Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cantonese cuisine
The joke that the Chinese will eat anything with
four legs except a table and anything in the sea
except submarines is a reference to Cantonese
cuisine, from China's south. Snake liver, civet
cat and guinea pig are among the more unusual
dishes here, strange even to other Chinese, but
more conventionally there are plenty of lightly
seasoned fresh fish and vegetable dishes. A meal
of
dim sum
(dianxin in Mandarin) comprises tiny
flavoured buns, dumplings and pancakes and is
often eaten in Shanghai as lunch (in Guangdong
province it's breakfast). There's no shortage of
restaurants in Shanghai to try it; two great places
are the chic Crystal Jade (see p.118) and the cheap and cheerful Bi Feng Tan g (see
p.118 & p.121).
Dim sum
Northern cuisine
The cuisine of northern China is hale and hearty, with steamed buns and noodles as
staples. Dishes tend to be heavily seasoned, with liberal use of vinegar and garlic.
Beijing duck
is the most famous dish, best sampled a
k
Quanjude (see p.117). Other
classic northern dishes such as
jiaozi
(small dumplings) can be sampled at Dongbei Ren
(see p.119), and the classic winter warmer,
(
hotpot
, where diners dip raw ingredients into
a heated stock in the centre of the table, is the speciality at Hot Pot King (see p.119).
