Adding the house special Guilin rice noodles from Guilin Rice Noodles House in Parkside in SF to the list. There’s not a huge number of places serving Guilin rice noodles around locally. I’ve only had it before a few times at Classic Guilin Rice Noodles in Oakland Chinatown before this (I don’t think that Guilin Rice Noodles House is affiliated with them).
Did a little bit of research on this dish - Guilin is a city in Guangxi, a province in southern China directly west of Guangdong province. I’ve never been but it is famous for its beautiful natural vistas and also its rice noodles.
The Food Ranger goes to Guilin:
I’ve gotten the house special GRN a few times via delivery. It has a base of Guilin mifen, which are spaghetti shaped tubular rice noodles, and is topped with tripe/stomach, thin beef slices, “golden” crispy pork, pickled cowpeas, crispy fried mung beans, thinly sliced pig ears, and half of a boiled egg. This is a “dry” noodle dish but there is also a bit of meaty gravy underneath. It comes with optional soup and a small container of chili oil.
Really good noodles. The rice noodles have a nice springy texture and are not very heavy. The “golden” pork is basically a piece of pork that has been fried so that the exterior is crispy and golden, and then sliced into thin slices. That along with the slithery gelatinous chewy pig ear slices and the tripe bits along with the crunchy fried mung beans and slightly sour pickled cowpeas (wish there were a little more of these) made for a great texture and flavor combo. The gravy on the bottom when mixed in added savory flavor as well. The optional soup that you can get on the side (no extra charge) is pretty bland but is also a perfect palate cleanser between bites of noodles. If you don’t like offal or pig ears they also have bowls with just the crispy pork or beef slices.
Mixed up:
