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China Visit Guide

Food · Dishes

Iconic Chinese dishes A–Z

80+ profiles of canonical and regional Chinese dishes. Each entry covers what the dish is, the regional cuisine it belongs to, where to try a representative version, and notes on dietary content.

Latest entry verified: May 2026

Baba Flatbread 粑粑

Yunnan's daily flatbread — a thick wheat or rice-flour round cooked on a griddle and eaten plain or stuffed.

YunnanSouthwestern

Baijiu 白酒

China's high-strength distilled grain spirit — the country's dominant drinking culture, ranging from fiery to complex and floral.

NorthernNational
Bang Bang Chicken

Bang Bang Chicken 棒棒鸡

Cold poached chicken shredded by hand, dressed in chilli oil, sesame paste and Sichuan peppercorn.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶

Beef Chow Fun 干炒牛河

Flat rice noodles dry-fried with silky marinated beef, beansprouts and spring onion over a fierce wok flame.

CantoneseSouthern

Beef Chow Fun 干炒牛河

Stir-fried wide flat rice noodles with sliced beef, scallion, bean sprouts and a smoky wok-hei flavour.

CantoneseSouthern

Beggar's Chicken 叫花鸡

A whole chicken stuffed with aromatics, wrapped in lotus leaves and clay, then slow-baked until the meat steams in its own juices.

ShanghaineseEastern

Beggar's Chicken — Jiaohuaji 叫花鸡 (江苏式)

A Jiangsu-province variation of clay-baked chicken with a lotus-leaf wrap and a mushroom and pork stuffing.

ShanghaineseEastern

Beijing Lamb Hot Pot 涮羊肉

Beijing-Mongolian style hot pot — clear broth, thinly-sliced lamb, sesame-paste dipping sauce.

NorthernNorthern
Biangbiang Noodles

Biangbiang Noodles biáng biáng 面

Wide, hand-pulled, belt-shaped Shaanxi noodles. The 'biang' character is the most complex in the Chinese language.

ShaanxiNorthwestern🌶🌶

Big Plate Chicken 大盘鸡

A large-portioned Xinjiang braised chicken dish with potatoes, peppers and thick hand-pulled belt noodles.

XinjiangNorthwestern🌶🌶

Boiled Dumplings (Shuijiao) 水饺

Wheat-wrapper dumplings filled with pork-and-cabbage, lamb-and-leek, or vegetable, boiled and served with vinegar.

NorthernNorthern
Boiled Fish in Chilli Oil

Boiled Fish in Chilli Oil 水煮鱼

Fish slices submerged in a deep pool of chilli oil and Sichuan peppercorns. Served bubbling.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶🌶

Bubble Tea 珍珠奶茶

Taiwanese milk tea served with chewy tapioca pearls (boba) through a wide straw. The foundational format — oolong or black tea shaken with milk and ice — has spawned hundreds of variations across China's enormous tea-chain industry.

regionalSouthern
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall 佛跳墙

Fujian's banquet centrepiece — a slow-simmered soup of dried abalone, sea cucumber, scallop, ham and 20+ other ingredients.

FujianSouthern

Cantonese Roast Goose 烧鹅

Whole goose roasted to crisp-skinned tenderness. The most prized of the Cantonese siu mei roasted meats.

CantoneseSouthern
Cat's Ear Noodles

Cat's Ear Noodles 猫耳朵

Small thumbnail-pinched Shanxi pasta, shaped like cat's ears. Stir-fried with vegetables or in soup.

ShanxiNorthern

Century Egg 皮蛋

Preserved duck or quail egg cured in an alkaline mixture of clay, ash, salt, and quicklime until the white becomes a translucent dark jelly and the yolk a creamy grey-green. Eaten with congee, cold tofu, or as a stand-alone side dish.

regionalSouthern

Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork 毛氏红烧肉

Hunan-style slow-braised pork belly in soy, Shaoxing wine and chilli — the dish Mao Zedong reportedly ate weekly in Zhongnanhai.

