The best food to eat in China is nothing like the Chinese food most people know abroad. Forget everything you think you know about Chinese food. No fortune cookies, no General Tso’s chicken, no orange-glazed anything. Real Chinese cuisine is eight radically different regional traditions spanning a country the size of Europe, from the mouth-numbing fire of Sichuan to the delicate artistry of Cantonese dim sum to street food in Xi’an that has no equivalent anywhere on earth.
The first time real Sichuan mala hit me, in a Chengdu hotpot joint where the broth was more chili than liquid, my lips went numb, my forehead sweated, and I could not stop eating. That is the thing about the best food to eat in China: the version served abroad is a polite cartoon of it. China has the oldest continuous culinary tradition on the planet, and its eight regional cuisines are so different that going from Guangzhou to Chengdu to Beijing is as dramatic a shift as Naples to Stockholm to Istanbul.
This guide covers all eight traditions, 20-plus essential dishes, the best food cities, street food, prices, and the dining etiquette that earns respect at any Chinese table. China is one of nine countries in our guide to the best food in Asia.
Cantonese cuisine: dim sum, roast meats and the world’s most refined Chinese food
Cantonese food (from Guangdong province and Hong Kong) is the Chinese cuisine most Westerners have met, but the version served abroad is a pale shadow. Real Cantonese cooking has one obsession: preserving the natural flavor of the ingredient. Sauces stay light, cooking times stay precise, freshness is non-negotiable. A Cantonese chef who overcooks a shrimp has committed a professional sin.
Dim Sum 点心 / dim sum
Dim sum (touch the heart) is a Cantonese tradition of small dishes served with tea, usually for brunch. The classics: har gow (translucent shrimp dumplings, the skin thin enough to see the pink through it), siu mai (open-topped pork-and-shrimp dumplings), char siu bao (fluffy BBQ pork buns), cheung fun (silky rice noodle rolls), lo mai gai (sticky rice in lotus leaf), and dan tat (flaky custard egg tarts).
A proper session means 8 to 15 dishes from a cart or checklist, infinite tea, and two hours at the table. HK$100-250 in Hong Kong, ¥60-150 in Guangzhou. Full breakdown in our Hong Kong food guide.
Cantonese Roast Meats Siu mei / 烧味
Every Cantonese neighborhood has a roast shop with lacquered ducks and red char siu in the window. Char siu (BBQ pork glazed with honey, five-spice, and red fermented bean curd until caramelized) over rice is the everyday plate. Siu yuk is roast pork belly with skin that shatters like glass. And siu ngo, roast goose, is the Hong Kong specialty (Yung Kee in Central has been the benchmark since 1942).
A plate of char siu rice runs HK$45-70 or ¥25-50 on the mainland. The crackling-skin pork belly is the one to seek out.
Wonton Noodle Soup Wonton noodles
Thin alkaline egg noodles in a clear shrimp-shell broth, topped with plump shrimp-and-pork wontons wrapped so thin the filling shows through. The noodle texture must be springy, never soft. Mak’s Noodle and Tsim Chai Kee in Hong Kong have refined it to an art.
HK$40-60 a bowl. On the mainland, any good Cantonese wonton shop in a southern city is worth the detour for the broth alone.
Sweet and Sour Pork Gulaorou / 咨咿肉
This is the most famous Chinese dish abroad, and the original tastes nothing like the gloopy red version from a Western takeaway. Real Cantonese gulaorou is crisp-fried pork tossed in a balanced sweet-and-sour glaze with pineapple, bell pepper and onion, the sauce sharp with black vinegar rather than cloying. Tasting the genuine article is one of the great “oh, that’s what it’s supposed to be” moments of eating in China.
Found on almost every Cantonese menu for ¥30-60. Its spicier northern cousin, guo bao rou from Dongbei, swaps the pineapple for a thinner, tangier glaze.
Sichuan cuisine: the most addictive flavor in the world
Sichuan food (from Chengdu and Chongqing) is the cuisine that ruins your ability to eat bland food again. The signature is mala: ma (the tingling numbness of Sichuan peppercorn) plus la (chili heat). The first time you feel real mala, your lips go numb, your tongue buzzes, and you can’t stop. It’s chemically addictive in the best possible way.
Sichuan Hotpot Huoguo / 火锅
A bubbling cauldron of chili oil, Sichuan peppercorns, and dozens of dried spices sits in the center of the table. You order raw ingredients (thin-sliced beef and lamb, vegetables, tofu, mushrooms, noodles, tripe) and cook them yourself, building a dipping mix of sesame oil, garlic, and cilantro. Chongqing hotpot is hotter and oilier than Chengdu’s, with more offal.
