驴肉火烧Lǘròu huǒshāo
Hebei
Donkey Meat Sandwich (驴肉火烧)
Crisp, flaky flatbread stuffed with meltingly tender braised donkey meat — the proverb says dragon meat aside, nothing beats a donkey.
Food by Region
China's iconic dishes, explained in both English and Chinese (中文), so you know exactly what to order and how to recognize it on a menu.
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狗不理包子Gǒubùlǐ bāozi
Tianjin
Goubuli Baozi (狗不理包子)
Tianjin's legendary steamed buns with exactly 18 folds and a broth-soaked pork filling — named after a nickname meaning even the dogs won't come.
刀削面Dāoxiāomiàn
Shanxi
Knife-Cut Noodles (刀削面)
Dough sliced into boiling water with a curved blade — Shanxi's answer to pasta, with a rolling boil, a cloud of flour, and noodles like smooth-edged leaves.
北京烤鸭Běijīng kǎoyā
Beijing
Peking Duck (北京烤鸭)
China's most famous dish — crisp lacquered skin carved tableside, wrapped in pancakes with scallion and sweet bean sauce.
烤全羊Kǎo quán yáng
Inner Mongolia
Roast Whole Lamb (烤全羊)
A whole lamb slowly roasted over open coals until the skin shatters — Mongolia's ceremonial centerpiece, carved at your table with a blade and a toast.
锅包肉Guōbāoròu
Heilongjiang
Guobaorou (锅包肉)
Harbin's crackling sweet-and-sour pork — the dish every northern Chinese household debates: sauce thin or thick, ginger-present or absent?
葱烧辽参Cōng shāo Liáoshēn
Liaoning
Scallion-Braised Sea Cucumber (葱烧辽参)
Jelly-like sea cucumber braised in dark, glossy sauce with caramelized scallion — Liaoning's contribution to the Chinese banquet canon, prized enough to fake.
清蒸白鱼Qīngzhēng báiyú
Jilin
Steamed White Fish (清蒸白鱼)
Jilin's prized Songhua River whitefish, steamed with nothing but ginger and scallion to let clean, sweet cold-water flesh speak for itself.
藜蒿炒腊肉Líhāo chǎo làròu
Jiangxi
Stir-Fried Artemisia with Cured Meat (藜蒿炒腊肉)
Jiangxi's favorite spring plate: crunchy riverbank artemisia shoots stir-fried with smoky cured pork — a pairing of bitterness, salt, and green life.
九转大肠Jiǔzhuǎn dàcháng
Shandong
Braised Intestines in Brown Sauce (九转大肠)
Shandong's show-off offal dish: pork intestines worked through nine turns and a mahogany glaze — sweet, savory, and a serious test of a kitchen's patience.
佛跳墙Fótiàoqiáng
Fujian
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall (佛跳墙)
China's most legendary soup: dozens of luxury ingredients sealed in a pot and slow-stewed until the flavors fuse into something monks would break vows for.
八宝鸭Bābǎo yā
Shanghai
Eight-Treasure Duck (八宝鸭)
A whole duck, deboned by hand and packed with eight treasure fillings, braised until the skin shatters — the richest dish in Shanghai's benbang canon.
松鼠桂鱼Sōngshǔ guìyú
Jiangsu
Squirrel Mandarin Fish (松鼠桂鱼)
Suzhou's theatrical fish dish: scored, fried into a bristling 'squirrel tail,' and baptized in hot sweet-sour sauce at your table — knife work as performance art.
臭鳜鱼Chòu guìyú
Anhui
Stinky Mandarin Fish (臭鳜鱼)
Anhui's famous 'smelly' fish — salt-brined mandarin fish that smell bold but eat clean and meaty, a mountain-cuisine classic you have to taste to believe.
三杯鸡Sānbēi jī
Taiwan
Three-Cup Chicken (三杯鸡)
A cup each of rice wine, soy and sesame oil, a wok of sizzling chicken and Thai basil — Taiwan's fiercely beloved bistro classic.
西湖醋鱼Xīhú cùyú
Zhejiang
West Lake Vinegar Fish (西湖醋鱼)
Hangzhou's poetic signature: a grass carp poached until silky, crowned with a burnished vinegar-and-ginger glaze — mellow, bright, and quietly famous.
河南烩面Hénán huìmiàn
Henan
Henan Braised Noodles (河南烩面)
Wide, chewy hand-pulled noodles drowning in a rich lamb-and-mushroom broth — the bowl that defines Henan comfort food from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng.
