Food Tour of Nanjing: Top 10 Nanjing Snacks

China’s ancient capital Nanjing City (Nanjing used to be the capital of China for six dynasties) offers a best dinning experience with its historical, delicate Jinling Cuisine (blending with the Hangzhou cuisine, Suzhou Cuisine and Jiangxi Cuisine) and numerous restaurants with various famous tasty foods from all over the country. However, everyone knows that the traditional local street foods are the most classical and are cheap bills.

Recommended Nanjing Tour: 3-day Highlights Tour of Nanjing

Duck Blood and Bean-starchy Vermicelli Soup (鸭血粉丝)

The most popular street food in Nanjing, you can find it everywhere whether in a stall or in a restaurant. The food materials for this dish include duck blood, bean-starchy vermicelli, duck offal or shrimps, caraway, etc.

Boiled Duck with Salt (咸水鸭)

When traveling in Nanjing, you should not miss the boiled duck with salt. Nanjing has a nick name of the capital of duck, as the people like to eat duck very much. The dish of boiled duck with salt has a history of over 1000 years, and is famous for its unique taste of being savory, crispy and tender.

Zhuang Yuan Dou (Number One Scholar’s Beans) (状元豆)

Legend has that a poor scholar won the first place in the national examination during the Qing Dynasty, because having soybeans steamed with red yeast rice and dates as his daily meals. Now the beans have been one of the most popular snacks in Nanjing Confucius Temple Street.

Hui Lu Gan (Fried Bean Curd in Chicken Soup) (回卤干)

It is said that Emperor Ming Taizu liked it very much when he was tired of the all kinds of royal delicacies. Please keep in mind that it is best when eaten hot.

Guotie Stuffed with Beef (牛肉锅贴)

Another must-have food in Nanjing, the fried dumplings taste crispy, tender and succulent. Out of town visitors are suggested to try the guotie in Hunan Food Street or Nanjing Confucius Temple Street.

Boiled and Dried Bean Curd (煮干丝)

A famous dish in Nanjing ever since the reign of Emperor Qianlong during Qing Dynasty. The bean curds (toufu) are cut to slices and cooked with various soup ingredients, finally mixed with sesame oil and soybean sauce.

Steamed Buns (小笼包)

Nanjing is one of the best places for steamed buns. Carefully eat the buns and suck out the tasty soup.

Dim Sum (糕团小点)

Nanjing locals are addicted to desserts. There are many sorts of dim sum of sweet taste dating back hundreds of years. The traditional Nanjing dim sum does not only taste good, but also look good.

Luobo Duannzi (Radish Pancake) (萝卜端子)

Coat the radish with glutinous rice flour and then put it into the hot oil and deep fry it. Luobo Duanzi is crispy outside and soft inside, and tastes so good. Just it is of high calorie.

Zheng’er Gao (Jinling Steamed Cake) (蒸儿糕)

A traditional breakfast and favorite snack for Nanjing (formally Jinling) People, it is part of the happy childhood memory, but not easy to find today. Zheng’er Gao is made of rice flour, stuffed with sesame and candy, and steamed in a wooden steamer.

Beijing Food Tour: 33 Must-try Traditional Snacks

When you think of foods to eat in Beijing, you think Peking duck or Kung Pao Chicken. However, there are like a hundred traditional snacks to try, each with a unique taste and a special story. Old Beijing snacks involve Manchu royal snacks of various dim sum, halal snacks mostly made of mutton or beef and traditional Han snacks with bud-stimulating flavor.

Recommended China food tours to Beijing:

10-day Taste of China Top Cuisines 

16-day China Culinary Tour 

Manchu royal snacks

   

Lv da gun ( Glutinous Rice Rolls with Sweet Bean Flour) – 驴打滚

Stir fried hawthorn – 炒红果

French bean rolls – 芸豆卷

Sachima (a kind of candied fritter) -萨其马

Old Beijing Cheese – 老北京奶酪

Sesame Cake with Minced Pork – 肉末烧饼

Walnut cheese – 核桃酪

Halal snacks

 

  