Dinner for two runs ¥100-200. Haidilao is the famous chain (free manicures while you wait), but the local joints in Chengdu’s Yulin neighborhood are more authentic.
Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐
Soft silken tofu in a fiery sauce of chili oil, fermented broad bean paste (doubanjiang, the soul of Sichuan cooking), Sichuan peppercorn, and ground pork. The version at Chen Mapo Tofu in Chengdu (open since 1862) is leagues beyond anything abroad. Mala numbness first, then chili heat, then the deep umami of the bean paste.
¥25-50. It is also one of China’s best vegetarian dishes when made without the pork.
Kung Pao Chicken Gong bao ji ding
Diced chicken wok-fried with dried red chilies, Sichuan peppercorn, roasted peanuts, and scallions in a soy-vinegar-sugar sauce. The real version is drier, spicier, and far more complex than the goopy sweet Western adaptation. The dried chilies flavor the oil rather than being eaten whole, and the peanuts add crunch and fat. Spicy, sour, sweet, savory, and nutty all at once.
¥30-60. A perfectly balanced dish and an easy entry point to Sichuan heat.
Dan Dan Noodles 担担面
Thin wheat noodles in a sauce of chili oil, Sichuan pepper, sesame paste, preserved vegetables (ya cai), and minced pork. The original Chengdu version is almost dry, with just enough sauce to coat the noodles, served in a small bowl, unlike the soupy versions abroad. The balance of nutty sesame, numbing pepper, and chili heat is what makes it extraordinary.
¥12-25 at street level, and one of the great cheap thrills of Chinese food.
Chongqing Spicy Chicken La zi ji
A mountain of deep-fried chicken pieces buried under an avalanche of dried red chilies and Sichuan peppercorns, roughly a 1-to-3 chicken-to-chili ratio, so you dig through the chilies to find the chicken. It looks terrifying and tastes incredible: the chilies are toasted in the wok and flavor the oil that permeates the meat.
¥40-80. A Chongqing specialty that Chengdu has adopted enthusiastically.
Beijing and northern Chinese food: Peking duck, dumplings and wheat
Northern cuisine (Beijing, Shandong, Dongbei) is built on wheat, not rice: noodles, dumplings, steamed buns, and pancakes. The flavors are savory and rustic, hearty and warming for cold winters. Beijing’s food blends imperial court cuisine, Muslim Hui influences, and big-portioned northeastern cooking.
Peking Duck 北京烤鸭
China’s most famous dish. A whole duck is inflated to separate skin from fat, glazed with maltose, and roasted in a fruitwood-fired oven until the skin is lacquered mahogany and shatteringly crisp, then carved tableside. You eat it in thin pancakes with scallion, cucumber, and hoisin. The first course is crisp skin dipped in sugar; the bones go into a soup, and nothing is wasted.
The rivals: Da Dong (modern, lean, thinnest skin in Beijing) and Quanjude (oldest, since 1864, fattier). Siji Minfu is the best value. A whole duck runs ¥198-398; reserve ahead, it takes 45-plus minutes.
Zhajiangmian Beijing noodles
Thick hand-pulled wheat noodles topped with a savory paste of fermented soybean sauce fried with diced pork, served with fresh toppings (julienned cucumber, bean sprouts, edamame, radish) that you mix in yourself. A humble, deeply satisfying bowl Beijingers eat year-round.
¥20-40. The contrast of salty pork paste and cool crunchy vegetables is the whole point.
Jianbing China’s greatest breakfast
A thin crispy mung-bean crepe cooked on a round griddle, spread with egg, brushed with sweet bean sauce and chili, topped with cilantro, scallions, and a crunchy fried-wonton cracker, then folded into a portable package. It’s the breakfast of 20 million Beijingers, made by street vendors at every intersection from 6 to 10 AM.
¥8-15, and quite possibly the best breakfast on earth for under two dollars. Watching a skilled jianbing maker work is mesmerizing.
Mongolian Lamb Hotpot and Skewers Shuan yangrou / yang rou chuan’r
Beijing has a large Hui (Chinese Muslim) community and their food is everywhere. Mongolian lamb hotpot is paper-thin lamb swished in a copper chimney pot of clear, mild broth, then dipped in sesame paste with fermented tofu and chili oil. Lamb skewers (yang rou chuan’r) are cumin-and-chili-dusted lamb grilled over charcoal, the ubiquitous Beijing night snack.
