China is mind-blowing! Known for its amazing natural wonders, ancient history, distinct ethnic groups — and let’s not forget the food. The food is a big deal! Boasting over 3000 years of history, traditional Chinese food reflects the country’s many different regions, diverse preferences, and deep-rooted values of harmony and balance in taste.
Every single province has their own take on dishes. Think Sichuan for its spicy tongue-numbing cuisine, South East China (Fujian) for its delicate, umami dumplings. Salty, sweet, spicy, aromatic flavours dance around your mouth in perfect orchestration.
But eating truly authentic Chinese food is a journey of culture, storytelling, traditions and craftsmanship. Are you planning your trip to China? Make sure you do not miss these 12 dishes to transport your palate to heaven. Chopsticks at the ready!
Peking Duck: Savour Beijing’s Crispy and Flavourful Delicacy
A dish so celebrated that it formerly graced the tables of the Ming Dynasty Emperors themselves, Peking duck reigns supreme on Beijing’s list of gastronomy. What sets it apart? Delectably paper-thin skin is achieved through a multi-step process. First, the whole duck is air-dried and glazed. Then, it is slowly roasted until golden and crisp. Served with thin pancakes, spring onions, cucumber, and hoisin sauce, it’s a true delight. Wrapping these ingredients together creates a perfect bite. Cramming these little packages into your mouth feels like tasting heaven.
The incomparable Peking Duck is a dish of great ceremony and delicacy, with generations spent perfecting its preparation. The very best ducks — some claim — are raised specifically for the endeavour: a perfect layer of fat residing just under the skin crisps to perfection in the cooking process. And what cooking! The birds are suspended in custom-designed wood ovens so the circulating heat from the gentle fruit woods used imparts subtle smoky notes.
With the first bite, you immediately notice the contrast in textures; the crisp skin shatters in your mouth. A touch of sugar is often added to balance the rich, savoury flavours of the tender meat. Although the combination with pancakes, scallions, and hoisin sauce is the most famous, some prefer to eat the meat plain. That way, they can truly savour the craftsmanship behind every slice.
From Peking Duck to handmade dumplings, traditional Chinese food showcases centuries of culinary history and regional diversity.
Xiao Long Bao: Delight in Shanghai’s Soup-Filled Dumplings
Ah, Xiao Long Bao — these bite-sized little parcels certainly pack a punch. These impressively engineered specialities hail from Shanghai — with ultrafine pastry, that contains a piping hot stock and succulent pork.
Xiao Long Bao’s magic is not so much in flavour but in the experience. A steamer arrives at the table, delicate folds encase the hidden treasure — sputtering steam bursts forth to transport the hungry patron to another place. The warmth, fragrance and taste are immediate. And yet… there’s danger ahead. To pierce the dough is to potentially unleash catastrophe; wait too long and you barely enjoy the glory of the broth. The mystery of the xiao long bao goes beyond its culinary makeup. The connoisseur eyes the folds; the brave briefly pierce the skin, aware the risk may exceed the reward. But the sign of the true master is a down pat “Scoop, bite and slurp” technique.
You can enjoy the soup dumplings in Michelin-starred restaurants or enjoy street food style in a no-name dumpling shop. Either way, they need to be devoured!
Mapo Tofu: Experience the Spicy and Numbing Flavours of Sichuan
If your tastebuds are partial to a bit of action, Mapo Tofu is the food for you. Hailing from Sichuan province, this fiery dish combines silken tofu, minced pork, and fermented black beans. Sichuan peppercorns add a powerful kick, creating the famous “mala” sensation. Your mouth tingles with heat and that unique numbing feeling.
Beneath the searing burn of its spices, Mapo Tofu boasts a story that’s every bit as rich and varied as its depth of flavour. Legend tells us that the dish was once the brain-child of an ageing vendor, Mrs Chen. The recipe for her fiery fare lends itself to copycats eager to turn up the heat.
Eaten with steamed rice, it has the perfect interplay of heat, umami and soothingness. Once you’ve eaten this real-deal version, you can forget about (and can never go back to) the pale imitations.
