Eel Rice Noodles 鳝鱼粉
Eel Rice Noodles is featured among the local specialties of Hubei.
Eel Rice Noodles (鳝鱼粉) is a bowl of noodles with swamp eel from Xiantao (仙桃) in Hubei, a city the Hubei Daily calls China's eel capital ("中国黄鳝之都"). The paper says Xiantao's eel noodles were already well known in the Qing dynasty.
Where it comes from
Xiantao is crossed by rivers and lakes, and eating eel is a long-standing local habit. Besides the noodles, the Hubei Daily lists stir-fried eel shreds (爆炒鳝丝), eel steamed in rice flour (粉蒸鳝鱼) and eel shred soup (鳝丝汤) among the city's eel dishes. Li Heming (李和鸣), a fourth-generation inheritor of Mianyang three steamed dishes (沔阳三蒸), told the paper that Xiantao has more than 100 ways of cooking eel.
Chinese Wikipedia places Xiantao in the Han-Mian (汉沔) branch of Hubei cooking, together with Wuhan, Xiaogan and Macheng: a flat area with many lakes, known for large freshwater fish, steamed dishes and slow-simmered soups.
How it is eaten
In Xiantao the Hubei Daily describes eel as the breakfast to try: a hot bowl of eel noodles eaten with the local speciality chaomi (炒米, toasted rice). Chen Xiaoqing (陈晓卿), director of the food documentary A Bite of China (舌尖上的中国), once asked in a widely noticed post whether fried dough sticks and mianwo (面窝) in Xiantao should go with hutang noodles (糊汤粉), beef noodles or eel noodles.
The boxed instant version
The bowl is now also made as an instant food. In January 2024 Hubei Gu Dasao Foods (湖北顾大嫂食品有限公司) in Ganhe subdistrict (干河街道) was packing boxed "Xiantao eel noodles": a stock boiled from fresh eel bones, air-dried eel slices, and packets of seasoning, vegetables and noodles. The company told the paper that in 2023 it changed from bags to bowls that are filled with boiling water, and replaced sweet-potato starch noodles (苕粉) with rice noodles because their flavour is closer to the bowl served at the table. It also sells gift boxes so that visitors can carry the noodles home.
More dishes to compare
Explore related local specialties and compare their names, preparation notes and ordering guidance.
Steamed Rice-Field Eel 蒸鳝鱼 →
Another Hubei swamp-eel dish: the eel is steamed and served as a plate, rather than eaten in a breakfast noodle bowl.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-25. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.