Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles — guo qiao mi xian — is the signature dish of Yunnan and is essentially built at the table. The waiter brings a deep bowl of chicken broth so hot it is still gently steaming, sealed with a thin layer of oil. Around it come a dozen small dishes: paper-thin slices of raw pork and ham, prawns, fish, quail eggs, fresh greens, beansprouts, and at the end a basket of slippery rice noodles.
The diner adds the ingredients to the bowl in a set order — meat first, then vegetables, finally the noodles — and they cook at the table in the heat retained under the oil. The trick is the speed of cooking and the sequence: a few hundred local restaurants build their reputation on getting the broth hot enough and the timing right. Best places in Kunming are noted in the Eating Out section, but every neighbourhood in the city has its own favourite shop.