Skewers run ¥3-5 each, best eaten standing at a hutong bar or night-market stall.
Shanghai and eastern Chinese cuisine: sweet, delicate and soupy
Shanghainese cooking and the broader Jiangsu-Zhejiang region favor sweetness, subtlety, and complex braising. The soy sauce is darker and sweeter, sugar shows up in unexpected places, and the style is more refined and less aggressive than Sichuan or the north. This is the cuisine of China’s historic merchant and literary class.
Xiaolongbao Soup dumplings / 小笼包
Thin-skinned dumplings filled with pork (and sometimes crab) and a pocket of rich, gelatinized broth that liquefies when steamed. The technique: set the dumpling on a spoon, bite a small hole, sip out the hot soup, then eat the rest in one bite. You’ll burn the roof of your mouth at least once. Rite of passage.
Jia Jia Tang Bao on Huanghe Road and Din Tai Fung are the standard-bearers, ¥30-60 for a steamer of 8 to 10.
Dongpo Pork 东坡肉
A Hangzhou classic named after the poet Su Dongpo: thick cubes of pork belly braised for hours in Shaoxing wine, soy, sugar, and ginger until the fat renders to a trembling, gelatinous, melt-on-the-tongue texture while the lean stays tender. The sauce is dark, glossy, and sweet-savory, served in the clay pot it was cooked in.
¥40-80, and one of the most decadent pork dishes in the world.
Hong Shao Rou and Hairy Crab Red-braised pork / da zha xie
Hong shao rou, red-braised pork belly in soy, sugar, Shaoxing wine, star anise, and cinnamon, was reportedly Mao’s favorite dish, sweeter and darker than the northern version, ¥30-60. From September to November, the whole region obsesses over hairy crab (the Chinese mitten crab from Yangcheng Lake), steamed whole and eaten with ginger-vinegar, the females prized for golden roe.
Genuine Yangcheng Lake crabs run ¥100-300+ each, a once-a-year cultural event that shows China’s deep tie between food and season.
Xi’an: the greatest street food city you’ve never heard of
Xi’an (home of the Terracotta Warriors) was the eastern end of the Silk Road, and its food carries centuries of Central Asian influence. The Muslim Quarter (Huimin Jie) is one of the most exciting food streets in the world, a chaotic, smoke-filled kilometer of grills, noodle-pulling stations, and bread ovens.
Roujiamo The Chinese hamburger
A round, crisp, layered flatbread (mo) split and stuffed with slow-braised, cumin-spiced pork or lamb chopped with a cleaver until shredded. The bread is clay-oven baked with a flaky, almost puff-pastry texture; the meat is braised in a soy-and-spice broth for hours until rich and intensely seasoned. It predates the Western hamburger by roughly 1,800 years.
¥8-15, and the single best thing to eat in the Muslim Quarter.
Biang Biang Noodles Belt noodles
Impossibly wide hand-pulled belt noodles, each as wide as your hand, slapped against the counter as they stretch (the biang biang sound). Tossed with chili oil, vinegar, garlic, and vegetables, with a sizzle of hot oil poured over at the table. Chewy, substantial, and sauce-absorbing. The character for biang is so complex (57 strokes) it does not exist in standard dictionaries.
¥12-25. Order it with the hot oil poured fresh in front of you.
Yang Rou Pao Mo Lamb and bread soup
A bowl of slow-simmered lamb broth served with flatbread you tear into tiny pieces yourself, and how finely you tear it is a matter of local pride. The torn bread soaks up the rich, mutton-scented broth, with lamb, glass noodles, and pickled garlic. A Muslim Quarter signature and Xi’an’s most soul-warming dish.
¥25-50. Settle in: the tearing is half the experience.
Yunnan: China’s hidden food paradise
Yunnan in China’s far southwest is the country’s most biodiverse region, with tropical forests, high plateaus, and 25 ethnic minority groups whose cuisines stayed distinct for centuries. The food leans on more fresh herbs, mushrooms, flowers, and fermented ingredients than any other Chinese cuisine. Lighter, and more Southeast Asian in spirit.
Crossing-the-Bridge Noodles 过桥米线
Yunnan’s most famous dish: a bowl of piping-hot chicken broth topped with a layer of oil to hold the heat, served alongside plates of raw ingredients (paper-thin chicken, pork liver, quail eggs, tofu skin, chrysanthemum leaves, fresh rice noodles) that you add one by one, the heat cooking them in seconds. The name comes from a legend of a wife crossing a bridge daily to bring soup to her studying husband.
