MELTING POT

Sanshi Noodle House spotlights Yunnanese crossing-the-bridge noodles

BY FAIYAZ KARA

If you’re unfamiliar with Crossing-theBridge noodles, the fable behind this unusually named dish from Yunnan Province goes something like this: A caring wife crossed a bridge to bring her scholar of a husband some noodle soup. But by the time she reached her husband’s place of study, the soup was cold and the noodles soggy. So, she fought the laws of thermodynamics and flaccidity by bringing him the soup components separately — a pot of boiling-hot broth slicked in oil in one hand, and a container of noodles and fixin’s in the other. On arrival, the ingredients were quickly tossed into the broth and a lovely meal was had. As my friend likes to say, “happy husband, happy life.” No, that’s not right. It’s “happy husband, happy wife.” Or something like that. Anyway, Sanshi Noodle House is the first restaurant in town to specialize in this most Yunnanese of foods, presenting a variety of broths into which proteins, rice noodles and veggies are dunked. There are 18 different noodle soups offered here, but two are spot-

SANSHI NOODLE HOUSE

5600 W. Colonial Drive 407-286-6167 sanshinoodlehouse.com $$ lighted on Sanshi’s menu — the fish maw chicken soup ($16.99) and the spicy beef ($16.99) — so we got them both. First to arrive were the broths, which sit inside a scorching hot vessel. What struck me is that the broths weren’t belligerently gurgling, yet the moment we added a chicken leg into the fish maw chicken broth, and some beef slices into the spicy beef broth, liquid violence ensued. I made a feigned attempt to coat the beef in the quail egg — one of the nine sides that come with every order — but our server was having none of it. “Hurry! Hurry!” she urged. The pressure was on to toss the remainder of the items into the broth as quickly as possible — among them black fungus, wood ear mushroom, king oyster mushroom, ham, corn kernels, dry tofu skin, scallions and little bits of fish. Last in were the pre-blanched rice noodles and after a quick, 10-second stir, the soup was ready to be consumed. And consume we did.

The collagen-rich fish maw (or swim bladder) added richness to an already rich chicken broth, but imparted no taste. Cutting into that chicken leg required a fair bit of dexterous maneuvering. The rice noodles aren’t made in-house but are imported from Yunnan, said the servers who, despite the language barrier, are eager to answer questions. The beef broth was properly beefy without a hint of artificiality, though it wasn’t particularly spicy. For heat, we went with the pickled pepper soup ($16.99) comprising a beef broth that was at once bold, beefy and tangy. The selection has a two-pepper designation on the menu and, for me, the broth contained the right amount of heat. Like the others, it also came with thinly shaved slices of beef and a variety of dunking ingredients. fkara@orlandoweekly.com

In fact, all three broths were gratifying, but Sanshi isn’t just about the slurps. Before the soups, we enjoyed a bracing smashed cucumber salad ($8.99) along with some skewers of meat — grilled slices of fatty beef wrapped around enoki mushrooms ($7.99 for two) and succulent “New Orleans” chicken skewers ($6.99 for two). If you’re wondering about the Cajun nod in the latter, I’m in the same boat. For what it’s worth, Sanshi’s outpost in Centereach, New York, also serves the skewers, and so did their location in Manhattan’s East Village before it shuttered last summer.

Popcorn chicken, fried sausage, fried fish balls and whole grilled squid are also offered but, let’s be honest, it’s the rice noodle soups that are the real draw. So, as to which broth to sample on my next visit — spicy mala, tomato, pork bone, mushroom or plain ol’ chicken — well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

… Over in O-Town West, Jeff’s Bagel Run will open its third bagel shop later this year, but unlike the bagel shops in College Park and Winter Garden, the 1,200-square-foot space near the Disney/Winter Garden corridor will have an open kitchen so guests can watch the process of mixing, forming, boiling, topping and baking bagels … Wayback Burgers celebrates its grand opening May 6 at 11901 Landstar Blvd. Guests can enjoy a BOGO “Classic Burger” inside the restaurant … Former Bronx outfit House of Antojitos, specializing in Dominican street food and Latin-American fusion fare, has opened at 7726 Winegard Road in Pine Castle Red Panda Noodle, the virtuoso noodle pop-up from ex-Orlando Meats chefs Eliot Hillis and Seth Parker, has launched their food trailer. Visit redpandanoodle.com to see where they’ll pull up.

