China: Food & Restaurants| 2 min read

Starting at Northern China, the dishes have a lot of Inner Mongolian, Russian, Korean and Japanese influences. Needless to say the typical Chinese and southern Chinese flavors; Rice and noodles are usually the main staple of a meal. Meat dishes are readily available whilst the higher quality meats (Steaks…etc) are more costly and harder to find. If you find yourself quickly tiresome of Asian dishes, there are a lot of international restaurants serving more known dishes. Examples include Indian, American, Italian and French. For the more adventurous, one can try the fried insect varieties and even our other 0, 2, 4 legged friend dishes!

Moving down South of China, the dishes ironically get spicier with the weather. There are 4 provinces in China which are known for their HOT dishes and their HOT weather. Dishes include a lot of chili, hot pots and rice. Again many meat and vegetable varieties can be selected, however the further west you travel, the less westernized restaurants can be found. Along the East coast of China you can find a lot of the western restaurants.

Pricing-wise, meals and snacks in China are very affordable. Food like lamb skewers can begin at 1RMB, Bao Zi which is a large steamed bread normally containing meat can be bought for 1RMB-5RMB and Beef Noodle soups at 8RMB, to a large smorgasbord of food in an all you can eat Buffets for 200RMB; it depends on location and what you feel like. Finally the stereotypical “Chinese dishes” we usually have at home rarely exist if not exist at all in China, please keep an open mind when eating in China. Food is an important part of China, as it is something to satisfy your hunger and something that brings people together!