HunanCentral
Char Siu (BBQ Pork)

Char Siu (BBQ Pork) 叉烧

Cantonese roast pork — marinated, hung in special ovens, glazed with honey and maltose. Eaten over rice or in buns.

CantoneseSouthern
Char Siu Bao (BBQ Pork Buns)

Char Siu Bao (BBQ Pork Buns) 叉烧包

Steamed white buns with a sweet-savoury BBQ pork filling. Two styles: traditional steamed and modern baked.

CantoneseSouthern

Char Siu Pork 叉烧

Cantonese barbecued pork glazed with honey, soy and fermented tofu — a cornerstone of roast-meat culture.

CantoneseSouthern

Cheung Fun (Rice Noodle Roll) 肠粉

Translucent rice-flour roll filled with shrimp, beef or BBQ pork. Served with sweet soy sauce.

CantoneseSouthern

Chongqing Hotpot 重庆火锅

The original mala hotpot — a simmering cauldron of beef tallow, Pixian doubanjiang and Sichuan peppercorn for communal dipping.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶🌶

Chongqing Small Noodles (Xiaomian) 重庆小面

Chongqing's signature breakfast noodle — wheat noodles in a fierce chilli-oil-and-pepper soup.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶🌶

Claypot Rice 煲仔饭

Rice steamed in a clay pot over charcoal with toppings like lap cheong, chicken or salted fish, finished with a soy-sesame dressing.

CantoneseSouthern

Coconut Chicken Hot Pot 椰子鸡

Hainan-style hot pot with chicken cooked in fresh coconut water. Light, fragrant, naturally sweet.

HainanSouthern

Cross-Bridge Rice Noodles 过桥米线

Thin Yunnan rice noodles served with a scalding bone broth and a spread of raw toppings to cook at the table.

YunnanSouthwestern

Crossing-the-Bridge Noodles 过桥米线

Yunnan rice noodles in a hot oil-sealed broth, with raw and cooked toppings added at the table.

YunnanSouthwestern

Dai-Style Pineapple Rice 菠萝饭

Sticky glutinous rice steamed inside a fresh pineapple with coconut milk — a festive dish of the Dai people of southern Yunnan.

YunnanSouthwestern

Dan Dan Noodles 担担面

Thin wheat noodles in a sesame-chilli sauce topped with spiced minced pork and preserved vegetables.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶🌶
Dan Dan Noodles

Dan Dan Noodles 担担面

Wheat noodles topped with chilli oil, sesame paste, preserved vegetables and minced pork. Dry-style mixed at the table.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶🌶

Di San Xian 地三鲜

A simple Dongbei stir-fry of aubergine, potato and green pepper — the vegetarian staple of northeastern China.

DongbeiNortheastern

Dim Sum 點心

The Cantonese tradition of small shared dishes served during morning or midday tea (yum cha). Har gow, siu mai, char siu bao, cheung fun, lo mai gai, chicken feet, and egg tarts are the pillars of the format. Eaten communally over tea and conversation.

CantoneseSouthern

Dongbei Braised Pork Stew 东北乱炖

A robust northeastern 'everything pot' of pork ribs, aubergine, potato, beans and corn braised together in a clay pot.

DongbeiNortheastern

Dongpo Elbow 东坡肘子

Slow-braised pork hock in Shaoxing wine and soy, named after the Song-dynasty poet Su Dongpo.

SichuanSouthwestern

Double-Skin Milk Pudding 双皮奶

Cantonese set water-buffalo milk pudding from Shunde. Two thin 'skins' on the surface; subtly sweet.

CantoneseSouthern

Doupi (Wuhan Tofu Skin) 豆皮

Wuhan breakfast: layered pan-fried tofu skin and rice cake with mushroom, ham and bamboo shoots inside.

HubeiCentral

Dragon Well Tea 龙井茶

China's most celebrated green tea — pan-fired flat leaves from Hangzhou's West Lake district with a sweet, chestnut flavour.