¥20-50, theatrical and delicious in equal measure.
- Wild mushroom hotpot (June to September). Yunnan has more edible wild mushroom species than almost anywhere on earth: matsutake, porcini, chanterelles, and dozens with no English names. In season, every Kunming restaurant serves mushroom hotpot and platters, ¥80-200. (Undercooked, some can cause hallucinations, so cook them through.)
- Erkuai. Thick, chewy Yunnan rice cakes, stir-fried with ham and chili or grilled with rose-petal jam, denser and chewier than any rice cake elsewhere, like mochi crossed with pasta.
Chinese street food: breakfast, night markets and snacks
Chinese street food is a world of its own, and where most people actually eat much of the time. Breakfast culture alone could fill a book. Every city’s night markets serve a different menu of skewers, stinky tofu, grilled squid, and regional snacks. China sits firmly in the global street-food top tier, alongside the cities in our best street food cities ranking.
- Cong you bing. Flaky scallion pancakes fried golden and crisp. ¥3-8.
- Stinky tofu (chou doufu). Fermented tofu deep-fried crisp, served with chili sauce. The smell is intense, the taste mild and addictive. ¥5-15.
- Tanghulu. Candied hawthorn berries on a stick in crackly sugar, Beijing’s signature sweet. ¥5-10.
- Chao fan and chao mian. Wok-fried rice and chow mein, the everyday cheap meal nationwide. Yangzhou fried rice (egg, ham, shrimp, peas) is the benchmark. ¥15-30.
- Mooncake (yuebing). Dense lotus-seed or red-bean pastry around a salted egg yolk, eaten at the Mid-Autumn Festival. ¥10-30 each.
- Century egg (pidan). Preserved duck egg with a dark translucent jelly white and creamy green yolk, served with tofu or in congee. China’s most notorious “adventurous” bite, and genuinely delicious. ¥5-15.
- Baozi and congee. Steamed stuffed buns (¥1-3) and rice porridge with pickles and century egg (¥5-15), the staple Chinese breakfast.
- Egg waffle (ji dan zai). The Hong Kong bubble waffle, crisp-edged and pillowy-centered. ¥10-20.
The great Chinese noodle traditions
China’s noodle diversity makes Italy’s pasta culture look like a single menu. Every province, often every city, has its own tradition: width, technique, sauce, broth.
- Lanzhou hand-pulled beef noodles. The most popular noodle dish in China: clear beef-bone broth, hand-pulled noodles in your chosen width, sliced beef, chili oil, cilantro, and radish. A breakfast food in Lanzhou itself. Look for the Hui halal signs in any city. ¥8-18.
- Chongqing xiao mian. Thin noodles in chili oil, Sichuan pepper, sesame paste, peanuts, and preserved vegetables, spicier and more aggressive than dan dan mian. ¥8-15.
- Knife-cut noodles (dao xiao mian). A Shanxi specialty where dough is shaved straight into boiling water with a curved knife, giving thick, irregular, chewy noodles with one smooth and one rough side, served in lamb or tomato-egg broth. ¥15-30.
Dumplings: China’s most universal food
Dumplings (jiaozi) are eaten across all of China, but the northern tradition, where they are a staple rather than a snack, is the heartland. During Chinese New Year, families make hundreds together.
- Boiled dumplings (shui jiao). The classic: thin wheat skin filled with pork-and-cabbage, pork-and-chive, or lamb-and-onion, dipped in vinegar-soy with chili oil.
- Pan-fried dumplings (guo tie / potstickers). Crisped on one side, steamed through.
- Steamed and soup dumplings. The lighter Cantonese har gow and Shanghai’s xiaolongbao.
Tea culture and Chinese drinks
China is the birthplace of tea, and the culture runs far deeper than a bag in a mug. The major categories: green tea (Longjing from Hangzhou is the most prized), oolong (partially oxidized, floral, like Fujian’s Tie Guan Yin), pu-erh (aged, fermented, earthy, from Yunnan, with cakes that cost thousands), white tea, and jasmine. In Fujian and Guangdong, gongfu cha is a formal ceremony of tiny cups and many short infusions of the same leaves.
- Baijiu. China’s national liquor, a clear, potent grain spirit (40-60% ABV) with a pungent aroma. Maotai is the prestige brand, and it appears at every business banquet and toast.