Pea flour cake – 豌豆黄

Aiwowo (Steamed Rice Cakes with Sweet Stuffing) – 艾窝窝

cooked tripe of sheep or swine – 爆肚

Douzhi (a fermented drink made from ground beans) with jiao quan – 豆汁和焦圈

Crisp Thin Fritter Twist – 排叉

Fried dough drops – 炒疙瘩

Tang juan guo (Sugar fruit rolls) – 糖卷果

Han snacks

 

   

Baked wheaten cake with sugar – 糖火烧

sugar-coated haws on a stick – 冰糖葫芦

Dalian huo shao – 褡裢火烧

Fried butter cake – 奶油炸糕

Kai kou xiao (fried stuffed bun with sugar) – 开口笑

Zha jiang mian (noodles with soybean paste) – 炸酱面

Fried enema – 炸灌肠

Spiced boiled huo shao – 卤煮火烧

Tofu with Chilled Almond – 杏仁豆腐

Frogs spit honey (Bean stuffing baked wheat cake) – 蛤蟆吐蜜 (豆馅烧饼)

Fried pig’s liver of Beijing style – 炒肝

Fried tickle box – 炸咯吱盒

Seasoned millet mush – 面茶

Ma toufu (Fermented Mung Bean Juice Dried) – 麻豆腐

Hu ta zi (old Beijing style pancake) – 糊塌子

Buckwheat cake for summer season – 扒糕

Sweet ears (fried sugar cake) – 糖耳朵

Jiemo dun er (mustard Chinese cabbage) – 芥末墩儿

Xiao diao li tang (pear soup for winter season) – 小吊梨汤

Shanghai’s Michelin-starred Restaurants

Michelin’s first edition in mainland China, Michelin Guide for Shanghai 2017 was released in September, with which, 26 local restaurants was announced to be Michelin-star restaurants.

18 restaurants in total gained first star, and seven restaurants gained their two stars. While surprisingly, T’ang Court, the only one, went straight in at the top with Michelin’s highest accolade of three stars.

China food tour to Shanghai:

7-day Gourmet Package to China

15-day China Culinary & Cooking Tour

Shanghai’s first only three-Star Michelin restaurant:

T’ang Court (唐阁): It is a traditional Cantonese restaurant at the Langham Shanghai hotel, with a very fancy dining room that holds just six tables. (Its sister restaurant also called T’ang Court in Hong Kong was crowned three Michelin stars in 2015.)

 

Two-Star Michelin Restaurants:

8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon

Canton 8

Ultraviolet

Yi Long Court

Yongfoo Elite

Imperial Treasure

Canton 8 is one of the world’s cheapest two-starred restaurants with a lunch price as low as 48 yuan, about $7.

 

One-Star Michelin Restaurants:

Sir Ellys

Da Dong (IAPM)

Da Dong (Park Palace)

Madam Goose (Xinzhuang)

Phenix

Fu He Hui

Seventh Son (Kerry Center)

Jin Xuan

Kanpai Classic

Lao Zheng Xing

Lei Garden (IFC)

Lei Garden (IAPM)

Shang-HighLa Patio & La Famille

Jade Mansion

Tai’an Table

Xin Rong Ji (Shanghai Plaza)

Yong Yi Ting

Xian Food Tour: 10 Iconic Foods to Try in Xian

When you think of Xian, you think the Terra Cotta Army. However, China’s ancient capital not only boasts one of world’s greatest historical wonders, but also has the longest culinary history that can be traced back to thousands of years ago.

Making the most of pasta, Xian cuisine stands out with a diverse array of noodles, dumplings and steamed buns. For foodies and tourists, the snack street of Muslim Quarter is the best place to experience the local buzz and feast on the various local foods.

Qishan Saozi Noodles (Minced meat noodles) – 岐山臊子面

It tastes spicy, sour and smells sweet.

 

Lamb or Beef Paomo – 泡馍

A traditional Northwest Chinese style dish, very popular in Xian

Rou Jia Mo (Chinese hamburger with cured meet) – 肉夹馍

The most popular snack in Xian

Hu La Tang (Soup with Pepper and meatballs) – 胡辣汤

Also a popular eat in Henan Province, making the most of seasonal ingredients, locals usually has it for breakfast.

