Juniper Ren Noodle «QUICK»

“I wasn’t trying to make noodles,” she told me over a video call, her kitchen now a sterile lab in Kyoto. “I was trying to make a medicine for my own dead tongue.”

To prepare the Juniper Ren Noodle, the noodles are first cooked and then tossed in a mixture of juniper berries, garlic, and ginger. The savory broth is then added, and the dish is garnished with various toppings. juniper ren noodle

Three years ago, Ren was a rising star in Shanghai’s competitive xi mian scene. Her cuisine was maximalist—pork lard, fifteen-hour broths, chili crisp by the bucket. But after a severe case of long COVID left her unable to taste fat or salt, her career collapsed. Everything she cooked tasted like cardboard and ashes. “I wasn’t trying to make noodles,” she told