Aozao Noodles 奥灶面
Aozao Noodles is featured among the local specialties of Jiangsu.
Aozao Noodles (奥灶面) are a noodle speciality of Kunshan (昆山) in Jiangsu, best known in the two bowls of the Aozao restaurant (奥灶馆): red-oil noodles topped with fried fish (红油爆鱼面) and white-broth noodles topped with braised duck (白湯滷鸭面).
How it is made
The two bowls rest on two stocks. The red broth is simmered from black carp (青鱼), eel bones and river snails with soy sauce; the white broth is made from old chickens, old ducks and pork bones. The toppings are cut from black carp or from the Kunshan big hemp duck (昆山大麻鸭).
The noodles are thin white dragon-whisker noodles (龙须面). They go into the pot and come out again quickly, so that they keep some firmness in the bowl.
How it is served
Aozao Noodles are served by a rule known as the three scalds (三烫), also given as three hots (三热) or five hots (五热). Bowls and chopsticks are taken out of boiling water, which both warms and sterilises them; the old stock is kept in an iron pot over the dying heat of the fire; the noodles are dipped in boiling water as they are lifted; and the oil and the topping are both served hot. The result is a bowl that makes people sweat even in winter.
Where it comes from
The Aozao restaurant was founded in Kunshan in 1853, the third year of the Qing emperor Xianfeng's reign, as Tianxiang Guan (天香馆). It later changed hands and was renamed Yan Fuxing (颜复兴), and in 1956, when it became a joint state-private business, it took the name Aozao Guan. One story traces the name to the Qianlong Emperor, who ate the noodles on a tour of the south and was told the secret lay in the stove (奥妙在灶头上). Another says locals teased an ageing owner whose shop was not very clean as aozao (鏖糟), grubby, and the shop adopted a homophone.
Kunshan's technique for making Aozao Noodles entered the Jiangsu provincial intangible cultural heritage list in 2009, and the Ministry of Commerce named the restaurant a China Time-honoured Brand (中华老字号) in 2010. It opened its first branch in Nanjing in 2015, with the stock made in Kunshan and sent there directly, and it also has shops in Shanghai.
More dishes to compare
Explore related local specialties and compare their names, preparation notes and ordering guidance.
Suzhou soup noodles 苏式汤面 →
Both are soup noodles of the Suzhou area; Aozao Noodles are the Kunshan version defined by a fish-and-snail red stock, a poultry-and-pork white stock and a strict rule that bowl, stock, noodles, oil and topping all arrive hot.
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)
- Ao zao mian noodles from Kunshan's Aozhaoguan restaurant, in a dark savoury broth topped with braised meat · 昆山奥灶馆奥灶面Photo: Gisling · CC BY-SA 3.0 · taken 2011-10-29Resized for the web; the photo itself has not been edited. Thumbnails may show a cropped view.