The philosophy behind traditional Chinese food emphasizes balance and harmony, making each meal a blend of taste, texture, and nutrition.
Dim Sum: Indulge in Cantonese Bite-Sized Culinary Art
Dim Sum is more than food; it’s an experience, born from the teahouses of southern China. These small portions of food span from delicate dumplings to fluffy buns, crisp spring rolls and smooth rice noodle rolls. Dim Sum is best enjoyed over the course of a leisurely yum cha (tea-drinking) session.
Dim Sum is a celebration of diversity, craftsmanship and custom. Each creation represents a separate discipline of cooking. Steaming, simmering, frying, baking and stewing — all perfected for centuries. From the pleating of Har Gow to the layers of a flaky, golden egg tart, the expertise and passion developed by chefs through years of experience resonate in every bite.
It’s much more than just the flavours, though. The experience of Dim Sum is special to how we eat. It’s food to be shared, to start conversations, to savour so many textures and flavours in every dish. To read off a menu at a busy restaurant or to point at another tray on the trolley, the elation of Dim Sum is the activity as much as the food.
Traditional Chinese food offers a rich variety of flavors, from spicy Sichuan dishes to delicate Cantonese dim sum. Whether you are dodging trolleys in Hong Kong or tasting handmade dumplings in a Cantonese teahouse, each bite represents hundreds of years of culinary development.
Kung Pao Chicken: Taste the Perfect Harmony of Spicy, Sweet and Sour
Kung Pao Chicken. Balance hits boldness.Hailing from Sichuan, this dish is diced chicken and peanuts stir-fried with dried red chillies. It’s known for its perfect sweet-sour flavour. Sichuan peppercorns add a tingly, numbing sensation that makes every bite unique and delicious. Of course, whatever Western version you taste… the original China version does it way better. Enjoy this right there in China, because you’ll witness just how the balance of texture and heat works to perfection.
Kung pao chicken, for most of us, has become almost synonymous with a quick, stir-fried meat and vegetable dinner. But that definition barely captures the essence of the dish. In its true form, kung pao chicken has been slowly evolving for more than a century. From its origins as a Qing Dynasty-era court creation to the fast-casual favourite that it is now. The name itself is said to be in honour of Ding Baozhen, a Sichuanese governor and notorious lover of the chillies and peanut dish that would one day bear his name.
Set against the backdrop of the massive Western Han mounds that ring the city, you will dine surrounded by the centuries of history and culinary influence that is Sichuan.
Hot Pot: Relish a Communal Feast of Flavours in a Simmering Pot
Imagine a large pot of broth placed in the centre of a table surrounded by plates of food that include thin slices of meat, vegetables, seafood, noodles and other accompaniments and a group of friends socialising while placing their selections in the pot. It sounds pretty great, right? Well, that’s Hot Pot. This most ancient Chinese dish can be found all over China and in many forms based on region — famously spicy from Sichuan or more mild and herbal from the Cantonese. But no matter the variety, Hot Pot is all about the experience rather than anything else.
Hot Pot is a rite of culture where family and friends eat from a rich and flavourful broth simmering in a pot nearby amid laughter and conversation. The beauty of Hot Pot is that you can customise the ingredients and sauces that you put into the pot — customise your own food, just the way you like it. From nutty sesame paste to spicy chilli oil, every type of dipping sauce adds a new level of flavour to the dish. Best of all, you’re in control of how long you leave ingredients in the pot.
The act of “taking the food into your own hands” changes from simply eating what is in front of you into an interactive spectacle that is a vessel for conversation.
Chow Mein: Enjoy Stir-Fried Noodles Packed with Flavour
Chow Mein or stir-fried noodles, is an iconic Chinese dish that is celebrated and loved in every corner of the world. Featuring crunchy, yet tender noodles paired with colourful vegetables and your protein of choice, this dish effortlessly marries texture and flavour for a satisfying crowd-pleaser. One of the things we love about Chow Mein is how it can be made your own. It’s the ultimate street food, a bestseller at restaurants and one of the best examples of the wonders of wok cooking.
