Featured recipe

Taiwanese oyster vermicelli

Oyster noodle soup

Around Ximending in Taipei, people queue at standing-room stalls for a paper cup of this, spooning it up on the pavement as an afternoon snack or a late supper after the cinema. The thin brown wheat vermicelli melts into a glossy, bonito-scented broth thickened with starch, with plump starch-coated oysters and chewy pieces of braised pork intestine through it, finished with black vinegar, garlic and coriander. Buy oysters already shucked and very fresh from a fishmonger you trust; braised pork belly makes an easy stand-in for the intestine. The usual mistake is boiling the noodles separately until they turn to mush: the red vermicelli is pre-steamed and only needs a few minutes in the broth to soften. Chef's tip: coat the oysters in starch and drop them into barely simmering broth at the very end, so they stay plump with a silky jacket instead of shrinking.

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