- Beer. Tsingtao (from German-influenced Qingdao) is the famous export; Snow is the world’s best-selling beer by volume. A bottle at a restaurant runs ¥8-15.
- Tea houses. Chengdu’s, where people spend whole afternoons with covered-bowl tea and cards, and Hangzhou’s by the West Lake, are cultural experiences as much as culinary ones.
Best food cities in China
UNESCO City of Gastronomy and the most food-obsessed city in China, where locals discuss restaurants the way others discuss sports. Must-eat: hotpot in Yulin, mapo tofu at Chen Mapo Tofu (since 1862), dan dan noodles, cold noodles (liang mian), rabbit head, and tea-house afternoons at Renmin Park.
The epicenter of Cantonese cuisine, with Hong Kong holding nearly the highest restaurant density on earth and Guangzhou matching the quality for less. Must-eat: dim sum (Tim Ho Wan in HK, Lian Xiang Lou in Guangzhou), char siu rice, wonton noodles, roast goose, claypot rice, and a buttered pineapple bun. More in our Hong Kong food guide.
Peking duck, Muslim lamb dishes, wheat noodles, and imperial grandeur, with night food streets around Gui Jie running until 4 AM. Must-eat: Peking duck (Da Dong or Siji Minfu), jianbing for breakfast, zhajiangmian, Mongolian lamb hotpot, tanghulu, and lamb skewers at a hutong bar.
Xiaolongbao, red-braised pork, hairy crab in season, and China’s most international food scene. Must-eat: xiaolongbao at Jia Jia Tang Bao, sheng jian bao (pan-fried soup buns), Dongpo pork, scallion oil noodles, and a local noodle-shop breakfast.
Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter alone justifies the trip: roujiamo, biang biang noodles, yang rou pao mo, and liangpi cold noodles. Kunming and Dali open the door to Yunnan: crossing-the-bridge noodles, wild mushroom hotpot, erkuai, and steam-pot chicken.
Best food to eat in China: the dish guide with prices
| Dish | Cuisine | Best city | Price (¥ / USD) | Spice | Must-try |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peking Duck | Beijing | Beijing | ¥198-398 / $28-56 | None | ★★★★★ |
| Dim Sum (session) | Cantonese | HK / Guangzhou | ¥60-200 / $8-28 | None | ★★★★★ |
| Xiaolongbao | Shanghai | Shanghai | ¥30-60 / $4-8 | None | ★★★★★ |
| Mapo Tofu | Sichuan | Chengdu | ¥25-50 / $3.50-7 | Hot + numb | ★★★★★ |
| Sichuan Hotpot | Sichuan | Chengdu/Chongqing | ¥80-200 / $11-28 (2) | Extreme | ★★★★★ |
| Char Siu Rice | Cantonese | HK / Guangzhou | ¥25-50 / $3.50-7 | None | ★★★★★ |
| Lanzhou Beef Noodles | Gansu/Hui | Everywhere | ¥8-18 / $1.10-2.50 | Mild | ★★★★★ |
| Roujiamo | Shaanxi | Xi’an | ¥8-15 / $1.10-2 | None | ★★★★★ |
| Dan Dan Noodles | Sichuan | Chengdu | ¥12-25 / $1.70-3.50 | Med-hot | ★★★★★ |
| Kung Pao Chicken | Sichuan | Chengdu | ¥30-60 / $4-8 | Medium | ★★★★☆ |
| Dongpo Pork | Zhejiang | Hangzhou | ¥40-80 / $5.50-11 | None | ★★★★★ |
| Wonton Noodles | Cantonese | Hong Kong | HK$40-60 / $5-8 | None | ★★★★☆ |
| Jianbing | Northern | Beijing | ¥8-15 / $1.10-2 | Mild | ★★★★★ |
| Biang Biang Noodles | Shaanxi | Xi’an | ¥12-25 / $1.70-3.50 | Mild-med | ★★★★☆ |
| La Zi Ji | Sichuan | Chongqing | ¥40-80 / $5.50-11 | Hot | ★★★★☆ |
| Crossing-Bridge Noodles | Yunnan | Kunming | ¥20-50 / $2.80-7 | None | ★★★★☆ |
| Red-Braised Pork | Shanghai | Shanghai | ¥30-60 / $4-8 | None | ★★★★☆ |
| Jiaozi (Dumplings) | Northern | Beijing/Harbin | ¥15-35 / $2-5 | None | ★★★★☆ |
Chinese dining etiquette: the rules that matter
- Meals are shared. Dishes are ordered for the table, not individually; 3 to 4 people order 4 to 6 dishes plus rice. Sharing is the foundation of Chinese dining.