Cold rice noodles – 凉皮

Shannxi style Pickled Beef – 陕西腊牛肉

Beef that is roasted and pickled with candy, wine, salt and soy

He le – 饸饹

A traditional noodle that is favored by people in North China

Steam Bun (Soupy dumpling) – 灌汤包

The steam bun in Xian is stuffed with lamb or beef, instead of pork.

Guo Kui – 锅盔

There are spiced, salted guo kui, scallion guo kui, green pepper guo kui, and guo kui with stuffing.

Yangyu Ca Ca (Xian version of fries) – 洋芋擦擦

Recommended China food tour:

10-day Taste of China Top Cuisines

15-day China Culinary & Cooking Tour

A Food Tour of Hangzhou: 14 Famous Local Specialty Dishes

Hangzhou Cuisine, Ningbo Guisine and Shaoxing Cuisine combined complete Zhejiang Cuisine, one of the top eight cuisines in China.  

East China’s Hangzhou City is famous for West Lake, Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the enticing tea culture, as well as the local foods that make the most of abundant, superb ingredients. Hangzhou foods are known for its freshness, tenderness, smoothness and mellow fragrance, thus always connected with health benefits and favored by all. A trip to Hangzhou isn’t complete without tasting the city’s top 12 specialty dishes.

West Lake fish in vinegar gravy – A popular traditional Hangzhou dish, there are many stories and legends about it. This dish uses middle-sized grass carp, which is steamed with fresh water first, and then blanked with thick, sweet vinegar sauce. Lou Wai Lou at 30 Gushan Road, Xihu District serves authentic West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy – the restaurant’s signature dish.

Dongpo pork – Named after Su Dongpo, a famous poet, calligrapher and painter nearly 1000 years ago during North Song Dynasty, Dongpo pork uses layers of lean and fat meat, which is pan-fried and then stewed with wine.

Jin pai kou rou (Dongpo pork pyramid) – An upgraded Dongpo pork, the pork pyramid is sliced into more than 20 layers, and stuffed with chestnuts and smoked bamboo shoots.

Longjing tea-fried river prawns – As the name suggests, this Hangzhou dish uses the river spawns in West Lake and the best green tea leaves produced in Longjing Tea Plantation Village.

Beggar’s chicken – It was created by a beggar who baked the chicken on fire wrapped with mud. Nowadays, the dish has been renovated – the chicken itself is stuffed with pork and mushroom, and wrapped with lotus leaves.

Deep-fried bean curd roll – A favorite toufu snack in Hangzhou, it is of golden brown color, crispy and tastes very good.

West Lake vegetable soup with fish ball

Mi zhi huo fang (Honey Ham) – Made from Jinhua ham, mixed with pine nuts, lotus seed, and blanketed with honey, the dish satisfies both sweet and savory cravings.

Stewed Fish Head with Tofu in Pottery Pot – This nutrient-rich fish dish is good for health and a good choice in winter.

Orange stuffed with crab meat – A royal dish from South Song Dynasty, it is made from fresh orange, stuffed with chicken soup and crab meat – good in taste and beautiful in shape.

Codfish Ball

Zong xiang huaxi bie (river turtle meat zongzi)

Steamed pork with rice flour wrapped with Lotus Leaf

Lotus root filled with sticky rice

Eat Like a Local in Shanghai: 8 Traditional Breakfast Shops

Its cuisine has taken in different food elements from both the East and West, and absorbed all the benefits. But that is not all about dining in Shanghai, as you’re encouraged to try the authentic Shanghai Local Cuisine with the traditional breakfasts, like soybean milk, deep-fried dough sticks, steamed buns…

China food tours to Shanghai:

10-day Taste of China Top Cuisines

7-day Gourmet Package to China

Shanghai Flavor Zongzi Wang (上海口味粽王)

Location: 488, Fuxing Zhong Road, Luwan District

Working hours: 8:00AM-18:00PM

The flavors of zongzi are different in North China and South China, however, Shanghainese have a crush on meat zongzi. There are various meat zongzi served in the shop, such as pork meat zongzi with an egg yolk, bean paste zongzi, lard bean paste with bean paste, etc.

