Generated guide illustration: Wide rice noodles dry-fried with beef, bean sprouts and scallions. Not a restaurant photograph.

Hong Kong · Guangdong · THE FOOD GUIDE

Stir-fried beef and wide rice noodles

Beef chow fun

干炒牛河

Gānchǎo niúhé

Wide rice noodles stir-fried with beef and bean sprouts.

0/5Staple foods
Kid-friendly
Order in Chinese

At the table

How to enjoy it

Separate a small portion of noodles and beef with chopsticks or a fork. Cut long noodles or large beef slices if needed.

A useful check

Soy sauce may contain wheat; some recipes also use oyster sauce and sesame oil. Rice noodles do not make the whole dish gluten-free. Check seasonings if you have allergies.

How it may vary

This dry-fried version is served without pooled sauce.

Tender beef with soft wide rice noodles and bean sprouts can be shared from a plate; cut long noodles and beef into manageable pieces.

Recipes vary. Ask the restaurant about ingredients and serving before you order.

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What goes into it?

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How does it taste?

Savory, with browned beef.

Chili heat
0/5
Texture
Tender beef; slippery noodles.

A CONNECTION TO PLACE

Origin & regional roots

Hong Kong · Guangdong

Associated with Hong Kong. Associated with Guangdong.

Ask if they have it first

ASK IF IT'S AVAILABLE

请问你们有干炒牛河吗?

Do you have this item?

Traveler experiences

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A LITTLE SOMETHING TO READ

Story & history

Shahe’s name in Guangzhou beef chow fun

These wide rice noodles take their name from Shahe, beneath Guangzhou’s Baiyun Mountain. A local tale says an elderly regular at a Shahe porridge shop made steamed rice sheets with spring water from the mountain for the shopkeeper’s ill wife; this is folklore, not a verified invention record. From the late Qing into the Republican period, Guangzhou tea houses and restaurants advertised authentic Shahe fen (沙河粉); the name was applied broadly to wide rice noodles and shortened to he fen (河粉), then simply he (河). Dry-fried beef chow fun is a classic way to enjoy them. The dish’s name carries a place association as well as describing its wide rice noodles.

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