Wang Yuanyuan

    cheekywang@hotmail.com

    “A BITE of China,” a food documentary broadcast in an oddly positioned late-night slot on China Central Television, has recently whet appetites across China’s social media sphere and many local delicacies have swept the country.

    Although Shenzhen does not have its own distinct cuisine, as a city of migrants, it has cuisines from just about every region of China.

    One of the best-known restaurants in the city is Shunde Double-layer Milk Shop. It has several branch stores in Futian and Luohu districts, offering double-layer milk of various flavors.

    Other traditional snacks in Shunde, Guangdong Province, including fried milk, steamed Chencun Village rice noodles and fish skin dumplings, are all recommended.

    Traditional Cantonese noodle shops are everywhere in Guangzhou, but are rare in Shenzhen.

    However, there is one tiny fast-food restaurant in Nanshan District whose business is thriving. Located next to Rainbow Department Store in Nanxin area, the small restaurant, which is called Haohaowei Noodle Restaurant, may have the best small pork wonton in the city.

    Traditional Cantonese-style wonton is hard to find nowadays as it has been replaced by big wonton full of meat or shrimp. The restaurant is frequented by many young Cantonese who come to seek a taste of their childhood.

    Besides wonton, it also offers traditional Cantonese alkaline-water noodles, stewed beef and beef haslet. The restaurant is very cheap with dishes costing an average of 10 yuan (US$1.57).

    If you want to try noodles from northwest China where noodles have a stronger taste, Qishan Minced Noodles, a small fast-food chain, is one of the best places to go. It offers noodles of various kinds in various tastes, from noodles as thin as hair to noodles as wide as a bowl.

    Speaking of snacks, Wuhan in Hubei Province has some of the most distinct cuisine in China. Its various breakfast snacks are particularly well-known.

    In Shenzhen, these snacks are no longer just a breakfast but a much-needed taste of home for many natives of Hubei. Wuhan Famous Snack Shop in Futian District has a lot of customers from Hubei.

    Nearly all kinds of popular snacks in Wuhan can be found here at prices ranging from two to 10 yuan.

    Hot noodles with sesame paste, fried cake, doupi (a fried cake with glutinous rice, tofu, meat and beans), glutinous rice wine soup, fried glutinous rice balls, lotus root with pork and meatballs with glutinous rice are all recommended.

    The small restaurant in Huaqiangbei also has traditional Hubei dishes. Hubei is famous for its lotus roots, which taste different from roots in other parts of China, and all the lotus roots at the restaurant are transported from the province. Recommended dishes include lotus root soup and fried lotus stems.

    There is another tiny restaurant in Huaqiangbei that you should not miss. With only four small tables, the restaurant is full all the time because of its Cantonese-style roast goose.

    Costing about 30 yuan, the restaurant’s traditional goose is much cheaper than in other Cantonese restaurants in the city.

    Sichuan Province is known for spicy food. Niuwang Temple Noodle Restaurant can give you an authentic taste of the province.

    Noodles with beef mince or pork mince are its most popular dishes, and are very different from those found in northwestern China, which is primarily associated with the dish.