- Mind the lazy Susan. Round tables have a rotating turntable; wait for the host to start it and take moderate portions as it comes around.
- Pour for others first, whether tea, beer, or baijiu, and never fill your own glass before others’. Tap two fingers on the table when someone pours for you.
- Chopstick rules: never stand them upright in rice, do not point or spear food, and use the communal serving chopsticks or the reversed end of your own for shared dishes.
- Let the host win the bill fight, and do not clean your plate entirely. Leaving a little signals the host ordered enough.
How to eat well in China on any budget
Budget: under ¥80 a day ($11)
Breakfast of jianbing or congee with youtiao (¥8-15). Lunch of Lanzhou beef noodles or a rice-and-dish plate (¥15-25). Dinner of dumplings or street food (¥15-30), plus snacks. Total ¥43-80. This is normal daily eating for hundreds of millions of Chinese, and the food is genuine and excellent.
Mid-range: ¥150 to 300 a day ($21-42)
A dim sum brunch (¥40-80), a sit-down lunch of mapo tofu and kung pao (¥40-80), and a hotpot or duck dinner (¥80-150), with a tea-house visit. This budget delivers a complete Chinese food experience every day.
High-end: ¥500+ a day ($70+)
Peking duck at Da Dong, premium Cantonese dim sum, or modern Chinese fine dining. Ultraviolet in Shanghai (Paul Pairet’s 10-seat immersive restaurant) runs ¥6,000+ and is one of the most extraordinary meals on earth. Even at the top, China is far cheaper than equivalent quality in Tokyo or Paris.
Frequently asked questions about Chinese food
What is the most popular and famous food in China?
The most famous Chinese dishes are Peking duck, dim sum, Sichuan hotpot, xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) and kung pao chicken. Day to day, the most popular foods are noodles, dumplings, rice with stir-fried dishes, and regional street food. What counts as the most typical or traditional food shifts by province, because China is really eight great regional cuisines, not one.
What is the national dish of China?
China has no officially designated national dish, but Peking duck is the one most often named as the country’s signature dish internationally. Other strong contenders are dumplings (jiaozi), which are eaten nationwide especially at Lunar New Year, and Sichuan hotpot, the most social way Chinese people eat together.
What are the Eight Great Cuisines of China?
Cantonese (light, fresh, seafood), Sichuan (spicy, numbing), Shandong (hearty, wheat-based), Hunan (smoky, chili-hot), Fujian (soups, umami), Jiangsu (sweet, delicate), Zhejiang (fresh, mellow), and Anhui (wild herbs, slow-braised). Each is as different from the others as Italian food is from Swedish.
How much does food cost in China per day?
Street food runs 15 to 40 yuan ($2 to 5.50) per meal, mid-range restaurants 50 to 150 yuan ($7 to 21) per person. Budget travelers can manage 60 to 120 yuan ($8 to 17) a day for three meals. Fine dining runs 500 to 2,000 yuan and up.
Is Chinese food very different from Chinese food abroad?
Dramatically. Western Chinese food is simplified Cantonese adapted for Western palates. Real Chinese cuisine spans eight radically different regional traditions. Fortune cookies, General Tso’s chicken, and most Chinese dishes abroad do not exist in China. Expect to be surprised.
Is Chinese food spicy?
It depends on the region. Sichuan and Hunan are extremely spicy with the unique numbing mala sensation. Cantonese food is almost never spicy. Shanghai and Jiangsu are mild and sweet. Say bu la (not spicy) to adjust at any restaurant.
What is the best food city in China?
Chengdu (Sichuan, bold, UNESCO City of Gastronomy) and Guangzhou or Hong Kong (Cantonese dim sum, roast meats, seafood) are the opposite poles. Xi’an has the best street food, Shanghai is the most cosmopolitan, and Beijing is essential for Peking duck.
Is China good for vegetarian travelers?
Moderate. Buddhist vegetarian restaurants exist in every city with elaborate mock-meat dishes, but many regular-restaurant dishes hide pork, lard, or oyster sauce. Say wo chi su (I eat vegetarian). Tofu dishes, vegetable stir-fries, and Buddhist restaurants are your best options.
What is the drinking etiquette in China?
Tea is served free throughout most meals. At banquets, baijiu with ganbei (bottoms up) toasts is expected. Never pour your own drink first; pour for others and they reciprocate. Beer like Tsingtao and Snow is popular at casual meals.
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