Just curious. Obviously not too hard to find Szechuan restaurants and dim sum/yue cuisine, but what about the harder to find ones like Zhejiang or Anhui? Anyone ever tried to do this? How would you go about finding places?

Hello! My fiancé and I recently travelled to Beijing, where her aunt took us to a Xi’an restaurant that served Gourd Chicken, or Huluji… basically an entire smoked, boiled and deep fried chicken that you tear off the bone and dip into chilli salt. It was the best thing we ate on our trip.

We are now back to our respective cities of London and New York, and can’t stop thinking about Huluji. The only problem is, we can’t find it served anywhere. Even London, which has a good selection of Xi’an restaurants, doesn’t seem to have it on the menu anywhere.

So my question is… has anyone had this dish outside of China? (In the UK or US preferably… but in general, I’m curious) or do we have to fly to Beijing or Xi’an to have it again?

I struggle to find the right "etiquette" around these dishes.

Are you meant to pick the items from the bowl with little or none of the broth (like with sichaun boiled beef/fish) or is the entire liquid meant to be eaten like a stew or soup?

I'm thinking about buying this chili oil to cook with, as my (17) parents like spicy food. Does anyone have any good recipes to use it with?

edit: this post was not made to get recommendations for “better” chili oils. Fly by jing what is available to me. I am asking for recipes, not opinions. Thank you.

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I bought this stuff recently and it tastes amazing but I’ve got no idea how to use it. It’s mostly chili powder but contains a bunch of different spices. Any suggestions?

Went with a 70/30 ish ratio of pork to shrimp and they came out phenomenal. Very happy with the result. Girlfriend said she'd never have guessed a white guy made them if she didn't know 😂.

Hi everyone,

I grew up with my grandma, and she used to make roasted dried squid for me all the time. She passed away years ago, and now that I live in the city, I don’t have access to charcoal like she used. So here’s a simple way to make it in the oven:

What you need:

• Dried squid
• For dipping: Japanese wasabi sauce + soy sauce, or Chinese spiced salt

How to make it:

1. Preheat your oven to 220°C (430°F).
2. Put the dried squid straight into the oven—no water, no rinsing! It needs to stay dry.
3. Roast for 3–5 minutes, keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.

When it’s done, you can enjoy it with either:

• Wasabi soy sauce for a bold kick, or
• Spiced salt for a more classic taste.

Super simple and so satisfying—let me know what you think if you try it

https://preview.redd.it/l57s6gxhhf3e1.jpg?width=1706&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=995f709f42586e310f0023d596382bdfc662083a

Do most Dongbei restaurants serve both Chinese and Korean food?

Hi all, Looking for the name of a traditional Chinese food that I ate years ago, when I was a middle schooler on an exchange program to Canada. I stayed with a very kind Chinese family, and it was lunar new year. For early morning breakfast, we ate these sweet chewy rice cakes. They were translucent in the middle, bouncy and had a somewhat crispy exterior from being what I assumed was lightly pan fried. We ate them with warm milk, and then would head to school together surrounded by literal feet of snow before the sun rose. It is a very fond memory of mine, and I would love to know the food's name, so I may perhaps recreate it. Thank you!

PS. Unsure if this helps narrow the food down, but while in Canada her family took me out to a dim sum restaurant. I remember endless plates of different and unique foods which I eagerly tried. If I recall correctly, they mentioned something about this being Shanghainese food; at the time, I made a mental note that such a distinction exists. It's entirely possible that the sweet chewy rice cakes are unrelated to this other food experience. It just came to my mind as I was wrapping up my thoughts. Thank you all in advance!

Typically includes eggs, fried wonton strips, cilantro, scallions, pickles, hoisin sauce, and chili sauce.

It’s a deep fried, sweet dough. It has nuts and sugar granules inside. It’s been years since I had it last.

I think they used to call them “birdies” or something phallic (translated from my shitty taishanese). I don’t read or write Chinese. I can only understand and speak very little. Any help is appreciated!!