🍽️ Linyi Shen Soup

Meat broth with egg and fried dough.

Linyi Shen Soup is an ancient breakfast of Linyi, Shandong; the character 'shen' is pronounced like 'sa.' Beef or chicken is simmered for hours with barley, flour, pepper and spices into a thick broth, then finished with a poured-in egg and topped with cilantro and more pepper. The soup is dark brown and slightly thick, rich in taste with a peppery warmth, eaten with fried dough sticks, flatbread or crispy fried strands. Linyi locals like to start the morning with a steaming bowl of shen until their foreheads sweat, considering it a true appetite-wake-up. It prizes fall-apart meat, concentrated broth and plenty of pepper, making it one of the most representative street breakfasts of southern Shandong; outsiders are often struck by the intense peppery meat broth.