10 Best Local Dishes - According to Actual Chinese People
Tired of being bombarded "best Chinese food lists" compiled by 20-something expats who subsisted on Lucky Charms and Mr. Pibb until they came here? No need to anymore. Here are the top ten Chinese dishes according to a study by the Chinese Hotel Association (via Xinhua), which surveyed local users of China's top restaurant sites.
1. Fish with Sichuan pickles (suancai yu)
Hot and sour soup with flaky petals of fish (generally catfish) and pickled mustard greens and peppers.
Find it: Spicy Joint
2. Stir fried vegetables (chao qingcai), generally Chinese spinach
One man's childhood punishment is another's delicacy. Then again, they actually put seasoning on their veg and don't just steam it in a pot a la the Civil War like in the US.
Find it: Any Shanghai restaurant
3. Gongbao Jiding, known in the US as Kung Pao Chicken
Yeah, it's about as strange as finding out Dijourno's Meat Lover's Pizza is a huge hit in Italy.
Find it: Fu Chun Xiao Long
4. Shredded pork with garlic sauce (yuxiang rousi), a smoldering Sichuan classic
There's also a vegetarian version with eggplant pinch-hitting for pork (yuxiang qiezi).
Find it: Yuxin Sichuan
5. Catfish in chili oil (shui zhu yu)
Chinese bouillabaisse with slices of catfish and bean sprouts poached briefly in water, paired with dried chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, green onions and garlic in vegetable oil that’s heated until smoky.
Find it: Spicy Joint
6. Braised pork (hong shao rou), the quintessential Shanghai dish
Our advice: skip the traditional pork cubes and go for the braised pork shoulder.
Find it: Rui Fu Yuan
7. Double-pepper fish head (duo jiao yu tou), the crown jewel of Hunan cuisine
It entails carp noggin that's split into two halves, which are arrayed side-by-side like a piscine depiction of the Roman God Janus, and covered with bi-colored, house-pickled chilies: one half in red and one in green.
Find it: Guo Yuan
8. Roast duck (kaoya)
This is synonymous with Beijing but you can find a decent poor man's version hawked on the street here.
Find it: Duck lady at Ningbo Lu, Shandong Lu
9. Tomato and egg soup (fanqie danhua tang)
Basically the liquid version of the canteen classic xihongshi chaodan. In fact, skip this and go for the latter. You'll thank us later.
Find it: Wo Jia.
10. Twice-cooked spicy pork (huiguo rou)
An esophagus-searing Sichuan staple with fatty pork, peppers, veg and black beans.
Find it: Guo Yuan
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