Local Dishes

1. 北京烤鸭

   Běijīng kǎoyā

   Peking duck

   Usage

   Beijing cuisine. A whole-duck dish with two traditions, hung-oven (挂炉) and closed-oven (焖炉). Eaten wrapped in thin pancakes

2. 麻婆豆腐

   Mápó dòufu

   Mapo tofu

   Usage

   A signature Sichuan dish. The 麻 (numbing) comes from Sichuan pepper and the 辣 (heat) from chilli. Made with tofu, minced beef and broad-bean paste

3. 宫保鸡丁

   Gōngbǎo jīdīng

   Kung Pao chicken

   Usage

   Sichuan cuisine, but it originated in Guizhou cooking, passed through Shandong and took its present form in Sichuan. Guizhou calls it 糊辣子鸡丁 and Shandong 酱爆鸡丁

4. 回锅肉

   Huíguōròu

   Twice-cooked pork

   Usage

   A traditional Sichuan pork dish. Recipes vary widely even within Sichuan; western Sichuan also calls it 熬锅肉

   Grammar Note

   "回锅" means "back into the wok" — the pork is boiled first, sliced, then returned to the wok to stir-fry

5. 鱼香肉丝

   Yúxiāng ròusī

   Yuxiang shredded pork

   Usage

   Built on 鱼香, one of Sichuan cooking's core flavour profiles. ⚠ It contains no fish — the taste comes from vinegar, pickled red chilli and ginger, and is salty, sour, sweet and spicy at once

6. 水煮鱼

   Shuǐzhǔyú

   Boiled fish in chilli oil

   Usage

   A Chongqing "jianghu" dish and a hallmark of Chongqing-style Sichuan cooking. Sliced grass carp or snakehead is blanched, then covered with hot oil infused with chilli and Sichuan pepper. ⚠ Despite the name "water-boiled", it is very spicy

7. 干煸四季豆

   Gānbiān sìjìdòu

   Dry-fried green beans

   Usage

   Sichuan cuisine, and one of the easier vegetable-led dishes to order. Note that many versions add minced pork or preserved mustard greens (Yibin yacai), so check if you need it meat-free

8. 火锅

   Huǒguō

   Hot pot

   Usage

   Both the cooking method and the meal: ingredients are simmered at the table. Typical items are sliced meat, offal, seafood, vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, meatballs, instant noodles, glass noodles and taro. The Sichuan/Chongqing málà version is the best known

9. 麻辣烫

   Málàtàng

   Malatang

   Usage

   A street food that began in Leshan, Sichuan and is now nationwide. You pick skewers or loose ingredients yourself and they are simmered briefly in a numbing-spicy broth. The heat level is adjusted regionally

   Grammar Note

   麻 = the numbing of Sichuan pepper, 辣 = chilli heat, 烫 = to blanch in boiling broth. The three characters literally describe the dish

10. 担担面

    Dàndànmiàn

    Dandan noodles

    Usage

    A famous snack from Zigong, Sichuan: chilli oil, sesame paste, minced pork, preserved mustard greens, crushed peanuts and ground Sichuan pepper. ⚠ The Sichuan original has almost no soup, unlike the Japanese version

    Grammar Note

    担 refers to a carrying pole — vendors once sold the noodles from shoulder poles. Read dàndànmiàn (dāndānmiàn is a recognised variant)

11. 小笼包

    Xiǎolóngbāo

    Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)

    Usage

    A dim sum from the Jiangnan region (Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou). In Wu-speaking areas it is also called 小笼馒头. ⚠ The soup inside is extremely hot

12. 东坡肉

    Dōngpōròu

    Dongpo pork

    Usage

    A classic of Jiangzhe (Zhejiang) cuisine, centred on Hangzhou. Cubes of half-fat pork belly are red-braised slowly with soy sauce, rock sugar and Shaoxing wine. Named after the Song poet Su Dongpo

13. 扬州炒饭

    Yángzhōu chǎofàn

    Yangzhou fried rice

    Usage

    Egg fried rice with several add-ins, typically char siu and shrimp. ⚠ Despite the name, versions differ by region: the Guangzhou "Yangzhou fried rice" is a Cantonese dish that arose in Qing-era Guangzhou, not in Yangzhou

14. 红烧肉

    Hóngshāoròu

    Red-braised pork belly

    Usage

    Pork belly braised at length with ginger, garlic, star anise, sugar, dark soy sauce and rice wine. Eaten all over China, usually with steamed rice and dark leafy greens

