulged several times during her trip back to China two months earlier.

But the Sanpaifang pig offal noodles were a delicacy Yan Yan had grown up eating, something she could eat countless times without ever tiring of, an irresistible flavor forever.

"Seeing you right now, I think if I had bought you three rice balls every day back in the second year of high school, you definitely wouldn’t have broken up with me in the third year," Qi Yi thought hard and indeed could not find the food-loving trait in his high school memories of Yan Yan.

"Really? Hmm, now that you mention it, it kind of makes sense; it could have been possible," Yan Yan looked at the two bowls of fragrant pig offal noodles placed before her and felt everything around her become especially wonderful.

The pig intestines and blood used in the noodle shop were stewed together in a large pot, with special rice noodles prepared early and ready to serve, so it only took thirty seconds from when Yan Yan placed her order until a steaming bowl of pig offal noodles was ready on the table.

For those selling pig offal noodles, it meant starting various preparations early in the morning, but for those eating, the distance from seeing to tasting the delicious noodles was merely a short half-minute.

Even the smallest business, if run with dedication, can become a legacy for generations.

Just like this pig offal noodle shop that had been around for decades.

.........

note 1:

Sanpaifang pig offal noodle shop, 97 Little Gao Bridge, is rather hidden and not easily found by tourists.

The most crucial point is that there isn’t much to do in Wenzhou City.

It would take a true gourmet’s interest to wander the small streets and alleys in search of such a shop.