Lanzhou Beef Noodles

Niurou mian is a breakfast dish and a system. Beef and bone simmer overnight with spices into a broth that must stay clear. Dough is pulled to order, the cook stretching, folding and slapping a single lump so the strands double each time, and you choose the gauge when you order, from the flat leek-leaf shape through round mid-weights down to threads that cook in seconds. The bowl is finished to a formula recited in every shop: one clear broth, two white radish slices, three red chilli oil, four green coriander and garlic sprout, five yellow noodles. Beef is a few thin slices rather than a portion. It is eaten fast at a counter, and good shops sell out by early afternoon.

What you actually see

• The pulling - one lump of dough doubled into strands in front of you in under a minute.
• The gauge choice - from flat leek-leaf down to hair-fine, decided as you order.
• The clear broth - simmered overnight, and the thing every shop is actually judged on.
• Chilli oil and garlic sprout - ladled in at the pass, in a fixed order.

When to go

This is breakfast and lunch food. Shops open around six and the best of them have sold their broth by two or three in the afternoon, after which the city's noodle trade is largely over. Peak is seven to nine, when you queue, order at a window and carry your own bowl to a shared table.

Honest expectations

Beef is a garnish of two or three slices, which surprises anyone expecting a meat dish. Chilli oil goes in by default and asking for less takes insistence. The gauge is chosen in Chinese at speed, so most visitors end up with the default. Seating is plastic stools at shared tables and lingering is not encouraged.

Nearby

The Yellow River embankment runs through Lanzhou, and the Silk Road corridor continues west to Dunhuang.