Fat Guy Noodles / Pangzi Noodles (胖子面)

Location: 113, Wenmiao Road, Huangpu District

Working hours: 7:00AM—17:00PM

Hidden in the deep corner of Wenmiao Road, it is a family-fun noodle shop, serving traditional Shanghai noodles with oily but not greasy taste and enough delicious toppings. It will be an unforgettable gourmet experience to have the traditional food at an old street of nostalgic atmosphere.

 

Anhua Road Aunt’s Egg Pancake/ Anhua Road Ayi Danbing (安化路阿姨蛋饼摊)

Location: next to No. 947 bus stop, 407 Anhua Road, Changning District

Working hours: morning time

The traditional danbing is increasingly rare in Shanghai, but Aunt’s keeps the traditional wrapper and the specialty sweet sauce, thus has become a classic breakfast in Shanghai.

 

Ada Fried Baked Scallion Pancake (阿大葱油饼)

Location: the rear door of Nong 2, 159 Maoming Nan Road, Luwan District

Working hours: 5:00AM-14:00PM (close business on Wednesday)

The most famous shop of its kind in Shanghai, it serves traditional scallion pancake of enticing smells of fried scallion.

 

Beiwan Xin Steamed Bun Shops (北万新)

Location: 462 Huaihai Zhong Road, Luwan District (close to Chongqing Nan Road)

Working hours: 7:00AM-20:00PM

An old and famous dim-sum restaurant in Shanghai, Beiwan Xin serves delicate steamed buns, in addition to sparerib rice cake, crab shell cake, sticky rice shaomai, etc.

Jipin Fried Rice Cake (极品粢饭糕)

Location: the entrance of the Nongtang, 428 Guangxi Bei (North) Road, Luwan District (close to Tianjin Road)

Working hours: morning time

The breakfast shop is made up of only a small handcart, but it is very special in Shanghai city center, as a lot of people are queuing for the fried rice cake every single morning.

 

Zhangji Deep-fried Dough Sticks (张记油条)

Location: 331 Wuyi Road, Changning District (close to Dingxi Road)

Working hours: Full day

The first choice for people to enjoy the Shanghai traditional breakfast, you can find the vanishing Haipai beancurd jelly and salty & sweet soybean milk, apart from deep-fried dough sticks and dabing.

Hongyu Fang Guotie (fried dumpling) Shop (宏玉坊锅贴专卖店)

Location: 395 Zhaozhou Road, Huangpu District (at the intersection of Zhaozhou Road and Daji Road)

Working hours: 6:30AM-13:30PM

A family-fun breakfast shop, it is very small with only two tables, and serves wonton and fried bean curd in crock pot, apart from fried dumplings.

You may be also interested in:

The 16 Best Chinese Noodle Restaurants in Shanghai

Discover the Many Flavors of Breakfast in China

43 Chinese Foods Everyone Should Try

Speaking of food, people generally believe China is a foodie heaven. Over 2600 years ago,Confucius said, “Eating is the utmost important thing in life” – no wonder the conversations between Chinese people always begin with polite chitchat about food and the classical question “Have you eaten?”

Given its Eight Great Cuisines, tens of thousands of dishes, and countless regional snacks, it is hard to choose the best food in China.

Recommended China Tours for foodies:

10-day Taste of China Top Cuisines

15-day China Culinary & Cooking Tour

To help world travelers plan on best China food tours, here we’ve filtered through recommendations from both gourmets and normal local people to bring you this list of China’s best picks for eating. Try at least some of them when touring in China.

In North China

* Roast Peking Duck – must-have food in Beijing

* Dumplings/jiaozi

* Sugar-coated haws on a stick

* Harbin sausage

* Donkey Huoshao, originated in Baoding Hebei Province, and has become a popular snack in Beijing

* Luoyang Soup Banquet – a dish from Yu Cuisine of Northern China

* Xian Rou jia mo (Chinese hamburger)

* Mongolia dried milk cake

* Fruit pancake (jianbin guozi)

* Lanzhou stretched noodles

 

  

In East China

* West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy and Dongpo pork – the two most famous foods of Hangzhou

* Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish – a popular dish in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province

