With a surface of 9.6 million square kilometres and a population of over a million inhabitants, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Chinese food scene is just as vast. Every region has its specialties, every family its recipes. As a traveller, it can therefore be quite challenging to know which dishes you should really try when visiting the country. Below are 12 Chinese dishes that are definitely worth trying when you’re in China.
1. Dim sum
Over the last years, dim sum has become quite popular all over the world but its roots go back to China. Dim sum is not, in fact, just one dish, but large range of small Cantonese dishes. There are over 2,000 dim sum dishes across China, most of which being made of seafood, chopped meats or vegetables, wrapped in dough or thin wrappings and steamed, deep-fried or pan-fried.
2. Peking duck
Peking duck is believed to have been invented some 1,500 years ago in Nanjing, which was the seat of the Chinese imperial regimes at the time. Hundreds of years later, the dish still has many fans. And after all, what’s not to enjoy about thin pancakes, filled with crispy duck, radish, cucumber, scallion and sweet bean sauce?
3. Rou jia mo
If you’re not keen on duck meat but still enjoy to wrap your meal in some kind of blanket, rou jia mo is the way to go. When visiting Xi’an, it’s easy to stumble upon this dish. The grilled flatbread called mo is filled with pulled pork belly – which is cooked in soy sauce, rock sugar, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and peppercorns for multiple hours.
4. Mapo tofu
Vegetarians often assume tofu dishes to be without meat but that clearly isn’t always the case. Mapo tofu is a mix of peppercorns and broad bean chili paste, spices, tofu and minced pork or beef.
5. Sweet and sour pork
Combining sweet and sour flavours is an iconic characteristic of Chinese cuisine and sour pork is a perfect example. Usually, the pork is combined with pineapple, sugar, vinegar and soy sauce for a unique effect. Sometimes, however, the pineapple gets exchanged for lychee for an even more surprising taste.
6. Duck blood and vermicelli soup
Another Nanjing specialty is duck blood and vermicelli soup, making duck a clear staple of regional cuisine. The noodles are cooked in a mixture of duck bone broth, duck blood curds and duck offal. Not suited for the faint of heart but clearly a unique dish to try if you get the chance.
7. Steamed fish
Steamed fish might not sound very fancy but it can be a true work of art if it is cooked just the right amount of time. The province of Hunan specialises in steamed fish head, served with chopped salted chilli or duo jiao (pickled chili garlic sauce).
8. Xiaolongbao
Those who are keen on dumplings should certainly try Xiaolongbao. The wraps are filled with pork meat and soup, making it a very tricky task to enusre the small packets don’t burst before reaching your mouth.
9. Bao
Just like many other Chinese foods, bao has become quite popular all over the world. The steamed bread rolls come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the region and the personal preferences of the chefs, and are most often filled with a mix of meat and vegetables.
10. Cantonese herbal soup
Of course we all hope not to get sick when travelling, in case you would anyway when in China, Cantonese herbal soup might be the way to get better again. The dish contains all kinds of veggies, fruits and herbs which are simmered for hours and make for the perfect pick-me-up.
11. Congee
Do you like porridge in the morning? Congee is the Chinese version of it, made of rice. It is served with all kinds of add-ons, from a simple combination of soy sauce and scallions to hearty additions such as chicken meat.
12. Sweet rice balls
As many of us like to conclude our meals with a bit of sweetness, this is a typical Chinese dessert. Sweet rice balls, or tangyuan, resemble mochi. The outside is made of sticky rice, while inside you’ll find a mixture of black sesame, sugar and lard.
