Xianghe Noodles 祥和面馆 @ Shanghai

Shanghai’s “jiaotou” noodles 浇头面 and Suzhou’s “dirty stove” noodle 奥灶面 are similar and my favourite style of noodles. They both allow you to pick and choose your toppings and come with delicious, satisfying noodles.

Xianghe Noodles 祥和面馆 is located at the junction of Dingxi Road and Anhua Road, and has been serving the neighbourhood with good eats at a relatively cheap price for 24 hours a day.

Xianghe is also a social enterprise which was started by a group of disabled persons back in 2000, providing employment for these underprivileged group in society and at the same time serves cheap food for the neighbourhood.

They have a wide selection of toppings on the menu; you can choose any one and any number with your soup noodle or shallot oil noodle 葱油面.⁠

In Shanghai, these style of noodles are known as Jiaotou (topping) noodles 浇头面 because the toppings served play a key role and define the noodles. ⁠I went for my favourite shredded freshwater eel and pig’s kidney noodles 鳝丝面加腰花.

The toppings are served separately from the noodles (which are usually served in a clear soup made from pork and chicken bones). And you pour the toppings onto the noodles, an action called jiao 浇 in Mandarin. Hence the name “jiaotou” 浇头.

The toppings are prepared separately and individually. They are sautéed with a thick, savoury and slight sweet sauce 浓油赤酱, and to the uninitiated it looks very heavy and oily.

And I added a second topping with my shredded eel noodles, a nice plate of sautéed pig’s kidney. It used the same condiments as the eel, so the flavours did not crash. But the kidney was quite funky 🙂

Shanghai noodles are a specific type of noodle that are a wheat flour noodle, and are typically thin, round and slightly chewy. These are machine made and quite plain, but you can get them al dente or soft.

And to round up the meal, I ordered a portion of Shepherd’s purse pork wontons 芥菜鲜肉馄饨. These were Shanghai-style wontons and were quite filling on their own. The whole meal came to around RMB 70 (USD 10) and that’s only because I am a big eater.

Besides the noodles that are available 24 hours a day, they offer simple tzechar style dishes for dinner. These dishes are home cooked favourites like sautéed chives with whelk meat for ¥28 (USD 4) a plate. And they are cooked only upon ordering. What a bargain.

Xianghe Noodles 祥和面馆
No.1 Dingxi Rd 1249 Lane, Changning District, Shanghai, China, 200050
长宁区定西路1235弄1号(近安化路)
Phone: +86 21 6212 7097

Visited Apr 2025