ShanghaineseEastern

Drunken Chicken 醉鸡

Chicken steamed and marinated in Shaoxing rice wine, served chilled. A Shanghai banquet starter.

JiangnanEastern

Egg Tart 蛋挞

A baked pastry shell filled with a smooth, lightly sweetened egg custard — a Hong Kong and Macao staple.

CantoneseSAR

Egg Tart (Hong Kong style) 蛋挞

Custard tart with crisp pastry. Hong Kong style uses shortcrust pastry; Cantonese style uses puff pastry.

CantoneseSouthern

Eight-Treasure Rice 八宝饭

A steamed dome of glutinous rice layered with red bean paste and decorated with eight types of preserved fruits and nuts.

ShanghaineseEastern

Fish Head with Chopped Chilli 剁椒鱼头

A whole silver carp head blanketed with fermented chopped red chilli and steamed until the flesh is silky and fiery.

HunanCentral🌶🌶🌶

Fish-Fragrant Aubergine 鱼香茄子

Aubergine in the 'fish-fragrant' Sichuan flavour profile — sweet, sour, garlicky, mildly spicy. No fish in the dish.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶

Goubuli Baozi 狗不理包子

Tianjin's signature steamed pork buns. The original house, founded 1858, is still operating.

NorthernNorthern

Guilin Rice Noodles 桂林米粉

Guilin's signature breakfast noodle — rice noodles in a flavourful gravy with peanuts, scallion, pickled vegetables and beef.

GuangxiSouthern

Guo Bao Rou 锅包肉

Crispy battered pork slices in a sweet-and-sour vinegar sauce — a northeastern Chinese dish created in Harbin.

DongbeiNortheastern

Hainan Chicken Rice 海南鸡饭

Poached chicken served with rice cooked in chicken stock. The original of the Singaporean dish.

HainanSouthern

Hairy Crab 大闸蟹

Yangcheng Lake mitten crab — the autumn delicacy of the Yangtze Delta. Eaten steamed with vinegar dip.

JiangnanEastern

Hairy Crab with Rice Cake 年糕炒大闸蟹

Autumn hairy crab stir-fried with chewy Shanghai rice cake slices in a savoury-sweet ginger sauce.

ShanghaineseEastern

Hakka Salt-Baked Chicken 盐焗鸡

Hakka chicken baked whole in salt. The salt forms a crust; the chicken inside is moist and aromatic.

HakkaSouthern

Hand-Grasped Lamb 手把肉

Boiled mutton eaten with the hands. The social centrepiece of an Inner Mongolian steppe meal.

MongolianNorthern

Hand-Grasped Lamb 手抓羊肉

Large bone-in lamb pieces boiled in spiced water and eaten by hand — a communal dish of Inner Mongolia and the northwest.

NorthernNorthwestern

Har Gow 虾饺

Cantonese dim sum dumplings of whole prawns in a translucent, slightly chewy wheat-starch skin.

CantoneseSouthern

Har Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) 虾饺

Translucent shrimp dumplings — the technical benchmark of dim sum. The wrapper should hold whole shrimp pieces visibly.

CantoneseSouthern

Hunan Chilli Fried Pork 小炒肉

Thin-sliced pork belly wok-fried with fresh long green chillies and fermented black beans — Hunan's most-ordered everyday dish.

HunanCentral🌶🌶

Hunan Spicy Fish with Pickled Cabbage 酸菜鱼

Fish slices with sour pickled mustard greens in a sour-spicy broth. Originated in Sichuan, perfected in Hunan.

HunanCentral🌶🌶

Jianbing 煎饼

A griddle-cooked wheat-and-mung-bean crepe filled with egg, crispy wonton, hoisin sauce and chilli paste.

NorthernNorthern

Jianbing (Savoury Crepe) 煎饼

Northern Chinese breakfast crepe: thin wheat-and-mung-bean batter, egg, scallion, hoisin, chilli, optional crispy cracker.

