The table
Order the place, not a national dish.
Mainland China does not have one cuisine with regional accents. It has cuisines. These are the plates worth asking for in the cities in this guide.
29 dishes
Guangzhou, morning. The city’s real monument is a steamer.
Peking duck
Crisp skin, pancakes, a second course of bones if the kitchen offers it. Share one bird before you order more.
Zhajiangmian
The everyday wheat noodle. Fold the vegetables through the pork sauce yourself.
Jianbing
Street breakfast. Egg, cracker, scallion, and a sauce you can ask to reduce.
Roujiamo
China's most convincing meat-in-bread. The bun should crack, not collapse.
Yangrou paomo
Torn bread in lamb soup. The tearing is your job. Give it time.
Biangbiang noodles
Wide noodles, chili oil, garlic, vinegar. A midday bowl, not a delicate course.
Xiaolongbao
Soup dumplings. Sip first. Shanghainese versions are a little sweeter than many Taiwan shops.
Shengjian
Pan-fried cousins of the soup dumpling. Hotter on the bottom, messier, excellent.
Hongshao pork
Dark, sweet, soy-braised. The home flavor of the lower Yangtze.
Suzhou noodles
A clear, careful bowl. This is how the city actually eats between gardens.
Longjing shrimp
Tea and river shrimp. It should taste like both, quietly.
Dongpo pork
A square of braised belly. Share it. Order something green.
Mapo tofu
Numbing, red, and softer than the cafeteria version. The benchmark Sichuan plate.
Dan dan noodles
A small spicy bowl. Ya cai, minced meat, chili oil. Eat it before a teahouse, not after a hotpot.
Chongqing hotpot
The fiercer pot. Beef and offal, a split pot if you need a door back to mild broth.
Chongqing xiaomian
Breakfast in a bowl. Alkaline noodles, chili, sometimes peas and minced meat.
Hunan small-fry pork
Smoked pork and fresh chili. Heat without Sichuan pepper. The right dinner after a day of stairs.
Guilin rice noodles
Round rice noodles, sour bamboo, peanut, a ladle of toppings. Every morning.
Beer fish
Yangshuo's table dish. Tomato, beer, chili, a river fish big enough to share.
Dim sum
The meal the city is built around. Go early. Shrimp dumplings are the test.
Claypot rice
Night food. Listen for the crust being scraped. That sound is the point.
Shacha noodles
Fujian's breakfast soup. Related to flavors Taiwan already knows, built differently.
Oyster omelette
Smaller oysters, sweet-potato starch. Eat it by the harbor, not as a souvenir.
Crossing-the-bridge noodles
Yunnan's composed noodle bowl. Cook the toppings in the broth at the table.
Naxi baba
Griddled bread from the old town edges. Breakfast, with tea, before the lanes fill.
Lamb skewers
Cumin and charcoal. The desert version of a snack you will also see in Xi'an.
Hand-pulled noodles
The reliable northwest lunch. Ask for chili on the side the first time.
Guobaorou
Crisp sweet-sour pork, northeastern style. Tangier and less spicy than the south.
Northeast dumplings
Boiled, plentiful, pork and cabbage or chive. The correct food at minus fifteen.