Scalded Pork Tripe Tips in Broth 汤泡肚尖
Scalded Pork Tripe Tips in Broth is featured among the local specialties of Hunan.
Scalded Pork Tripe Tips in Broth (汤泡肚尖) is a clear soup of pork tripe from Yulou Dong (玉楼东), a Changsha (长沙) restaurant founded in 1904. Rednet's Changsha site presented it in 2021 as a speciality that only Yulou Dong makes.
What is in the bowl
Rednet quotes a description of the bowl by colour: white for four slices of pork tripe, red for a slice of ham, yellow for a single koumo mushroom (口蘑), and green for one heart of a leafy vegetable. The broth is clear and transparent, likened to spring water in a fairyland.
Where it comes from
Yulou Dong was founded as a banquet restaurant serving Hunan food by Rao Shiwan (饶石顽), a late-Qing official of the Grand Secretariat who had studied abroad, at the mouth of Dongmao Lane (东茅巷) by Qingshi Bridge, today's Jiefang West Road (解放西路) in Changsha. It opened as Yulou Chun (玉楼春) and was renamed Yulou Dong, the 'east' (东) standing for Dongmao Lane, to set it apart from the many Western restaurants in Changsha whose names ended in 'chun' (春).
In 1920 Tan Xiting (谭溪庭), styled the first chef of Hunan, took charge of the kitchen. After a meal there, Zeng Guangjun (曾广钧), grandson of Zeng Guofan (曾国藩) and a late-Qing Hanlin academician, wrote the line "麻辣仔鸡汤泡肚，令人常忆玉楼东" (spicy spring chicken and tripe in broth make one always remember Yulou Dong). Rednet credits the line with spreading the fame of the restaurant's spicy spring chicken (麻辣仔鸡) and this tripe soup, and both dishes have been kept on since.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-25. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.