A Guide to Ordering Dishes Based on Chinese Street Food

Posted on: 14 October 2019

If you are planning to visit a restaurant which specialises in dishes based on traditional Chinese street food, you may be wondering about the types of food you will find on the menu. Below is a guide which will help you to prepare for your visit. Read on to find out everything you need to know about Chinese street food.

Malatang soup

Malatang is a spicy soup which originates from Sichuan Province. This dish takes its name from a key flavouring, mala sauce, which when combined with chilli flakes creates quite a kick. These ingredients are used to create a broth. You should be able to choose from a range of ingredients on the Malatang menu which can be added to the broth to create a tasty soup. Popular ingredients include chunks of pork or beef, veggies such as broccoli, spinach or lettuce and slices of potato.

Dumplings

Dumplings (jiaozi) are a super popular choice on the streets of China. These dumplings, which are fried in oil, are typically filled with a mixture of meat and vegetables. When ordering in a restaurant, you should be able to pick your own filling as the dumplings will be freshly prepared for you in the kitchen. Served hot, each bite of jiaozi releases a tasty mixture of meat, vegetables and broth as your teeth break through the light dough casing of each dumpling.

Chinese hamburger

The Chinese hamburger (Rou Jia Mo) is a dish which adds an interesting twist to the traditional hamburger. The bread buns used to serve this dish are much thinner than those used in the West, and instead of mustard or ketchup, chilli paste and gravy are used to season the meat. Another difference is that the beef, pork or lamb meat of the burger is served shredded rather than minced and pressed into a patty.

Donkey meat 

While eating donkey may not seem like the most appetising idea, it is important to take a moment to consider why this dish is a delicacy in China. In the same way that countries in the West eat goat and horse meat, the Chinese serve donkey. Because donkey meat could be quite chewy, it is shredded into fine strands before being added to a stew with different sauces and spices. The meat is then placed between two sections and bread and served as a delicious sandwich.

If you are interested in finding out more, contact a local street food restaurant today.

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