NorthernNorthern

Knife-Cut Noodles 刀削面

Shanxi wheat noodles cut directly off a dough block with a curved knife. Chewy, irregular, satisfying.

ShanxiNorthern

Kung Pao Chicken 宫保鸡丁

Diced chicken with peanuts, dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorn in a tangy soy-vinegar sauce.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶

Kung Pao Chicken 宫保鸡丁

Diced chicken stir-fried with peanuts, dried red chillies and Sichuan peppercorn in a sweet-savoury sauce.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶

Laghman (Hand-Pulled Noodles with Lamb) 拉条子

Uyghur hand-pulled wheat noodles with a lamb-and-vegetable sauce of tomato, pepper and onion.

UyghurNorthwestern

Lagman Pulled Noodles 拉条子

Thick hand-pulled wheat noodles served with a stew of lamb, peppers, tomatoes and cumin — a Central Asian staple.

XinjiangNorthwestern

Lamb Pilaf (Polo) 抓饭

Uyghur lamb pilaf with carrot, onion and raisins. The festive centrepiece of any Xinjiang banquet.

UyghurNorthwestern

Lamb Skewers 羊肉串

Charcoal-grilled lamb skewers seasoned with cumin, chilli flakes and salt — a ubiquitous street food of Xinjiang origin.

XinjiangNorthwestern🌶🌶

Lamb Skewers (Yangrou Chuan) 羊肉串

Cubed lamb skewered and grilled over charcoal, dusted with cumin and chilli. Universal northern street food.

UyghurNorthwestern

Lanzhou Beef Noodle Soup 兰州牛肉面

Hand-pulled wheat noodles in clear beef broth with daikon, beef slices, chilli oil, garlic shoots and coriander.

HuiNorthwestern

Lion's Head Meatballs 狮子头

Large braised or steamed pork meatballs on a bed of napa cabbage, simmered until the fat melts into the broth.

ShanghaineseEastern

Lion's Head Meatballs 狮子头

Large pork meatballs (the size of a lion's head) braised in clear broth with cabbage. A Yangzhou banquet centrepiece.

JiangsuEastern

Lo Mai Gai (Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf) 糯米鸡

Glutinous rice with chicken, mushroom, lap cheong sausage and sometimes salted egg, wrapped in lotus leaf and steamed.

CantoneseSouthern

Longjing (Dragon Well) Tea 龙井茶

Hangzhou green tea, pan-fired flat. The most famous Chinese green tea; the spring harvest is the most expensive.

TeaEastern
Macau Almond Cookies

Macau Almond Cookies 杏仁饼

Pressed almond cookies from Macau — particularly Taipa Village. Sold by weight from traditional bakeries.

MacaneseSouthern

Malatang 麻辣烫

Individual skewers of vegetables, meat, tofu and offal, chosen by the customer and cooked in a communal Sichuan-spiced broth, then served in a bowl with the broth. Priced by the number of skewers or by weight. The street-food cousin of the full hotpot.

SichuaneseSouthwestern🌶🌶🌶🌶

Mango Pomelo Sago 杨枝甘露

Cold dessert soup of fresh mango, pomelo segments and sago pearls in coconut cream.

CantoneseSouthern

Mango Pudding 芒果布丁

A chilled, set Hong Kong dessert of fresh mango purée, evaporated milk and gelatine — bright, creamy and intensely fruity.

CantoneseSAR

Mantou 馒头

Plain steamed leavened wheat buns — the everyday bread of northern China, eaten at all meals.

NorthernNorthern

Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐

Silken tofu in a fiery bean-paste sauce with minced beef and Sichuan peppercorn. The defining mala dish.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶🌶

Mapo Tofu — Regional Variations 麻婆豆腐

A closer look at how Chengdu's iconic silken-tofu dish varies across Sichuan kitchens and why the peppercorn matters.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶🌶

Mian Wo (Savoury Fried Dough Rings) 面窝

Wuhan ring-shaped savoury fried-dough breakfast item. Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside.

