At the table
Lift small pieces of flesh away from the bones, checking each mouthful. Spoon over a little sauce and eat with rice if you like.
Contains fish and soy sauce, which may contain wheat. Fine bones remain; cooking wine may be used.
Grass carp is usual. Ginger, huangjiu rice wine and starch may join the vinegar, sugar and soy sauce; sauce balance and cooking method vary.
GET TO KNOW THE DISH
What goes into it?
Explore some key ingredients below. Preparations may use additional seasonings and ingredients.
The fish can be poached or steamed.
Typical ingredients
In some versions
Recipes vary by restaurant.
How does it taste?
Sweet and sour
- Chili heat
- Texture
- Tender flesh.
- How it’s made
- Poach or steam grass carp, then add vinegar, sugar and soy sauce.
The fish can be poached or steamed.
A CONNECTION TO PLACE
Origin & regional roots
Associated with Zhejiang.
Ask if they have it first
请问你们有西湖醋鱼吗？
Do you have this item?
A LITTLE SOMETHING TO READ
Story & history
The Song Wusao fish-soup tale
This account describes a tradition or story, rather than an established historical fact.
One Hangzhou folklore tale links West Lake vinegar fish to Song Wusao and a bowl of fish soup. In the tale, she cooks for her sick younger brother-in-law (her husband’s younger brother), accidentally spills cooking wine and vinegar into the pot, and neighbors copy the result. Later, Hangzhou’s Lou Wai Lou is said to have adapted that fish soup into today’s vinegar fish. This is folklore about the dish, not proof of its exact origin.