* Jiangsu’s braised meat balls in brown sauce

* Shanghai Steamed Buns

* Shanghai braised pork in brown sauce

* Huangshan Wonton

* Earthenware pot soup – a favored traditional food in Jiangxi Province

* Nanjing’s Duck blood and vermicelli soup

* Nanjing’s boil duck with salt

  

In Central China

* Pot-stewed Duck’s neck & hot-and-dry noodles in Wuhan

* Changsha Sticky Toufu

* Chilli Fish Head

  

In West China

* Pork lungs in chili sauce (husband and wife pork lungs) – a famous dish of Sichuan Cuisine

* Fish filets in hot chili oil (shui zhu yu) – a must-have dish in Chongqing

* Chongqing spicy chicken

* Yunnan’s Crossing the bridge noodles

* Sichuan Hot Pot

* Xianjiang style stir-fried chicken with big dish (Xinjiang Big plate Chicken)

* Dali Xizhou Baba

* Lao GanMa chilli sauce made in Guiyang, Guizhou

* Guizhou’s Fish in Sour Soup

  

In South China

* The Steamed Rice in Clay Pot is a traditional Cantonese dish

* Eat Zaocha (Guangzhou dim sum) in the morning

* Boiled chicken with sauce

* Fried spring rolls

* Bamboo-tube-cooked rice

* Guilin Rice Noodles

* Fried clam in Xiamen

* Yangshuo beer fish

* Fujian Fo Tiao Qiang

* Worm Jelly – with a worm as the main raw material, it is a popular specialty snack in South Fujian Province

  

Foodie Tour of China: Learn Classic Chinese Dishes at Cooking School

A trip to China proves the kingdom is not only about a fast-growing economy or handsome heritage architectures – it also has great food. To most gourmands, the mere mention of China makes the mouth water.

This mysterious oriental country is home to many of the world’s richest and most subtle flavors, and oldest foods. The trip spent in each city or town of the country is an endless feast. But to create an ultimate foodie tour through China for authentic experiences to get a deep insight into China’s real life and better know its culture, travelers are encouraged to learn to cook the regional food in different places during a tour – which Easy Tour China can arrange!

Recommended China Culinary Tour

In Beijing

It will be a cool and enjoyable experience to learn to cook inside a Beijing hutong. In a traditional courtyard house, travelers can learn a variety of Chinese cuisines (Beijing cuisine has absorbed the essence of the other cuisines in China) – and all the classes are hands-on. Improve your skills at making dumplings, sauted chicken cubes with chilli and peanuts, and even Peking duck.

In Chengdu

The cultural city of Chengdu offers a lot to world travelers including the panda tour, the historical sites, the holy mountains and the spicy Sichuan cuisine. A cooking class can be arranged in the Chengdu Sichuan Cuisine Museum of typical Sichuan garden architecture. Here you’ll have a unique gourmet tour: taste some of the famous Sichuan snacks and the wines, discover many ancient cooking utensils, learn & cook classical Sichuan dishes, and exchange cooking experience with expert cook.

 

In Huangshan

Huangshan’s Hui Cuisine is one of the eight great cuisines of China and has a history of over 1000 years. Thanks to Hui merchants of ancient times, Hui Cuisine spread to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Shanghai, and affected local foods and diet habits. The characterful Pig’s Heaven Inn does not only offer lovely accommodation with antique furniture, but also the cooking class to learn authentic Huizhou dishes.

In Yangshuo

One of the top activities to do in Yangshuo, a cooking class to learn local dishes (e.g. Yanshuo beer fish, steamed stuffed vegetables) is recommended to all. The cooking school locates in the countryside by Li River. Walking through the original Chinese farms to visit the local markets for fresh food materials, one cannot fail to appreciate picturesque landscape of Yangshuo and its pristine and intoxicating atmosphere. Travelers can choose from the day-course or the week-long intensive course.

Home style cooking classes are also available in other cities like Xian, Shanghai and remote towns and villages in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces (when doing a home visit). You may contact us for a tailor-made culinary tour to China.

Top 10 Meat Dishes for Chinese Spring Festival

Finally, here comesSpring Festival (春节). Locals also call it Lunar New Year (农历新年), as it is determined by the Chinese lunar calendar. During the 15-day celebration, festivities erupt all over China and beyond. It is also a great time for foodies – you’ll never find Chinese dishes as delicious, multitudinous and traditional after Spring Festival.