剁椒鱼头Duòjiāo yútóu
Hunan
Steamed Fish Head with Chopped Chili (剁椒鱼头)
Hunan fire meets freshwater finesse: a giant fish head crowned with salted chopped chilli and steamed until the whole table leans in for the first spoon.
热干面Règānmiàn
Hubei
Wuhan Hot Dry Noodles (热干面)
Wuhan's breakfast of a million bowls: chewy alkaline noodles tossed with sesame paste, chilli oil and pickles — eaten standing, fast, and deservedly famous.
螺蛳粉Luósīfěn
Guangxi
Luosifen (螺蛳粉)
Liuzhou's thunderously pungent snail broth, rice noodles and pickled bamboo shoots — the smell that scandalizes apartments and the taste that launches a thousand cravings.
葡式蛋挞Púshì dàntǎ
Vegetarian
Macau
Portuguese Egg Tart (葡式蛋挞)
The dessert that defines Macau: a burnished, caramel-spotted custard tart descended from Portugal's pastel de nata, made famous by Lord Stow's.
避风塘炒蟹Bìfēngtáng chǎo xiè
Hong Kong
Typhoon Shelter Crab (避风塘炒蟹)
Hong Kong's loudest seafood dish: crab deep-fried whole and tossed through a mountain of crispy garlic and chilli crumbs — every crunchy bite a harbor memory.
文昌鸡Wénchāng jī
Hainan
Wenchang Chicken (文昌鸡)
Hainan's most famous chicken — free-range birds raised on coconuts, poached to a golden gloss and served with a garlicky sour-sweet dip.
白切鸡Báiqiē jī
Guangdong
White Cut Chicken (白切鸡)
The purest test in Cantonese cuisine: a chicken poached to silky perfection, served cold with ginger-scallion oil — if it's bland, the kitchen failed.
过桥米线Guòqiáo mǐxiàn
Yunnan
Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles (过桥米线)
Yunnan's legendary ritual bowl: a stock kept boiling under a seal of chicken oil, into which you lower paper-thin meat, quail egg and rice noodles.
毛血旺Máo xuèwàng
Chongqing
Mao Xue Wang (毛血旺)
Chongqing's one-bowl hotpot: duck blood curd, tripe and offal drowned in a landscape of chilli and Sichuan pepper — numb, burning, and utterly addictive.
麻婆豆腐Mápó dòufu
Vegetarian
Sichuan
Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐)
Silky tofu in a fiery, numbing chilli-bean sauce — the dish that defines Sichuan cooking, named after a pockmarked grandmother.
酸汤鱼Suāntāngyú
Guizhou
Sour Soup Fish (酸汤鱼)
Guizhou's fermented-tomato fish hotpot — a Miao grandmother's alchemy of sourness and spice that no other region of China replicates.
石锅鸡Shíguō jī
Tibet
Stone Pot Chicken (石锅鸡)
A whole chicken and plateau herbs simmered for hours in a carved stone pot — Linzhi's response to the altitude: a soup that restores you.
大盘鸡Dàpánjī
Xinjiang
Big Plate Chicken (大盘鸡)
A platter-sized pan of tamarind-red chicken, potatoes and chewy hand-pulled noodles — Xinjiang's gift to group dinners and truck-stop legend.
兰州牛肉面Lánzhōu niúròumiàn
Gansu
Lanzhou Beef Noodles (兰州牛肉面)
Hand-pulled noodles in a clear, golden beef broth — China's breakfast of kings, perfected in Lanzhou and copied everywhere.
手抓羊肉Shǒuzhuā yángròu
Ningxia
Ningxia Hand-Grabbed Lamb (宁夏手抓羊肉)
Ningxia's Tan sheep is the gold standard of Chinese lamb — boiled, grabbed, dipped in salt. Food critics fly to Yinchuan just for this plate.
手抓羊肉Shǒuzhuā yángròu
Qinghai
Qinghai Hand-Grabbed Lamb (青海手抓羊肉)
Boiled, bare-bones, eaten by hand with salt and cumin — Qinghai's plateau lamb needs no sauce to prove the purity of its meat.
肉夹馍Ròujiāmó
Shaanxi
Roujiamo (肉夹馍)
Cripsy-flaky flatbread packed with melt-in-your-mouth slow-braised pork — China's original hamburger, born in Xi'an and now colonizing the world.