Eating in China: What to Order, What to Skip

Food is the part of a China trip that people worry about before they arrive and talk about afterward. This is what to expect, what to order, and — because we are based in Jiangxi — what people here actually eat when no one is watching.

What is Chinese food actually like for foreign visitors?

More regional than most people expect. The food you get in Beijing is not the food you get in Chengdu or Guangzhou or Nanchang, and the differences are not subtle. A two-week trip can move through four or five distinct cuisines without repeating a dish.

The other thing visitors notice is how much of it is everyday food rather than restaurant food: breakfast stalls, noodle shops, night markets. Some of the best meals on a trip are the least formal ones.

Is the food safe?

Generally yes, if you use the same judgment you would anywhere.

For street food specifically, watch the stall rather than guessing at the food. A queue of local customers is the strongest signal available. High turnover means fresh batches. A stall with no customers and food sitting under a heat lamp is the one to skip.

Two things to be careful with: ice in drinks at small restaurants, and raw vegetables from street stalls. Both are usually prepared with tap water. Cooked food is the safer order.

How do I order when I cannot read the menu?

Pointing works, but preparation works better. Before you travel, save the names of a few dishes you want in Chinese characters, and tell your guide what you like and what you cannot eat.

On our trips the guide handles ordering, including the parts that are hard to convey in English — how spicy, whether there is pork, whether cooking wine is used. That is the practical value of having someone local at the table.

Is all Chinese food spicy?

No, though some regions are. Sichuan and Hunan food is genuinely hot, and Jiangxi food is hotter than many visitors expect. Cantonese food is mild, and much of eastern Chinese cooking is savory rather than spicy.

If you do not eat spicy food, say so. The useful phrase is not "not spicy" but "no chili at all" — a cook who is told "a little spicy" will still add some.

What should I order if I do not eat spicy food?

Reliable options across most of China:

• Steamed or pan-fried dumplings and buns
• Noodle soups, where you can ask for chili on the side
• Clay pot and braised dishes, which tend to be savory rather than hot
• Steamed fish, which is common and rarely spicy
• Congee, if you want something plain

The exception is Jiangxi, where chili is structural. We can still find you food there, but it takes more planning than in Shanghai.

What is Jiangxi cuisine, and how is it different?

Jiangxi food, or Gan cuisine, is one of China's regional cuisines that international visitors rarely encounter — and it is notably spicy, more so than Sichuan in some dishes, because the chili is used directly rather than numbed with peppercorn.

Its signatures:

• Stir-fried rice noodles and jar-braised soup — the everyday breakfast, described below.
• Lihao stir-fried with cured pork — a local wild vegetable with smoked pork, a Jiangxi classic.
• Crab-claw noodles — noodles served with crab, a Nanchang specialty.
• Braised chicken feet — soft, savory, and very local.
• Clay pot soups — slow-cooked in individual pots.

If you like the food, tell us and we will build a meal or two around it. If you do not eat chili, tell us that instead and we will route around it.

What do people in Nanchang eat for breakfast?

Mixed noodles with jar-braised soup. It is the standard local breakfast and the one thing you should eat in the city.

Mixed noodles are rice noodles tossed with seasoning, chili, pickles and sauce — cold or at room temperature, savory, and fast. The soup is braised for hours in a small clay jar, usually with pork, chicken or mushrooms, and it arrives very hot.

Locals eat it early, and it is cheap. It is also the sort of breakfast a hotel buffet will not give you.

Where do locals in Nanchang actually eat?

In the old streets rather than in malls:

• Wanshou Palace historic district — restored old streets with food throughout, and where you will find local sweets like sugar-coated fried rice cakes.
• Zhubao Street — a dense snack street next to Wanshou Palace.
• Shengjin Pagoda food street — night market stalls under the old pagoda.
• Dashiyuan — a morning street, known for the breakfast combination above.
• Hamajie — a late-night street with dozens of stalls.

One thing worth knowing: Nanchang's "shuizhu" is a local version of the choose-your-own-ingredients boiled skewers found across China, and locals order chicken feet, deep-fried chicken claws and lotus root balls in it. It is a late-night food, not a dinner.

Names and opening hours change, so ask whoever is with you what is good that week rather than chasing a specific address.

What should I eat in Jingdezhen?

Jingdezhen's food is distinct from Nanchang's, and a lot of it is breakfast and snack food.

• Cold noodles — thicker rice noodles with sesame oil and chili. The local breakfast, usually eaten with a jar-braised soup alongside.
• Fried dough wrapped around glutinous rice cake — a hot fried cruller wrapped around pounded sticky rice and rolled in sugar and sesame. Buy it on Fuzhou Lane.
• Jiaozi ba — a soft rice-flour wrapper around radish or chive filling, steamed and dipped in chili sauce.
• Lye-water rice cake stir-fried with egg — a Jingdezhen-only staple, chewy and savory.
• Beef bone noodles — braised beef bones with rice noodles.
• Clay-wrapped roast chicken — a whole chicken sealed in porcelain clay and roasted, opened at the table.

Where: Fuzhou Lane for snacks, Taoxichuan for the night market and creative district, Taoyangli by the imperial kiln for old-town streets, and Sanbao Village for a slower lunch.

The Taoxichuan creative market runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings only. If you go on a Monday expecting stalls, there will be none — this is the most common disappointment visitors report there.

What is the porcelain clay chicken, and is it a gimmick?

It is a real local dish and it is worth ordering once, with the caveat that it takes time to prepare. The chicken is sealed in clay and roasted, then cracked open at the table.

Order it when you have a group and an unhurried evening. It is not a quick lunch.

Are there foods visitors usually do not like?

Honestly, yes, and it is worth naming them.

• Very gelatinous textures — chicken feet, and some braised cartilage. Popular locally, divisive with visitors.
• Strong fermented flavors — including stinky tofu, which is a genuine acquired taste.
• Offal — common in Sichuan and Hunan, less so in the east.
• Unrelieved chili — in Jiangxi and Hunan, some dishes have no mild version.

We would rather tell you this in advance than watch you push a plate around. Nobody is obliged to finish anything.

Can you take us to eat where locals eat?

Yes, and in Jiangxi this is something we do regularly — the breakfast stalls, the small restaurants, the night streets that visitors do not find on their own.

Outside Jiangxi your guide does the same for their own city. That is the arrangement: food is not included in the trip price, but finding it and ordering it is very much part of what we do.

What about halal, vegetarian or allergies?

Tell us before you travel. Halal food is easy to find in cities with established Muslim communities — Xi'an's Muslim Quarter, Beijing's Niujie, Guangzhou around the Huaisheng Mosque — and harder in small cities, where advance planning matters more.

Vegetarian is workable but requires care, because broths and sauces often contain meat. Allergies should be written down in Chinese; showing a card is far more reliable than describing an allergy in English.

Should I tip in restaurants?

No. Tipping is not customary in Chinese restaurants or taxis and can cause confusion.

Tips for a private guide and driver over several days are appreciated and entirely discretionary.

What do I need to tell you before the trip?

What you want to eat, what you will not eat, and anything medical. Those three, and we will plan the meals around them rather than discovering the problem at the table. If you want a sense of how we build a week around food and sightseeing, our free seven-day China guide is a good place to start.