Last week we discussed the basics of Chinese cuisine, well this week we are back to talk about our favorite subject some more, food! This week we will be discussing dishes we strongly recomend, and some other dishes that we recomend for the brave!
Top Chinese Foods to Try
- 小 籠包 (xiǎolóngbāo) – Probably the most famous Shanghai dish: these small steamed dumplings are steamed in a basket and stuffed with meat and a tasty broth inside. The connoisseur bites a little hole into them first, sips the broth, then dips them in dark vinegar (醋 cu) to season the meat inside.
- 油条 (yóutiáo) lit. oil stick – Long, deep-fried donut. A very popular breakfast in China. Typically consumed in the morning with soy milk (dou jiang 豆浆), the youtiao is a long, deep-fried stick of dough.
- 羊肉串 (yángròu chuàn) Barbecued meat skewers (Typically from street vendors) – Generally made from lamb, these Xinjiang-style meat kebabs are delicious.
- 拉面 (lāmiàn) Lanzhou-style lamian – Fresh hand-pulled noodles; look for a tiny restaurants with staff in Muslim dress. These fresh noodles have a flavor very atypical of most noodle dishes you will find in China.
- 点 心 (diǎnxīn) Cantonese / Guangzhou / Hong Kong-style Dim Sum – The small snacks usually eaten for lunch/breakfast in these southern regions of China and in Hong Kong are a highlight.
Top 5 Chinese Foods for the Brave
- Stinky Tofu – Locals will forever be asking you if you’ve tried this fermented tofu specialty, so you might as well cave and do the deed. Think ‘french cheese’ rather than ‘smelly socks’ and you just might enjoy it.
- Century Eggs – They’re not really a century old, though they do look it. Black, gelatinous, strong salty flavor… these delicacies are preserved in salt and ash for 100 days.
- Drunken shrimp – Shrimp marinated live, and served live. Watch out for the splashing wine. You eat them after they drown.
- Seahorse – Though it feels somehow wrong on many levels to eat cute animals that feature in Disney cartoons, at least you’ll have something to write home about.
- Bird’s Nest Soup – Don’t let the saliva base of this broth turn you off from this healthful aphrodisiac.
