Xiangtan Rice Noodles 湘潭米粉
Xiangtan Rice Noodles is featured among the local specialties of Hunan.
Xiangtan Rice Noodles (湘潭米粉) are the rice-noodle bowls of Xiangtan (湘潭) in Hunan, eaten dry or in soup under a fried topping. A 2020 Rednet (红网) feature on the city's noodles found locals eating them from early morning until midnight.
How it is made
Ma Xiaoyun (马小筠), who took over her mother's noodle shop in Xiangtan 22 years before the 2020 feature, told Rednet that the secret of Xiangtan Rice Noodles lies in the broth and the topping (码子). Her mother's rules were that the bone broth has to be started the day before, and the topping must be made from fresh meat and fried once a day.
At Youchitang (有吃堂), in the Furong (芙蓉) farmers' market, the noodles are still made by hand. Soaked rice is ground to a slurry on a stone mill, and the slurry is poured into a steaming tray, spread into a round, steamed, laid out to dry and cut into strips about a finger wide. The cooked noodles go into a broth of simmered big bones with no added seasoning and are topped with a freshly fried topping.
How it is eaten
Rednet describes a breakfast bowl in Xiangtan as something of a ritual, and a midnight bowl as filling and easy to digest; both dry and soup versions are eaten. Rednet quotes one customer's order: a "干扣粉" (dry noodles) with shredded pork (肉丝) on top. Older residents remember vendors who walked the streets with a shoulder pole, a charcoal fire and pot at one end and noodles and bowls at the other, serving white noodles in brown broth scattered with green scallion.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-25. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.
Image credits & notes (1)
- Reference photo of a similar dish · 同类菜品参考照片A similar preparation is pictured; the local version may differ. 同类菜品参考照片，当地做法可能不同。Photo: Mystery6002 · CC0Resized for the web; the photo itself has not been edited. Thumbnails may show a cropped view.
