Yangzhou Local Cuisine
Local cuisine is one of the main reasons many Chinese travelers make the journey to Yangzhou. There are an incredible amount of restaurants throughout the city, most of which boast very reasonable prices as well. Weiyang (also known as Huaiyang) Cuisine, the Yangzhou style, is well known throughout China, as Yangzhou Fried Rice is one of the most famous local exports.
Some of China’s most creative and eye catching dishes come from the Yangzhou school of cuisine called Huaiyang (also commonly known as the Weiyang school). Along with the Sichuan (Chuan Cai 川菜), Cantonese (Yue Cai 粤菜), and Shandong (Lu Cai 鲁菜) cooking schools, Huaiyang cuisine (淮扬菜) is a distinctive and masterful skill that locals are certainly quite proud of.
Two of the best places to try authentic Huaiyang cuisine are at Ye Chun and Fu Chun restaurants, which are both set in tasteful locations. Otherwise Yangzhou is packed with restaurants that serve Huaiyang cuisine. In fact, sometimes it’s hard to find anything else!
Far and away the most famous creation of Huaiyang cuisine is Yangzhou Fried Rice (扬州炒饭), which will not surprise many as simply being... fried rice. Huaiyang cuisine tends to have a sweet side to it and, in contrast to that of Sichuan cuisine, is almost never spicy. Pork, fresh water fish, and other aquatic creatures serve as the meat base to most dishes, which are usually more meticulous and light compared to the more “brash” eating styles of northern China. Presentation seems to come before taste as foods are often carefully shaped like flowers, birds, or Chinese figures.
Huaiyang cuisine also includes a smattering of breakfast choices such as crab soup dumplings (蟹黄汤包, xie huang tangbao), thousand layer cake (千层糕, qian ceng gao), steamed dumplings (蒸饺, zheng jiao), tofu noodles (大煮干丝, da zhu gan si), and wild vegetable steamed buns (野菜包子, yecai baozi).
Other standard Yangzhou dishes include:
皮蛋瘦肉粥 Duck Egg and Pork Porridge (pi dan shou rou zhou)
酸菜鱼 Sour Vegetable Fish Pot (suan cai yu)
鲜肉锅贴 Pot Stickers (guo tie)
虾子饺面 Pork and Shrimp Dumpling Noodles (xiazi jiaomian)
狮子头 Giant “lion’s head” Meatball (shizi tou)
翡翠烧卖 Steamed Pork Rice Wraps (shao mai)
扬州炒饭 Yangzhou Fried Rice (yangzhou chaofan)
东坡肉 Dong Po Pork (dong po rou)
厚皮香猪 Sliced Fatty Pork Slices (hou pi xiang zhu)
