Quanzhou mianxian hu — the slow breakfast bowl behind the old temple streets

In Quanzhou, a port city on the Fujian coast, breakfast is closer to soup than to noodles. Mianxian hu (面线糊, miànxiàn hú) is hair-fine wheat vermicelli simmered until it melts into the broth, then thickened with a little sweet-potato starch. It is mild and savoury, and people finish it in ten minutes before work.

What arrives in the bowl

The base is plain on purpose. The broth usually starts with pork bones, sometimes with dried shrimp or small fish, and the noodles are broken short so the whole bowl can be eaten with a spoon. What changes from table to table is what goes on top.

Most shops keep the toppings in trays at the front counter. These include fried pork marinated in vinegar, known as cu rou (醋肉, cù ròu), as well as braised intestine, cubes of pig's blood, duck, shrimp, small oysters and fried shallots. Pointing works. Each topping is priced separately, so a bowl can be as simple or as full as the morning calls for.

How to eat it the local way

Order a youtiao (油条, yóutiáo), the long fried dough stick, on the side. Tear it into pieces and drop them into the bowl, where they soak up the broth but stay crisp at the edges. A splash of black vinegar and a pinch of white pepper from the jars on the table finish it.

The best shops open early and close when the pot is empty. Look for low stools, a steel pot steaming by the door, and a queue of people in work clothes rather than a menu in English.

泉州人的一天，常常从一碗面线糊开始。

Where it fits in a day

The old town around West Street and Kaiyuan Temple is compact and easy to walk. Breakfast stalls sit in the residential lanes rather than on the shopping streets, so a bowl here is a reason to leave the main road early, before crowds reach the temple's twin stone pagodas.