Gourmet Paradise: 10 Tourist Cities in China for Food Lovers

Food Flavors: numb and spicy
Famous Dishes: hot pot, Dan Dan Noodles, Kung Pao Chicken, Ma Po Tofu, Lung Chao Shou
Where to Eat: Wide and Narrow Alley, Jinli Street, Chunxi Road, Guanghua Village

Chengdu is a famous foodie place out of the best tourist cities in China, as well as the best place to try the world-popular Sichuan cuisine. You could find restaurants and snack bars everywhere offering the most authentic Sichuan dishes. The best known places to eat are Wide and Narrow Alley and Jinli Street, of which the former are full of local snacks restaurants, mid or high-end restaurants and bars, and the latter, close to the scenic area of Wuhou Temple, is the paradise of traditional food at local. The spicy and numbing dishes, like hot pot, Fish-flavored Shredded Pork, Ma Po Tofu, Sliced Beef and Ox Organs in Chili Sauce, Twice Cooked Pork, etc., are appetizing that you would fall in love with them after the first bite.

See also:
12 Most Popular Sichuan Foods
10 Must-Try Sichuan Dishes
15 Special Sichuan Noodles
Top 15 Must-Try Chengdu Food
9 Chengdu Famous Foods
Top 10 Chengdu Restaurants

Chengdu Tours

Food Flavors: spicy and numb
Famous Dishes: Chongqing hot pot, Chongqing Noodles, Hot and Sour Noodles, Chicken Giblets
Where to Eat: Hongya Cave, Ci Qi Kou Town, Jiefangbei CBD

Chongqing is also a welcome city with Sichuan cuisine, in particular, Chongqing Hot Pot is the most popular local food as well as the best hot pot around China. It is said the local hot pot was created by boatmen on Yangtze River there. All the ingredients, including tripe, beef rolls, duck blood cubes, green vegetables, etc., are boiled in the specially cooked chili soup. Tripe is the must try of Chongqing hot pot. In winter, eating the hot pot is an enjoyable thing to warm up your body; and in summer, hot pot is also a favorite food ate with refreshing beers. Chongqing Noodles, the second most famous local food, is palatable, too.

Chongqing Tours

Food Flavors: a little spicy, sour and salty
Famous Dishes: Crumbled Flatbread in Mutton Stew (Yangrou Paomo), Dumpling Dinner, Liang Pi, Rou Jia Mo (Shaanxi Hamburger), Biangbiang Noodles
Where to Eat: Muslim Quarter, North Guangji Street, Yong Xing Fang

Xi’an, in northwestern China, have many wheaten foods for gastronomes. In this most ancient tourist city in China, any wheaten dish wouldn’t make you disappointed. You may hear of these snacks at other places, but the local ones in Xi’an might surprise you with a fresh flavor you never taste before. The favorite Xi’an foods include Crumbled Flatbread in Mutton Stew, Liang Pi, Rou Jia Mo, Vegetable Stew, and so on. To try the best Yangrou Paomo, you can go to a restaurant of Laosunjia or Tong Sheng Xiang; for Liang Pi, Wei Jia Liang Pi is the most popular. At the famous snack street- Muslim Quarter, you may also try Jia San Soup Dumplings, Gourd-shaped Chicken, Glutinous Rice with Jujube, Steamed Meat (Fen Zheng Rou), ethnic kebabs, and more snacks.

See also:
Shaanxi Food
Xi’an Must-eat Foods
10 Famous Xi’an Noodles
Best Xi'an Street Food that You Must Try
Best Local Restaurants in Xi’an to Eat Shaanxi Food

Xi'an Tours
 Recommended Tour:  One-Day Xi'an Historical Tour with Muslim Quarter from $59

Food Flavors: hot, fresh and spicy
Famous Dishes: Steamed Fish Head with Chopped Chili, Tasty Lobster, Stinky Tofu, Hunan Rice Noodles, Sugar Oil Baba
Where to Eat: Taiping Street, Huogongdian, Pozi Street

Hunan cuisine is also famous in China, thus Changsha, the capital of Hunan, is frequently visited for the Hunan foods and becomes popular among the places to eat in China. You could find restaurants, snacks bars or stalls on streets and alleyways. Old Taiping Street, Nanmenkou Snack Street, Huogongdian and more are the best sites to taste the Changsha foods, such as Tasty Lobster that is hot across the country, and Stinky Tofu with black surfaces, smelly odor but aromatic taste.

See also: Top 10 Hunan Foods You Have to Try

Food Flavors: fresh, mild, light
Famous Dishes: Char Siu, White Cut Chicken, Clay Pot Rice, Wonton Noodles, Slow-cooked Soup
Where to Eat: East Huifu Road, Tongfu Road, Xihua Street, Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street

Expect for the beautiful sceneries and cultural sites, the traditional Cantonese cuisine in Guangzhou, one of best places to eat in China, is also an attractive point. Guangzhou people are good at cook food and soups, and like eating Yum Cha in the morning. Their Yum Cha are varied, like Shrimp Dumplings, Steamed Shaomai, Rice Noodle Rolls, Barbecued Pork Bund, and Cantonese Egg Tart. They get rich seafood for their meals, as the South Sea is very close. Cantonese slow-cooked soups are well known with rich nutrition, as all kinds of ingredients could be used to cook a soup, even lotus leaves and snakes. White Cut Chicken, and Siu Mei (Cantonese Barbecued Meat) of Char Siu, Soy Sauce Chicken, Roast Goose, Roasted Suckling Pig, etc. are also the unmissable Guangzhou dishes.