A plate of chow mein is a plate of pure kinetic riot: noodles spinning in a smoking hot wok, clanging against bursts of soy, garlic and chillies, a hint of oil permeating the olfactory orb. The spirit lies in the speed — each ingredient perfectly braised in free-fall formation, achieving a paradoxical combo of flesh-tender and wok-fried, chew-bounce-yield, mother sauce-infused savour. The original version comes from Canton, but today, chow mein spans regions and types: north and south, soft and crisp, wet and dry, a little brown sauce here and soy slinger there.
Exploring a local market is one of the best ways to discover authentic traditional Chinese food and taste unique street delicacies. Whether you score it bedside a street chef’s open flame or reconstruct it tableside, each bite of Chow Mein has bounce and chew and that undefinable umami that there is never a need to define.
Char Siu: Savour the Sweet and Savoury Notes of Cantonese Barbecue Pork
When it comes to Cantonese-style Chinese BBQ cooking Char Siu is number one in popularity by miles! Known for its distinctly bright red colour and smoky, caramelised ‘grilled’ edges coated in a marinade of honey, soy sauce, hoisin and five-spice, this sweet and savoury barbecued pork is roasted in rotisserie-style ovens while its aroma wafts through the surrounding neighbourhoods.
The appeal of Char Siu isn’t just its big, bold, smoky-sweet taste, it’s also the fact that it represents the spirit of Cantonese roasting handed down for generations. Every mouthful represents a perfection of technique — the pork is first marinaded, slowly permeated by layers of spice and umami, then slow roasted. It’s this slow roasting that gives that luxurious texture — irresistibly yielding with just enough of a bite. This tradition has been perfected for hundreds of years and what began with Char Siu alone has expanded to be matched with rice, buns, noodle soups, fried rice and even fusion cuisine.
You can taste it in a busy Hong Kong-style barbecue spot or you can find it in a small corner shop. But as soon as that first bite softly falls apart in your mouth, you’ll realise why Char Siu remains an eternal pillar in Cantonese cuisine.
Congee: Find Comfort in a Warm Bowl of Rice Porridge
Sometimes simple is best. Congee, essentially a long-cooked rice porridge, is in all senses a “home-cooked” meal in China. Plain or garnished with toppings like cured eggs, shredded chicken, scallions or crispy fried dough sticks; this dish is so simple and easy to prepare. Perfect for breakfast, lunch or even when not feeling well, this deceivingly easy dish is a perfect reminder that the best things in life are often the most basic.
When it comes to congee, the fastest answer gives the least insight — yes, it’s just rice and water. But in a Southern Chinese rendering, those words represent much more than the sum of their parts. To those in Guangdong, congee is a bowl of inimitably smooth solace — slurpable proof of the harmonious marriage of time and heat to the simplest ingredients.
To a region whose subtropical climate is ideal for growing jasmine or long-grain varieties of rice, the congee of Guangdong (with its buttery rivers of fresh seafood or pale and poet-pure freshwater fish) was grand enough to be used to test imperial chopsticks.
Whether you prefer sweet, sour, or spicy, traditional Chinese food has something to satisfy every palate.
Embark on a Culinary Adventure Through China’s Diverse Flavours
China – the land of Peking Duck, Mapo Tofu and Dim Sum. But the vast land also offers an array of delectable culinary treats alongside a rich history, tradition and modern innovation. Whether it’s Peking Duck in Beijing, Mapo Tofu in Sichuan or Dim Sum in Guangzhou – each dish has a story to tell!
If you want to truly experience Chinese culture, trying traditional Chinese food is a must during your visit. Keen to dive further into the culinary culture of China? Check out these organised group tours exploring China’s culinary heritage which will lead you around to the delectable food traditions of China. After all, the best way to understand a country and its traditions is to eat your way through! So, pack your appetite and let the adventure begin!
