Restaurants in China

Chinese food is without doubt one of the world's favourites, with it's wonderful spices, noodles and wok-tossed courses! Who could resist the temptation?

When you have gone Shopping in China until your feet and legs hurt, our Restaurants in China guide will tell you all you need to know to find the best places to dine or eat at. Relax and experience our exotic food.

Traditional Chinese New Year Preparations

Probably more food is consumed during the New Year celebrations than any other time of the year. Vast amounts of traditional food are prepared for family and friends, as well as for those who have passed on.

On New Year's Day, Chinese families eat a vegetarian dish called Jai. Although the various ingredients in Jai are root vegetables or fibrous vegetables, many people attribute various superstitious aspects to them: Lotus seed - signifies having many male offspring; Ginkgo nut - represents silver ingots; Black moss seaweed - is a homonym for exceeding in wealth; Dried bean curd is another homonym for fulfillment of wealth and happiness and Bamboo shoots - is a term which sounds like "wishing that everything would be well.

Other foods include a whole fish, to represent togetherness and abundance, and a chicken for prosperity. The chicken must be presented with a head, tail and feet to symbolise completeness. Noodles should be uncut, as they represent long life.

In south China, the favourite and most typical dishes are Nian Gao, sweet steamed glutinous rice pudding and Zong Zi (glutinous rice wrapped up in reed leaves), another popular delicacy.

In the north, steamed-wheat bread (Man Tou) and small meat dumplings are the preferred food. The tremendous amount of food prepared at this time is meant to symbolise abundance and wealth for the household.

The Chinese love their Noodles

Noodles are unique to Chinese cuisine and were made as early as 100 A.D. The Chinese rulers were partial to this preparation, as this wheat-based preparation was nutritious and easy to store, had a good shelf life and was easy to prepare. From China, noodles made their way to other countries, such as Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Phillipines and Laos. In the 13th century Marco Polo took this cooking form to Italy and this gave rise to Italian spaghetti.

Southern China made noodles from rice as rice grows well in these regions. Rice noodles are called bijon and outside China are popularly known as glass noodles as they appear to be made from glass. They are also served in a form known as ho fan. This resembles Italian fettuccine and tagliatelle. Egg noodles or mein is another variant and this type of noodles is very thin. Traditionally, noodle making involved a lot of expertise wherein the dough was pulled and whirled in the air by the noodle maker until it was stretched. However, nowadays machines have taken over this job.

Noodles can be eaten in a soup or as a main dish, with vegetables or meat accompaniments with or without sauces. You should try and learn to eat a Chinese meal with a pair of chopsticks for that authentic Chinese experience.

How about some Chinese Crispies? Or the Classic Chinese Soups?

Chinese fried snacks such as spring rolls are very popular as an appetizer. Spring rolls got their name because they are usually eaten during the spring festival in China. Spring rolls are made from rice and a variant, the egg roll, is made from wheat. Both these rolls have fillings of either vegetables or meat wrapped in dough and are then deep fried. Chinese fried prawn and shrimps are also popular starters to a meal.

The best recipes for Chinese soups have come from the humble kitchens of China. Chinese clear soups are an excellent way to start a meal as they are very light and you can enjoy the main course comfortably. These soups are loaded with nutrition as they use a lot of vegetables along with meat. The broth is clear and the vegetable or meat is added at the final stage of cooking.  

In contrast, thick soups can be meals in themselves. All the ingredients are cooked together and a thickening agent such as cornflour is used to give the soup its thickness.  However, in two popular Chinese soups such as shark-fin soup and bird’s nest soup the thickening agent is not cornstarch but comes from the slow simmering of the shark fin and bird's nest added in these respective soups. Both are delicacies and served on special occasions. The edible bird’s nest is made by swiftlets or swallows, which use seaweed to make the nests that are cemented together using their saliva. It is amongst the most expensive animal products used by humans. These nests are found on the high cliffs of the southern Chinese coast. However, these days over-harvesting of these nests has endangered these bird species. 

Tofu, anyone?

This is an innovation emerging from the Chinese kitchens. It literally means bean curd and is made from coagulating soy milk. The coagulated soy milk is pressed into blocks by removing the liquid from the solid part and then cut into slices. By itself tofu does not have any taste, but if it is prepared using other sauces and ingredients you just cannot resist it. A by-product of bean curd resembling thickened milk is sold in the streets of China as a dessert or a morning drink.

Rice is a staple diet in China

Rice is staple to Chinese cooking, particularly in southern China. The Chinese call it fan and a variety of side dishes accompany it. In a Chinese meal each individual is given his own bowl of rice and the side dishes are served in common bowls which are shared by everyone sitting at the meal. 