HubeiCentral

Momo 藏式饺子

Tibetan steamed dumplings stuffed with yak meat, vegetables or cheese — a staple from Tibet to Nepal.

TibetanSouthwestern

Momos (Tibetan Dumplings) 馍馍

Steamed Tibetan dumplings with yak-meat or vegetable filling. The Tibetan-plateau staple.

TibetanSouthwestern

Mongolian Milk Tea (Suutei Tsai) 奶茶

Black tea with milk, salt and often roasted millet floating in it. The universal Mongolian beverage.

MongolianNorthern

Mooncake 月饼

The iconic pastry of the Mid-Autumn Festival — a dense baked or snow-skin cake filled with lotus paste and salted egg yolk.

CantoneseNational

Mooncakes 月饼

Round dense cakes eaten at Mid-Autumn Festival. Lotus-seed paste with salted egg yolk is the classic Cantonese filling.

SweetNational

Moutai (Maotai) 茅台

Sauce-aroma sorghum baijiu from Guizhou. The flagship Chinese spirit; standard issue at state dinners.

AlcoholSouthwestern

Mouth-Watering Chicken 口水鸡

Cold poached chicken in a vibrant chilli-oil-and-Sichuan-peppercorn sauce. Named for the saliva it provokes.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶🌶

Naan Bread 馕

The flatbread of Xinjiang — baked in a clay tandoor, stamped with patterns and eaten at every meal.

XinjiangNorthwestern

Oolong Tea 乌龙茶

China's partially oxidised teas from Fujian and Guangdong — occupying a spectrum from floral and light to dark and roasted.

CantoneseSouthern

Peking Duck 北京烤鸭

Roasted duck with crisp skin, served sliced with thin pancakes, scallions, cucumber and sweet bean sauce.

NorthernNorthern

Phoenix Talons (Chicken Feet) 凤爪

Chicken feet braised in black-bean sauce. The classic 'unfamiliar-to-Westerners' dim sum item; surprisingly delicious.

CantoneseSouthern

Pickled Cabbage and Pork Stew 酸菜炖猪肉

A long-simmered northeastern stew of fermented cabbage with fatty pork — warming, sour and deeply satisfying.

DongbeiNortheastern

Polo Pilaf 手抓饭

Uyghur festive rice cooked with lamb, carrot, onion and raisins in a kazan — eaten communally by hand.

XinjiangNorthwestern

Pu'er Tea 普洱茶

Yunnan post-fermented tea, sold in pressed cakes that age over years. Two styles — raw and ripe.

TeaSouthwestern

Red-Cooked Pork 红烧肉

Pork belly slow-braised in soy sauce, sugar, Shaoxing wine and spices until glossy and tender.

JiangnanEastern

Rou Jia Mo (Chinese Hamburger) 肉夹馍

Stewed pork or beef in a flatbread bun. Shaanxi's portable street food, increasingly nationalised.

ShaanxiNorthwestern

Rushan (Bai Cheese) 乳扇

Cow's-milk cheese, fan-shaped, eaten grilled with sugar or rolled with rose petal jam. Bai-minority Dali speciality.

BaiSouthwestern

Samsa 烤包子

Uyghur baked lamb-and-onion pastry pies cooked in a clay tandoor oven — hot, flaky and cumin-scented.

XinjiangNorthwestern

Scallion Oil Noodles 葱油拌面

Shanghai cult noodle: 5 ingredients (noodles, scallion, oil, soy, sugar), zero waste. The simplest excellent noodle.

JiangnanEastern

Scissor-Cut Noodles 剪刀面

Shanxi noodles cut from dough with kitchen scissors, in rapid snip-snip motions. Different shape from knife-cut.

ShanxiNorthern

Shaved Ice 刨冰

Finely shaved ice piled into a bowl and topped with sweet beans, taro, lychee, grass jelly and condensed milk.

