🍽️ Meizhou Pickled Noodle

Garlic-lard alkaline noodles, Hakka breakfast.

Meizhou Pickled Noodle is the classic breakfast of the Hakka region in Meizhou, Guangdong, often called the number one Hakka breakfast. Alkaline noodles are boiled, lifted and tossed with lard, fried garlic, scallion and light soy, with finer shops adding a sprinkle of crispy fried garlic. Mixed well, the noodles glisten with oil, carry a rich wheat aroma, and the mellow lard and pungent garlic wrap the noodles' characteristic springy bite. Meizhou locals always pair it with a bowl of sanjidi soup—lean pork, pork liver and intestine in clear broth—one soup, one noodle, balancing dry and wet. Quick to make, filling and deeply flavored, it is the energy fast food before a Hakka workday. At street stalls across Meizhou, seats fill from early morning, and a bowl of pickled noodles starts the Hakka day.