NEWS+EVENTS:

The International Vegan Food Festival goes from 3-8 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at Wall Street Plaza downtown. More than 50 local vendors and businesses will be on hand. Admission is free, while VIP early admission is $35 … The 5th annual Sip ’N Savor takes place Sunday, April 30, from noon to 5 p.m. at Icon Park. Expect bites from Icon Park’s restaurants as well as live entertainment and discounted rides on the Wheel. Cost is $40, or $10 for kids 3-12.

PREMIERES WEDNESDAY:

Kiss, Kiss! — Can a Polish lothario steal the fiancée of a well-connected political heir? If he can, I think we’ve just found the one Pole you can touch Kimberly Guilfoyle with. (Netflix)

Love After Music — Celebrate the life and career of Argentine rocker Fito Páez with an eight-episode retrospective. Since Páez himself produced the thing, you can count on it to be 100 percent truthful and not pass the buck for any of his shortcomings whatsoever! (Netflix)

Matildas: The World at Our Feet — The Australian women’s soccer team sets its sights on the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in a six-episode docuseries. There’s heavy incentive to win, because if they lose, Prime Minister Albanese is going to invite Caitlin Clark to The Lodge. (Disney+) Saint X — David Duchovny and Téa Leoni’s daughter, West Duchovny, plays a young woman who goes missing in the Caribbean in this adaptation of the 2020 novel. And with the sister who tries to solve the case being played by The Walking Dead’s Alycia Debnam-Carey, I think we’ve narrowed down the suspects to aliens or zombies.

(Hulu)

Workin’ Moms — The seventh and final season of the Canadian sitcom culminates in an episode, “The End,” that happens to share its title with the infamously lambasted finale of Lost. Just try not to think of all the ways in which Toronto has ever reminded you of purgatory. (Netflix)

PREMIERES THURSDAY:

The Dog House: U.K. — Season 4 of the human/canine matchmaking show has already been seen in its native England. Hopefully, no one you know who lives there has divulged which of the hard-to-home mutts find owners, and which are shunted off to be seated in Parliament. (HBO Max)

Firefly Lane — The back end of Season 2 will reveal if Kate and Tully are able to patch things up now that Kate has cancer. I guess it’ll depend upon how swiftly her condition deteriorates, because you’d need to be pretty sick to want to mend fences with Katherine Heigl. (Netflix)

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning — In a fair and just world, it would be the title of the next Ghost album. Instead, it’s just another decluttering show, with Scandinavian Margareta Magnusson in the place of Marie Kondo. (Please tell me there isn’t a Dutch pimple popper out there.)

(Peacock)

Love & Death — The third dramatization of the case of axe-wielding Texan Candy Montgomery has Elizabeth Olsen stepping into a role that’s previously been played by Barbara Hershey and Jessica Biel. Fortunately, there are plenty of streaming services left if you’re holding out for Ginger Minj. (HBO Max)

The Matchmaker — Will a Fantasy Island-like resort be the launching pad for romance between a Saudi pencil-pusher and the intern he loves? I’d cut off my hand to find out! (Netflix)

The Nurse — Denmark skewers one of its own in a drama series about Christina Aistrup Hansen, the hospital worker who was convicted of killing a bunch of her patients. But come on, they had to know there was going to be a downside to universal healthcare. (Netflix)

Sweet Tooth — Season 2 finds human/deer hybrid Gus delving deeper into the causes of the worldwide epidemic that obliterated most human life on the planet and set the stage for his kind to emerge. If the answer isn’t “Wuhan lab,” y’all are gonna get letters. (Netflix)