CantoneseSouthern

Sheng Jian Bao (Pan-Fried Pork Buns) 生煎包

Shanghai pan-fried pork buns with a crispy bottom, soft fluffy top and juicy filling.

JiangnanEastern

Sichuan Hot Pot 四川火锅

Sichuan-style hot pot with a heavy-mala broth. The most famous of China's regional hot pots.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶🌶

Siu Mai 烧卖

Open-topped steamed dumplings of pork and prawn in thin wheat skins, garnished with fish roe or carrot.

CantoneseSouthern

Siu Mai (Pork Dumplings) 烧卖

Open-topped steamed pork dumplings, with a thin wheat wrapper and a finely-chopped pork-and-shrimp filling.

CantoneseSouthern

Smoked Pork with Dried Bean Curd 腊肉炒豆干

Sliced Hunan smoked pork stir-fried with firm dried tofu and chilli — a rural Hunan staple with a deep smoky flavour.

HunanCentral🌶🌶

Snail Rice Noodles (Luosifen) 螺蛳粉

Liuzhou's signature noodle — rice noodles in a fermented-bamboo-and-snail-broth, intensely sour-spicy. Notoriously pungent.

GuangxiSouthern🌶🌶

Soup Dumplings 灌汤包

A family of Chinese dumplings and buns filled with savoury broth (which solidifies into aspic before cooking and liquefies again on steaming). Includes xiaolongbao, shengjianbao, and the large tangbao. The defining characteristic is the soup trapped inside the wrapper.

JiangsuEastern

Sour Plum Drink 酸梅汤

A chilled drink of sour plums, hawthorn berries and rock sugar — Beijing's traditional summer refreshment.

NorthernNorthern

Soy Milk 豆浆

Freshly ground soy milk — China's everyday breakfast drink, served hot and either sweet or savoury depending on region.

NorthernNational

Soy Milk and Fried Dough Sticks 豆浆油条

China's classic breakfast: warm soy milk paired with crisp, hollow deep-fried dough sticks for dipping.

NorthernNorthern

Steamed Char Siu Bao 叉烧包 (蒸)

Fluffy, white steamed dumplings filled with sweet barbecued pork — a dim sum staple in every Cantonese tea house.

CantoneseSouthern

Steamed Fish Head with Chopped Chillies 剁椒鱼头

Fish head buried under a bright red chopped-chilli paste, steamed. The most iconic Hunan dish.

HunanCentral🌶🌶🌶

Stinky Tofu 臭豆腐

Firm tofu fermented in a brine of vegetables, herbs, and bacteria for days to months, then deep-fried or steam-braised. The exterior develops a strong smell that is significantly more confrontational than the flavour warrants. A street-food staple across Hunan, Zhejiang, and Taiwan.

regionalSouthern🌶🌶

Stinky Tofu (Changsha style) 长沙臭豆腐

Black-fermented tofu deep-fried, served with a chilli-and-soy dipping sauce. Changsha's iconic street food.

HunanCentral🌶🌶

Suzhou Tang Noodles 苏州汤面

Fine wheat noodles in a rich, slow-cooked broth — a Suzhou breakfast tradition featuring seasonal toppings.

ShanghaineseEastern

Sweet Water Noodles 甜水面

Thick chewy hand-pulled wheat noodles in a sweet-sour-spicy chilli-oil sauce. Chengdu street snack.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶

Tang Yuan (Sweet Rice Balls) 汤圆

Sweet glutinous-rice balls with sesame, peanut or red-bean filling, in sweet ginger or osmanthus syrup. Lantern Festival staple.

SweetCentral

Tangyuan — Lantern Festival Style 元宵汤圆

Glutinous rice balls with sweet or savoury fillings, served in a clear sweet broth — the defining food of the Lantern Festival.

NorthernNational

Thukpa 藏面

A hearty Tibetan noodle soup made with hand-pulled wheat noodles, yak or mutton, vegetables and a clear spiced broth.

