Name: Flower And Horse In Spring 花马春天
Add.: 1741 Robson Street Vancouver, BC V6G 1E1

Introduction:

Flower and Horse in Spring is a new restaurant serving Yunnan Cuisine with their signature ‘crossing the bridge’ rice noodles. The legend of the noodles comes from the Yunnan Province where a scholar was studying for the imperial exams and his wife would make a long walk crossing a bridge to bring him his midday meal. The meal consisted of hot chicken soup with a layer of oil to keep the meal warm. She would carry the ingredients separately and combine them together when she gave him the noodles until he passed his exam.

This story was passed down from generation to generation inspiring the creation of the noodles that symbolizes the wifes love for the scholar.

 
Reviews from vancouversun:

Flower and Horse in Spring limns like a haiku, but poetry is hard to appreciate on a cold, dark, drizzly night. No, it was the "noodles" in the signage of this oddly named restaurant and the warm glow and bright pops of colour inside (hallucinogenic, almost) that drew me in.

And as it turned out, the Yunnan food was just as soulful and colourful as the room. The restaurant opened last November; the owners, Helen Li and Max Ma, ran a higher-end restaurant in China before moving to Vancouver.

Yunnan province in southwest China (abuts Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam) is home to more than 30 ethnic minorities and a geography that ranges from sub-tropics to snow-capped mountains. One of the servers was wearing tribal clothing made by one of the ethnic groups and it looked so cool I had to ask. She wasn't sure how the natural pleats and dye patterns in her skirt were made, but I was impressed at the handiwork.

Manager Jason Lou says the name of the restaurant refers to the importance of flowers and horses in the region, and spring is a happy time of year. The poetic mindset carries over to the food. The most famous dish of the region is Crossing the Bridge Noodles, where the broth is separated from the rest of the ingredients. They offer six kinds of Crossing the Bridge ($13.95 to $19.95) and they arrive with a dozen little dishes with marinated pork, fish, corn, chives, bean curd sheet, raw quail egg, pickles, tomato, carrots, bean sprouts, luncheon meat, parsley and green onions. Again, lots of colour. And there are more side dishes, depending on what you order.

Crossing the Bridge noodles at Flower and Horse in Spring.

Why the name Crossing the Bridge for a bowl of noodles? It comes down to a caring wife and a scholarly husband, studying for imperial exams in a quiet spot on a little island accessed by a bridge. She would take him noodles for lunch and to avoid soggy noodles, she separated the ingredients and added a skiff of oil on top of the broth to keep it hot; she combined everything just before he ate. But there’s an alternate explanation. That is, the ingredients "cross the bridge" into the broth. I much prefer the "good-wife" version. The scholar passed the exam and the dish has become a symbol of love.

I ordered "the first overall pick," Crossing the Bridge noodles, with crispy pork, prawns, squid and kelp knot. Unsure if there was a right and boorish way to proceed, so I watched two young ponytailed Asian women about to tuck in. They dumped all the ingredients in. So I followed.

Then another issue. The rice noodles were slippery and they wriggled off my chopsticks like skinny white eels. I looked to my Asian mentors at the next table. It gets me every time how others can eat big bowls of noodles so effortlessly and gracefully. I resorted to the shovelling method for the noodle crossing into my mouth. I found the broth delicately delicious. “It's a secret,” Lou says, but tells me there's chicken, pork and duck involved. He said it's traditional to first put in the quail egg, then the meat and then the veggies.

It was just what I needed on that depressingly dark, wet night. There's a good proportion of noodles to other ingredients. That is, you're not filling up on noodles.

The Yunnan area is known for its abundance of mushrooms and one of the noodle soups highlights that fact; it's got lobster, spot prawns, crab and a variety of mushrooms. "If you want A6 (with the mushrooms), tell us two or three days before," says Lou. They use a variety of fresh seasonal mushrooms.

There are also two hot-pot dishes, one with assorted mushrooms.

Also on the menu are selections of rice-noodle bowls with assertive toppings ($11.95 to $13.95), like ground pork, pickles, peanuts, bean-curd sheets and chives with a spicy sauce, and they come with a side of broth.

There's also a selection of small dishes like dumplings, lamb with sesame paste, marinated chicken feet and marinated spicy beef. In among these savories, we saw "Crispy Twisted Dough in Hot Milk." Who wouldn't want something twisted? It was the first dish to arrive, so we dived in. Surprise, it was sweet. Our server, also sweet, confirmed it's "more like a dessert." Oh! Lately, I've had some leftover Thomas Haas cake in the fridge and I've been having some as I cook dinner, so a little dessert before dinner isn't foreign to me.

While this wet weather keeps spitting on us, let spirits be lifted by this brightly hued spot with Yunnan comfort food.

Reviews from Foodology.ca

Interior

We passed by this place as it looked quite different from the outside. Looking at the menu and seeing this place was packed, we decided to line up. It was a 15 minute wait but the food smelled good.

The bright decorations really reminded my friend of China. She definitely felt nostalgia.

Traditional Crossing the Bridge Noodles

I ordered A5, the first overall pick according to the menu. Not sure what that means, but I felt most of the menu was lost in translation. This set has crispy pork, prawn, kelp, squid, marinated pork, fish, spam, corn, chives, bean curd, quail egg, yunnan pickle, tomato, carrot, bean sprout, parsley, and green onion.

There are instructions at the table on how to put together the noodles, but I learned quickly that I was so hangry that I can't follow instructions.
It says:
1. Beat the quail egg
2. Coat the sliced raw meat with egg and place into the boiling soup
3. Add cooked meat to soup
4. Put Veggies into the soup
5. Add rice noodle to the soup

We just dumped all the meat in first to cook it while the soup is hot. We then put in the rest of the veggies to cook. Then lastly, we throw in the noodles.

Once all the items were put together, it looked and tasted good. I wish it had more spice, but there was some chili oil that you can add a kick to the noodles.

Rice Noodle with sauteed pork sauce

The dish has a soup on the side too. The egg on top was delicious. The menu said the sauteed pork sauce was spicy, but it really wasn't.

Noodles with with house special braised pork sauce in soup

It also has with shitake mushroom, bean curd sheet, bean spouts, chives, and other stuff. The menu had a big HOT warming on this item, but my friend said it wasn't very spicy.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a great experience to try something a bit different in the city. The "crossing the bridge" noodles were delicious and I'll be back. It's a small space and they don't do reservations, so make sure to come earlier or have a bit of patience waiting.