So, what's the story behind Chopsticks?

Chopsticks are tapered sticks of even length used widely by the Chinese to eat their meals. These were in existence even before forks and knives were used in the west on the dining table. Traditional Chinese houses abide by the Confucian principle that cutlery such as knives and forks should not be used at the dinner table as they are weapons. Chinese food is typically chopped into bite-sized pieces so that there is no need to use knives. 

Preparation is simple, albeit sometimes rather unusual!

You can learn a lot of about China through its cuisine and how it is prepared. Chinese cooking is not very complicated and all you need to do is follow the instructions very carefully. Chinese cuisine requires only the best and freshest products. Naturally what turns out is highly nutritious and tasty! Some basic utensils required for Chinese cooking are a good wok and a bamboo or aluminium steamer. Stock your kitchen with good quality soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, peanut oil, sesame oil, Chinese shallots, chicken stock (home-made) in the freezer, Chinese shallots, ginger, garlic, chillies  and coriander and you are ready to whip up a Chinese meal.

Even exotic Chinese dishes such as Peking Duck do not require very elaborate cooking.  Ducks that are specially bred are roasted in a closed oven or a hung oven. The barbecued duck is then cut into thin slices, wrapped in thin pancakes and eaten with onion, radish and plum sauce. Special Chinese cooking uses some very unusual ingredients such as bird’s nest, sea cucumber, shark fins, and sea weeds. The Chinese have absolutely no restrictions regarding food and many ingredients which would be frowned upon in other cultures are used here for medical purposes. Several of them are supposed to have aphrodisiacal powers. Soup number 5, for instance, is supposed to achieve this result. Here penis and testicles of various animals, especially the bull, are washed, cleaned and then scalded in boiling water. They are then cut into pieces and cooked in water with other ingredients such as pork or chicken, ginger, and vegetables. It is then seasoned with salt or pepper and served hot.

Snake meat also falls into this category of ‘erotic food’. Snake meat is often eaten in winter as it is supposed to generate heat in the body. Other parts of the snake, such as its gall bladder, are supposed to bring relief to people with rheumatism. Snake is considered as a yang food, representing positivity and vigour. A dish called Dragon Phoenix Tiger is prepared from snake, chicken and cat and is supposed to be effective in restoring lost youth and vigour. For non-Chinese, however, this may be a little difficult to stomach and such people should restrict themselves to simple preparations that consist of vegetables and meats such as chicken and lamb.

Cultural variation in cuisine exists

With such a large land mass in China, it is no surprise that there is a degree of variation in the cuisine. The Anhui cuisine is a native cooking style of the Huangshan Mountains region where they use wild game and herbs and this cuisine gives more attention to braising and stewing. The southern Cantonese cuisine is most popular outside China and uses all kinds of meat and mild and commonly available spices. Fish and other seafood are commonly used. Garlic is heavily used, especially when internal organs are cooked. The Szechuan cuisine of the west is known to be spicy because of the liberal use of Sichuan peppercorn. A classic dish made here is ma po dou fu, which are soft tofu cubes cooked in spicy pork and chilli sauce. The northern Peking cuisine uses mutton and pork and the Kim Chi style of pickled vegetables is also popular in this region. Eastern Chinese cuisine, found in the cities of Shanghai and Hangzhou, uses sugars and wines. This lends a pinch of sweetness to the flavour of the food. Soups are very popular in these areas. Seafood is also very popular as the Yangtze River approaches the ocean near Shanghai. 

Ah, the exclusive dining-in-Restaurants experience!

Restaurants in China typically cater to diners who come in groups and the seating arrangements discourage the individual diner, who is better off eating at the many road-side eateries found in the cities. Ambience is not given much importance in restaurants and heating is unavailable, so put on your woollies before you set out to eat. The price of a dish at a first class restaurant does not cost more than at an ordinary restaurant. What makes it first class is that they make dishes using more expensive ingredients. 

Chinese tea is simply part of every Chinese meal

China is the original homeland of tea. Wild tea shrubs were found six thousand years ago and humans cultivated it as far back as two thousands years ago. The Chinese love to have their after-meal cup of tea and it is an integral part of their culture. There are several types of tea ranging from green tea, scented tea, black tea, Wulong tea and compressed tea. The Chinese abhor the use of milk and sugar and believe that tea should be consumed for its own taste.

What's with Garden-this and Garden-that?

A Chinese restaurant typically has the name ‘garden’ attached to it. Though it is not quite clear why that is done, one guess is that probably adding the word ‘garden’ to it gives an exclusivity and class to it. You can debate on that, but meanwhile it’s a ‘thumbs up’ for Chinese food!