TibetanSouthwestern

Tieguanyin Oolong 铁观音

Anxi (Fujian) oolong — partial oxidation. Floral, light, refreshing. The most popular oolong in mainland China.

TeaSouthern

Tofu Pudding 豆花

Silken fresh tofu curds served warm or cold with either sweet syrup or savoury sauces depending on regional tradition.

NorthernNational

Tsampa 糌粑

Roasted barley flour kneaded into small balls with butter tea or water — the staple food of Tibet.

TibetanSouthwestern

Tsampa 糌粑

Roasted barley flour, the staple Tibetan food. Mixed with butter tea into a dough, eaten by hand.

TibetanSouthwestern

Turnip Cake 萝卜糕

Steamed and pan-fried cakes of rice flour, grated radish and dried shrimp — a dim sum staple served golden and crisp.

CantoneseSouthern

Twice-Cooked Pork 回锅肉

Pork belly first boiled, then sliced and stir-fried with leeks, doubanjiang and chilli oil.

SichuanSouthwestern🌶🌶

White-Cut Chicken 白切鸡

Whole chicken poached in salted water, served at room temperature with ginger-scallion oil. The Cantonese chicken benchmark.

CantoneseSouthern

Wonton Noodle Soup 云吞面

Cantonese wonton soup with thin egg noodles, prawn-and-pork wontons, light shrimp-stock broth, scallion garnish.

CantoneseSouthern

Wonton Noodles 云吞面

Thin egg noodles in a clear prawn-pork broth with plump wontons filled with whole prawns.

CantoneseSouthern

Xiaolongbao 小笼包

Steamed soup dumplings from Shanghai, filled with pork and jellied stock that melts into hot broth inside the skin.

ShanghaineseEastern

Xiaolongbao (Soup Dumplings) 小笼包

Steamed dumplings with a thin wheat wrapper and a hot pork-and-broth filling. Eaten in a single bite.

JiangnanEastern

Yak Butter Tea 酥油茶

A savoury, high-calorie drink of strong brick tea churned with yak butter and salt — central to Tibetan daily life.

TibetanSouthwestern

Yak Butter Tea 酥油茶

Yak butter, salt and tea churned together. Calorie-dense, salty-oily, the universal Tibetan beverage.

TibetanSouthwestern

Yang Rou Pao Mo (Mutton Soup with Bread) 羊肉泡馍

Xi'an mutton soup with hand-crumbled flatbread. You crumble your own bread into the bowl; it absorbs the broth.

HuiNorthwestern

Yangzhou Fried Rice 扬州炒饭

The original Yangzhou fried rice — ham, prawns, peas, scrambled egg, scallion, in a light non-greasy stir-fry.

JiangnanEastern

Yunnan Rose Cake 鲜花饼

A flaky pastry filled with a sweet preserve of Yunnan edible roses — a fragrant souvenir food of Kunming.

YunnanSouthwestern

Yunnan Wild Mushroom Hot Pot 野菌火锅

Clear chicken broth with 8–12 varieties of fresh wild mushrooms. June–October only; the seasonal Yunnan banquet.

YunnanSouthwestern

Yunnan Wild Mushroom Hotpot 野生菌火锅

A clear or mildly spiced broth hotpot designed for cooking Yunnan's seasonal wild mushrooms, including porcini, matsutake and others.

YunnanSouthwestern

Zhajiang Noodles 炸酱面

Thick hand-pulled wheat noodles topped with a slow-fried pork and sweet bean paste sauce plus raw vegetable shreds.

NorthernNorthern

Zhajiangmian (Fried Sauce Noodles) 炸酱面

Wheat noodles topped with a savoury minced-pork-and-fermented-soybean sauce. Beijing's iconic noodle dish.

NorthernNorthern

Zongzi 粽子

Glutinous rice parcels wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves, filled with pork, beans or dates — the Dragon Boat Festival food.

NorthernNational