Atong Yi Noodle

Tainan’s Yanshui is not a well-known tourist site, and even many Tainan locals have never visited. However, every year during the huge Lantern Festival celebrations, “Beehive Firecrackers” is one of the most popular events in Taiwan. On that day, hundreds of thousands of tourists gather in this small town of only 20,000, making it as festive as carnivals in other countries. Besides the 15th of the first month on the lunar calendar, this town lacking in notable tourist spots is scarcely visited. If you see tourists on the street, most of them probably come for Yanshui Yi Noodles.

The reason why the noodles are called “Yanshui” is because Koxinga’s “Yifu noodles” (伊府麵), which used to be popular in the Chinese southern provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, were first made in Yanshui. The charm of these noodles lies in their production process. Instead of water, eggs are used to replace water when mixing the flour, making the noodles chewy and infused with the rich smell of egg. Therefore, this kind of noodles is also called “egg noodles”. There are many legends about why these noodles are called “Yi Noodles” (意麵). The most interesting legend goes that when making noodles mixed with egg instead of water, more force has to be used in kneading doughs, so the “Yi! Yi!” sound from the dedicated noodle maker remains in the name of the noodles today. But in the past there was a drawback in making egg noodles: noodles containing egg perish more quickly and the shape of the noodles is difficult to fix. To overcome this challenge, chefs invented a new method, discovering that by deep-frying noodles in oil before exposing them under the sun, noodles can be preserved much longer.

There are two famous “Yi Noodle” restaurants that have existed for more than sixty years in the market on Zhongshan Road (中山路). Both are always packed with customers. The one with the longer business hours is called “Atong Yi Noodles”. In the hearts of many visitors, the prospect of enjoying the delicious noodles of Atong is the only reason for visiting Yanshui. Chewy noodles accompanied with the aromatic smell of stewed ground pork makes you addicted after one bite. If you worry that you will miss the taste when you go back home, then you can buy uncooked noodles from the restaurant and make your own Yi Noodles. But as for the stewed ground pork, you will probably have to make it by yourself.