See also:
15 Best Cantonese Foods You Must Try
Guangzhou Food
Best Guangzhou Restaurants

Guangzhou Tours

Food Flavors: salty with flavored sauce
Famous Dishes: Peking Roast Duck, Instant-boiled Mutton Hot Pot, Noodles with Soy Sauce Paste, Quick-fried Tripe, Mung Bean Milk (Douzhi)
Where to Eat: Qianmen Street, Wangfujing Snack Street, Guijie Street, Guang’anmen Food Street

Beijing, the capital of two last ancient dynasties of China for nearly a thousand years, has many imperial dishes and pastries spread to common people later. These imperial foods are usually cooked with carefully selected ingredients, elaborate cooking steps, and the comprehensive skills combining the cuisines of multiple nationalities in the north, such as Mongol, Manchu, Hui, etc. and, of course, the Han Nationality. Many visitors come there for the Beijing foods expect for the splendid attractions, which makes Beijing the one of the top tourist cities in China. Peking Roast Duck is the most praised Beijing food, and Quanjude and Bianyifang are the two best restaurants offering the roasted ducks. What’s more, Mung Bean Milk, Wheaten Cake Boiled in Meat Broth, Stewed Liver, Quick-boiled Tripe, Pea Cake... are also taste-worthy Beijing snacks.

See also:
Beijing Cuisine – Flavors, Famous Dishes, Food Menu
15 Must-eat Beijing Foods
Top 10 Beijing Street Food
Top 10 Beijing Imperial Cuisine Restaurants
Top 15 Beijing Snacks Restaurants

Beijing Tours

Food Flavors: light, salty, umami, the original taste of ingredients
Famous Dishes: Jun’an Steamed Pig, Fish Cake, Chencun Rice Noodles, Pork Offal Broth, Lunjiao Cake
Where to Eat: Huagai Road Pedestrian Street

Shunde in Foshan of Guangdong, at a close distance southwest to Guangzhou, is another nice China place to eat. In addition to the Cantonese dishes popular throughout Guangdong, there are also some specialties in Shunde. Using the simplest ingredients to cook the most delicious dishes, that is right the Shunde way on cooking and eating. As Shunde is by water, fishes and seafood are the main materials to cook in Shunde. Jun’an Steamed Pig is a must dish on local village banquet, taken to celebrate when a happy event occurs. Chencun Rice Noodles, Pork Offal Broth, and more creative local dishes would also make you salivate.

Food Flavors: light Cantonese foods, multi-flavored dishes from the world
Famous Dishes: Egg Puffs, Fish Shaomai, Siu Mei, “Shark Fin” Soup, Pineapple Bun, Chilled Mango Sago Cream with Pomelo
Where to Eat: Causeway Bay, Kowloon City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Lan Kwai Fong

The same as Cantonese, people in Hong Kong love to have Yum Cha in the morning. However, the Cantonese dishes in Hong Kong are influenced by western cuisine, or mixed with western ingredients. Lianxianglou is the old-timey restaurant with the most traditional Yum Cha. You may go to a Kau Kee Restaurant for Beef Brisket Noodles, or a Hong Kong-styled café for the local desserts, like Milk Custard and Ginger Milk. Besides, Rice Noodle Rolls, Jook Sing Noodles, Clay Pot Rice, etc. are also popular. If you would like to taste other cuisine, the foods from all over China and the world are available in metropolitan Hong Kong, one of the best tourist cities in China.

See also: Hong Kong Dining
Hong Kong Tours

Food Flavors: mild, natural, a little sweet
Famous Dishes: Yangzhou Fried Rice, Green Vegetable Shaomai, Crab Buns with Soup, Shrimp Sauced Wonton Noodles, Scalded Dried Tofu Shreds
Where to Eat: Siwangting Road, Dongguan Street, Quyuan Teahouse, Yechun Teahouse

Yangzhou in Jiangsu was a gathering city for salt merchants once by Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and those people contributed a lot to the enrichment of local cuisine. Now, as one of tourist cities in China, Yangzhou attract people to try the notable Huaiyang cuisine dishes, which are mild and sweet generally. People there love to enjoy Dim Sum as well, but they would not spend the whole morning as the Cantonese. They go to teahouses – the local Dim Sum restaurants, to eat Yangzhou Dim Sum, like Vegetable Shaomai, Scalded Dried Tofu Shreds, and sliced cured meat, with Chinese tea. You could also taste these snacks here and there in Yangzhou at any time.

Food Flavors: light, salty, a little sour
Famous Dishes: Oyster Omelette, Satay Noodles, Sea Worm Jelly, Braised Meat Zongzi
Where to Eat: Zhongshan Road Pedestrian Street, Taiwan Snack Street, Zengcuoan

Xiamen food is a must-try when you travel to the city in Fujian, where is across the strait from Taiwan. It is a diversified gourmet world with various ingredients, seasonings and cooking methods. Apart from the totally original Oyster Omelette, Sea Worm Jelly, Mee Suah Soup, Peanut Porridge, etc. at local, Satay Noodles with the localized satay seasoning from Southeast Asia are also welcome in Xiamen. Due to the influence of South Putuo Temple all the time, the South Putuo vegetarian dishes are also the characteristic foods. Especially, the vegetarian cake becomes a hot gift for friends. Many Xiamen snacks are popular at both shores of Taiwan Strait.

Xiamen Tours