It’s a season of feast. Let’s forget about vegetarianism for a while, and enjoy a meaty meal, with 10 most famous meat dishes from different parts of China.

Recommended China Gourmet Tour Packages

1. Fried meat balls (炸丸子) from Beijing

A must-have dish for Beijingers during Spring Festival, fried meat balls can be served with spiced salt when they just come out of the fryer, or as a side dish to be stewed with rice noodles.

2. Diced pork in pot (坛子肉) from Shandong Province

You may have tried this dish in Beijing. Actually both Peking duck and diced pork in pot are originated in Shandong. Inside the humble pork, there is tantalizing streaky pork, simmered with several quail eggs or mushroom, and secret sauce.

3. Sticky rice balls with meat and lotus root (莲藕糯米圆子) from Hubei Province

A lucky food for New Year’s Eve dinner, it symbolizes the family reunion.

4. Lamb stewed in iron pot (铁锅炖羊肉) from Shannxi Province

Everyone knows Shannxi people like mutton. It takes 3-5 hours for a perfect mutton stew. You can add some dry chili pepper into it if you prefer spicy taste.

5. Pig’s feet (发财猪手) from Guangdong Province

Cantonese love pig’s feet, as they bring fortune! Therefore, pig’s feet braised in soy sauce or five spices (prickly ash, star aniseed, cinnamon, clove and fennel) is a should-not-miss lucky dish for Cantonese’s New Year Eve Dinner.

6. Four Main Courses (四大件儿) from Northeast China

The four main courses refer to chicken, fish, ribs and pig’s feet. Northeast Chinese Cuisine features large quantities of food materials and mellow taste.

7. Xinjiang Hand Grasping Mutton Chops (手抓羊肉)

A specialty food in Xinjiang, it’s also a traditional dish for Uyghur family dinner. It is usually served cold with salt or after being simmered or fried with sauce.

8. Braised streaky pork with dried vegetables (烧白扣肉) from Sichuan Province

One of the most common dishes on Chinese feast, the streaky pork is braised with soy sauce and brown sugar, with China’s specialty side dish – dry vegetables.

9. The Hakka stuffed foods (客家酿菜) from Fujian Province

Hakka people like snail delicacy. On Lunar New Year’s Eve, they make snails into a stuffed dish, mixed with chopped snails and meat, and ingredients like peppermint, corn flour, peanut oil. They are also stuffed tofu, stuffed pepper, stuffed radish, stuffed mushroom, etc. Stuffed dishes are also popular in Guilin, Guangxi.

 

10. Spicy pork leg (香辣肘子) from Hunan Province

It may weigh as heavy as 3kg, and is not easy to eat. But Hunan people consider this huge dish a lucky food that stands for the end of dark days and the beginning of a happy new year.

Steamed Bun – China’s Most Popular Breakfast

A very old Chinese wheaten food, steamed bun (baozi, 包子) was invented by the scholar and military strategist Zhuge Liang over 1800 years ago during the legendary Three Kingdom Period.

Recommended China China Gourmet tour:

10-day Taste of China Top Cuisines

15-day China Culinary & Cooking Tour 

Today, steamed buns can be seen all over China, and usually purchased for take-away. They are placed neatly in the steamer or bamboo utensils and giving up sweet fragrance of food while engulfed in steam. Many consider steamed bun a masterpiece of Chinese gourmet art, while almost all people find it an excellent breakfast.

Chinese steamed bun is a fermented food that can be filled with pork, beef, lamb meat, yolk, candy, bean paste or various vegetables, and may be made in small cage package, or in big size and served individually.

Top 10 steamed bun types in China include Goubuli baozi from Tianjin, baked baozi from Xinjiang,Nanxiang Xiaolongbao from Shanghai, soup dumpling (guantang baozi) from Kaifeng Henan Province, Shengjian mantou from Shanghai, steamed creamy custard bun (naihuang baozi) from Canton, Qingfeng baozi from Beijing, Fried bun (shuijianbao) from Shandong Province, Cha siu bao from Guangdong, and Doushabao (sweet bean paste baozi).