An East Village Noodle restaurant is using an ancient recipe that was created to cure sick soldiers in Southern China. You may not be a soldier, but it will probably help that Monday morning hangover.
You’re a New Yorker, so you’re no stranger to partying on a school night (read “work night” and try not to feel old). We’ve all been there; peeling yourself out of bed, shuffling zombie-like into the shower, popping a Tylenol before torturing yourself with a full day at work. There is possibly nothing worse than being hungover at work, so how do you resist that urge to curl up into a ball under your desk until hometime? Do you use some over-the-counter medication, or are you privy to a secret recipe “guaranteed” to calm the stomach and soothe the head?
One restaurant in the East Village has a Hangover cure that is thousands of years in the making.
“Yuan,” occupying the space that was formerly “Biang!” on 157 2nd Ave, is the East Village’s newest mi-fen restaurant. Mi-fen, meaning rice-noodles, offer an insight into the bold, hangover curing, claims above. Jacob Ding, the owner of “Yuan”, told Grubstreet in a recent article:
The story goes that Qin soldiers, accustomed to abundant wheat in northern China, were dismayed to find that the South had little of the grain — but lots of rice, so they used that to make noodles instead.
Legend has it that when the soldiers took ill, in part due to their unfamiliar surroundings in the south, they would make the noodles with medicinal spices in a sauce. This dish has stuck around and is still a very popular dish in the region.
Now, you don’t have to be an ancient Chinese warrior to get your belly soothed by this ancient broth, you simply have to make your way to 2nd ave. Likely your sick tummy is self-inflicted too, but this noodle-cure has got to be worth a try, right?
Featured image source [Wikimedia Commons]