PREMIERES FRIDAY:

AKA — Going undercover with a criminal gang leads to a moral quandary for a secret agent when he develops protective feelings toward the boss’s child. Hey, you want to see a moral quandary everyone will have thoughts on? Ask the kid to suck your tongue! (Netflix)

Citadel — From Anthony and Joe Russo comes this new sci-fi action series, in which gangsters have overrun the globe because the agents of the law who could have stopped them have all fallen prey to amnesia. Oh, for the good old days when the worst they would do was turn off their bodycam. (Prime Video)

Clock — Horror is in the offing when a distraught woman undergoes medical experimentation to help her get pregnant. But with The Office’s Melora Hardin playing her doctor, at least she’s in the hands of somebody who knows a thing or two about artificial insemination. (Hulu)

Frog and Toad — The classic kidlit characters get their own animated series. Expect the doo-doo to really hit the fan when the Moms for Liberty discover it’s been adapted from the little-known entry Frog and Toad Are Butt Buddies. (Apple TV+)

From Black — All hell literally breaks loose when a grieving mom (Pitch Perfect’s Anna Camp) engages in an unholy ritual to bring back the son who disappeared half a decade earlier. All that aggravation, just to find out he was playing Minecraft. (Shudder)

Headless Chickens — Spanish sports dramedy, focusing on the trials and tribulations of an embattled soccer agent. According to Variety, actor/producer

Carolina Bang has admitted that she and director/writer/producer Alex de la Igelsia actually “don’t like soccer very much.” That’s OK, Carolina: You’ll learn to fake it, just like everybody in Orlando does. (HBO Max)

King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch — Pawn Stars creator Brent Montgomery narrows his focus to sports cards and memorabilia in a six-episode series about the most important auction house in the business. “O.J.’s blood-spattered Heisman? Best I can do is 50 bucks in Dogecoin.” (Netflix)

Peter Pan and Wendy — The 2003 version bankrolled by Dodi al-Fayed’s dad is the live-action Pan you want to seek out. But this one has Jude Law as Captain Hook, plus a Black Tinkerbell and some girl Lost Boys. So even if it blows chunks, Twitter could be entertaining for a couple days. (Disney+)

Warner Bros. 100 Years — Celebrate the centennial of the venerable studio by watching this three-part documentary, which shows how early forays like Casablanca and The Wizard of Oz laid the foundation for Warners’ crowning achievement: giving the world Zack Snyder. (HBO Max)

PREMIERES SUNDAY:

Fatal Attraction — This series remake of the 1987 male-paranoia flick promises a more modern and nuanced take on the material. Pitch meeting: “OK, hear me out. This time, the crazy bitch is a microinfluencer.” chomps cigar (Paramount+)

PREMIERES TUESDAY:

Jimmy O. Yang: Guess How Much? — In his second stand-up special, the onetime Crazy Rich Asian drops the bombshell that Chinese Americans sometimes have a complicated relationship I their parents. I can’t believe I can get this kind of cultural education for a lousy $8.99 a month. (Prime Video)

Love Village — Japanese singles ages 35plus are sent to the mountains to see if they can find love. Pretty sure this was the plot of an anime I saw once, except the losers got fed to a demon. (Netflix)

Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed

— According to this docuseries, Jose Menendez, the father of imprisoned patricidalists Lyle and Erik Menendez, once sexually abused Menudo member Roy Rosselló. Hey, as long as you don’t try to tell me John and Patsy Ramsey sold feet pics of Johnny Gill. (Peacock)

The Tailor — Wedding fashion and the yearnings of the heart collide when a famous tailor develops feelings for one of his clients. That lends a whole new meaning to the phrase “Who are you wearing tonight?” (Netflix)

Thalia’s Mixtape: El Soundtrack de Mi Vida — The Mexican singer/actress hypes her just-released covers album with a tribute to the artists who inspired her, from Soda Stereo to Maldita Vecindad. To determine if any of those groups actually exist, visit your local independent record store. (Paramount+)