7 Delicious Chinese Street Food You Should Try Once

Eating your way around China’s bustling street food is the perfect way to explore its culinary scene. There’s an endless selection of options, which include crepes, dumplings, rice balls and even a burger. Here Culture Trip lists some of the best street food you’ll find in China.

# Jianbing (Chinese crepes)

Known as the Chinese crepes, jianbing is one of the most common street foods eaten for breakfast in China. It is easily accessible around street corners, outside of subway stations and tourist attractions. Though the types of jianbing vary by city, the main ingredients are generally the same. The dough is made of wheat and grain flour and fried on a griddle with egg as the base. Meanwhile, the centre is filled with scallions, lettuce, cilantro and rich chilli sauce.

# Jiaozi (Chinese dumplings)

Filled with vegetables and/or meat, jiaozi – or Chinese dumplings – are common street foods. They are shaped like ancient gold ingots, which were believed to bring you good luck. They are often shallow fried or deep fried and eaten with a dip of soy vinegar sauce for flavour. One bite releases a mouthful of hot, juicy broth that reaches every sense on the tongue, creating an explosive mixture of flavours. Jiaozis are eaten all throughout the year, but more so on Chinese New Year.

# Pai gu nian gao (Pork chop with rice cakes)

Pai gu nian gao is essentially a Chinese dish with pork chops and fried rice cakes. The pork chop is marinated and boiled with oil, sugar, sauce and ginger, while glutinous rice flour is ground into a paste, sliced into thin, small segments, wrapped around the pork chop and then fried. The cooking process results in a hot, slightly sticky, compact meal that conceals the juicy flavours of the pork chops as well as the sauce.

# Cifantuan or ci faan (Glutinous rice balls)

Cifantuan or ci faan are rice balls filled with various flavourful local ingredients. The most common types are the savoury kinds. These include aha cai (pickled vegetables), rousing (pork floss) and youtiao (long golden-brown strips of deep-fried dough). There are also the sweet variations, which consist of the same ingredients as the savoury ones, but with added sugar as well as sesame. Cifantuan are one of the most popular breakfast dishes along the streets of Nanyang Lu and Xikang Lu in Shanghai.

# Baozi (Chinese bread buns)

Baozi are dough buns often filled with juicy meat such as barbecued pork and/or vegetables, and steamed in steaming trays made of bamboo. They are prepared similarly to the way jiaozi dumplings are prepared – the only difference is that baozi consist of thicker dough, as well as a larger amount of filling. They often appear in two sizes: Dabao (“big buns”), which are the most common forms of baozi sold by street vendors, and Xiaobao (“small buns”).

# Huo guo (Hotpot)

Huo guo, more commonly known as hotpot, is a Sichuan specialty that has spread its influence throughout the country. Over time, many variations have developed in each region of China, using different meat as well as soup bases, sauces and condiments. The most famous of all huo guo is the Chongqing ma la hotpot, which adds Sichuan pepper to the boiling meat broth. It is known to leave a burning and spicy sensation on the tongue.

# Rou jia mo (Chinese burger)

Rou jia mo is a Chinese version of the American hamburger, except the buns are thinner and flavoured with meat gravy and chilli paste – rather than ketchup and mustard. The meat is shredded rather than forming a large, circular patty. Each vendor sells rou jia mo with his or her own special filling of spiced mix. The two most common types are Shaanxi Province’s lazhirous jiamo, which is made with pork in gravy, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region’s yangrou roujiamo, which is made with lamb.