Noodles and sides (clockwise from front right): pea shoots, mala chicken mixian, pork wontons, and "Lijiang old town grandma-inspired" chicken mixian. This last dish (also shown below, from my first encounter) is a soup fortified by soft rice noodles, chicken confit, and a tea egg, and accented with various greens and pickles. Its most visually striking feature is the color of the chicken broth — black sesame garlic oil takes credit or, for the eventual ring around my soup bowl, blame.
As for the Old Town of Lijiang: The historic center of a Chinese city in Yunnan province, it was honored as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. In the "tourist scramble" that followed, however, "the indigenous Naxi people were the first to get shoved aside." The Old Town's touristification, to be sure, is no fault of Little Tong — the noodle shop seeks only to offer chicken soup for the Yunnan soul.
Little Tong Noodle Shop
235 East 53rd St. (Second-Third Aves.), Manhattan
929-383-0465
231 West 39th St. (Seventh-Eighth Aves., inside The Deco Food + Drink)
www.LittleTong.com