15. 糖醋里脊

    Tángcù lǐjǐ

    Sweet-and-sour pork tenderloin

    Usage

    A sweet-and-sour fried dish that comes out of Shandong cooking. Korean 탕수육 derives from it, but the Korean version is cooked with vegetables and fruit while 糖醋里脊 uses pork alone

16. 锅包肉

    Guōbāoròu

    Guo bao rou (Northeastern sweet-and-sour pork)

    Usage

    A Northeastern (Dongbei) dish from late-Qing Harbin: battered pork loin, deep-fried, tossed with shredded carrot, scallion and ginger. Halal restaurants substitute beef for pork

    Grammar Note

    Originally written 锅爆肉; 爆 (bào) shifted to 包 (bāo) in pronunciation and then in writing

17. 炸酱面

    Zhájiàngmiàn

    Zhajiangmian (noodles with fried bean sauce)

    Usage

    A way of eating noodles that originated in Shandong and is now a Beijing signature; one of China's "ten great noodle dishes". Minced pork is fried with yellow or sweet bean paste and topped with 菜码 — shredded cucumber, radish, green soybeans, bean sprouts

    Grammar Note

    ⚠ 炸 is read zhá here, not zhà. The spelling 醡酱面 is a mistake

18. 饺子

    Jiǎozi

    Jiaozi (dumplings)

    Usage

    Thin-skinned filled dumplings, steamed, pan-fried or boiled; a staple in northern China and an important food at Lunar New Year and the winter solstice. ⚠ In China 饺子 by default means boiled dumplings (水饺)

19. 兰州牛肉面

    Lánzhōu niúròumiàn

    Lanzhou beef noodle soup

    Usage

    The staple dish of Lanzhou, Gansu, closely tied to Hui Muslim food culture — the shops are generally halal. Locals just say 牛肉面 or 牛大. You choose the noodle thickness

20. 肉夹馍

    Ròujiāmó

    Roujiamo (Chinese meat sandwich)

    Usage

    A Shaanxi street food. The main types are 腊汁肉夹馍, stewed pork in a baijimo flatbread, and the Baoji xifu 肉臊子夹馍, which adds vinegar

    Grammar Note

    Also read ròugāmó. Literally "meat clasped in a mo (flatbread)"

21. 煎饼果子

    Jiānbǐng guǒzi

    Jianbing guozi (Tianjin savoury crêpe)

    Usage

    A Tianjin breakfast street food: a thin mung-bean batter crêpe with an egg cracked onto it, brushed with sweet bean sauce, fermented tofu and chilli, then wrapped around a youtiao (guozi) or a crisp fried sheet (guobi). Listed as Tianjin intangible cultural heritage in 2017

    Grammar Note

    The formal spelling is 煎饼馃子, but signs and menus usually write 煎饼果子

22. 羊肉串

    Yángròuchuàn

    Lamb skewers

    Usage

    The best-known Chinese skewer, spread from Uyghur and Chinese Muslim cooking in Xinjiang. It went nationwide from the 1980s and is now a street-food staple in Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan and Jilin. In Xinjiang it is called kawap

23. 佛跳墙

    Fótiàoqiáng

    Buddha Jumps Over the Wall

    Usage

    A luxury dish of Fujian cuisine, said to date from the Guangxu era of the Qing and also known as 福寿全 or 满坛香. ⚠ The traditional recipe uses shark fin, so ask about the ingredients if you avoid it. It is also expensive

24. 白切鸡

    Báiqiējī

    White cut chicken

    Usage

    A traditional Cantonese chicken dish: poached or steamed with almost no seasoning so the chicken's own flavour comes through. Common in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Hong Kong; also called 白斩鸡

25. 西红柿炒鸡蛋

    Xīhóngshì chǎojīdàn

    Stir-fried tomato and egg

    Usage

    A home-style dish found everywhere in China, and a reliable fallback when you cannot take chilli. In the south it is usually called 番茄炒蛋 (番茄 is the southern word for tomato)

    Grammar Note

    The tomato was called 番茄 where it first arrived in the south and 西红柿 after it spread north. The same dish is 西红柿炒鸡蛋 in the north and 番茄炒蛋 in the south

26. 包子

    Bāozi

    Baozi (steamed stuffed bun)

    Usage

    Leavened wheat dough steamed around a filling — meat, vegetables, sesame or red bean. Famous kinds include Tianjin's Goubuli baozi, Cantonese char siu bao and Shanghai's pan-fried shengjianbao

    Grammar Note

    ⚠ An unfilled steamed bun is 馒头 (mántou), a different item. In older usage 包子 too was called 馒头

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