Best Cities for Street Food in China: Where to Go and What to Eat

If you want to plan a China trip around street food, go to Xi'an first, then Chengdu, then Changsha. Xi'an has the densest snack streets in the country, Chengdu has the widest range of spicy small eats, and Changsha is the city that eats latest into the night. Chongqing, Guangzhou and the Fujian coast (Xiamen and Quanzhou) come next, each with a very different style. Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin are worth eating your way through if you are already there, but they are breakfast cities more than night-market cities.

This guide ranks the cities, names the street or block to head for in each one, and lists three to five things to order there, with the Chinese characters so you can point at them. It ends with how to pay at a stall, how to order without Chinese, and how to choose a stall that is safe to eat at.

The best cities in China for street food, ranked

This ranking is our judgement, based on how much good food you can find on foot in one evening, how varied it is, and how easy it is for a first-time visitor to get to.

1. Xi'an: the Muslim Quarter packs hundreds of snack shops into a few walkable streets near the Drum Tower. Wheat, lamb and beef, mostly halal, and almost nothing is very spicy.
2. Chengdu: the deepest menu of small spicy eats (noodles, dumplings, skewers, cold dishes), and a UNESCO City of Gastronomy since 2010.
3. Changsha: loud, late and very spicy, with stinky tofu as the city's best-known snack. The best city for eating after 10 pm.
4. Chongqing: the noodle-for-breakfast and hotpot-for-dinner city. Hotter than Chengdu, and built on steep hills, so expect stairs.
5. Guangzhou: mild, fresh, early. Rice-noodle rolls, congee and dim sum from morning on, and sweet desserts late at night.
6. Xiamen and Quanzhou: seafood snacks from the Fujian coast, such as oyster omelette and peanut soup. Quanzhou became China's newest UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2025.
7. Beijing: northern snacks and breakfast food. The famous dishes (Peking duck, hot-pot lamb) are sit-down meals, so street food is less important here.
8. Shanghai: some of the best breakfast street food in China, especially pan-fried buns and scallion pancakes, but no single food street and few night-food streets.
9. Tianjin: an easy day trip from Beijing for its crepes, steamed buns and fried dough twists.

Here is the same list as a quick comparison.

For what Chinese food is as a whole (the so-called eight great cuisines, north versus south, how a meal works), see our guide to Chinese cuisine by region. This page sticks to snacks and the streets that sell them.

A note on the "official" streets you will see below. In 2022 China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Development and Reform Commission named the first 54 national tourism and leisure blocks, and several of the best snack areas are on that list: Qianmen Street in Beijing, Taiping Street in Changsha, Yongqingfang in Guangzhou, Paifang Street in Chaozhou, Ciqikou in Chongqing, Jinli, Kuanzhai Xiangzi and Chunxi Road in Chengdu, Sanfang Qixiang in Fuzhou and Wudianshi in Quanzhou. The title is about the whole street as a place to visit, not a food award, and each shop sets its own opening hours. You can read the ministry's announcement of the first leisure blocks (in Chinese).

Xi'an: the Muslim Quarter and Yongxingfang

If you only have time for one street food city, make it Xi'an. The food is built on wheat and on lamb and beef, much of it cooked by the city's Hui Muslim community, so the flavours are rich and savoury rather than fiery. You can make a full dinner out of four or five stalls within a few hundred metres of each other.

Where to go

• Muslim Quarter (回民街, Huímín Jiē). It is not one street but a district of several streets, including Beiyuanmen, Xiyangshi and Dapiyuan, next to the Drum Tower, and it is an open neighbourhood with no ticket. The Beiyuanmen food street runs about half a kilometre north from the arch under the Drum Tower, and the quarter's main street had about 300 shops in a 2020 count, mostly run by Hui families, selling roujiamo, peanut brittle and paomo.
• Dapiyuan (大皮院) and Sajinqiao (洒金桥). These are the more local lanes around the main street: Dapiyuan has long-standing paomo shops and snacks like biangbiang noodles, soup dumplings and jinggao, and Sajinqiao mixes snack shops with tea-drink shops. Prices and crowds are usually gentler than on Beiyuanmen.
• Yongxingfang (永兴坊). A Shaanxi intangible-heritage food street just inside Zhongshan Gate on the east side of the old city wall, with more than a hundred vendors across eight zones, three of them named after Shaanxi's regions. It is tidier and more staged than the Muslim Quarter, and a good place to try snacks from the rest of Shaanxi in one go. Shops keep roughly daytime-to-evening hours; for current times, call its information line, +86 29 8745 7788.
• Datang Everbright City (大唐不夜城). A 2.1 km Tang-dynasty-themed pedestrian street below the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It is more light show than food street, but it is where many people go after dinner.

What to eat

• Roujiamo (肉夹馍, ròujiāmó): chopped stewed meat in a crisp flatbread. In the Muslim Quarter it is beef or lamb; outside it you will also find pork. Xi'an's own 2016 food standard gives its English name as "Rougamo".
• Lamb or beef paomo (羊肉泡馍 / 牛肉泡馍, yángròu / niúròu pàomó): you tear a dense flatbread into small pieces, hand the bowl back, and it returns in a rich meat soup. The local standard says the pieces should be about the size of a soybean, served with sweet pickled garlic and chili sauce on the side. Tongshengxiang's paomo-making craft has been on the national intangible cultural heritage list since 2008.
• Biangbiang noodles (biangbiang面, biángbiáng miàn): belt-wide hand-pulled noodles under chili flakes and a splash of hot oil.
• Soup dumplings (灌汤包, guàntāng bāo): Jia San's soup-dumpling craft is one of the three food skills from Xi'an on the national heritage list. Bite a small hole and drink the soup first.
• Jinggao (甑糕, zènggāo) and persimmon cakes (柿子饼, shìzi bǐng): a sticky rice and red-date cake cut from a huge pot, and a fried cake made with persimmon. Good for a sweet stop.

Most of the Muslim Quarter is halal, so you will not find pork on its main streets. Muslim travellers will find Xi'an one of the easiest cities in China; our halal food guide covers how to recognise a halal restaurant elsewhere. For sit-down places and more dishes, see the Xi'an food guide.

Chengdu: Jinli, Kuanzhai Xiangzi and the spicy small eats

Chengdu became China's first UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2010, and Sichuan cooking was added to the national intangible heritage list in 2021. For a street food visitor, what matters is that Chengdu has hundreds of xiǎochī (小吃, "small eats"): bowls of noodles, plates of dumplings and skewers that cost little and come fast. Most carry málà (麻辣), the mix of chili heat and the tingling, numbing feel of Sichuan pepper.

Where to go

• Jinli (锦里, Jǐnlǐ). An old-style lane right beside the Wuhou Shrine. Walking the street is free and needs no ticket; Jinli's official website suggests visiting between 8:00 and 22:30, shops trade from 9:00 to 22:00, and the street lights come on at 19:00 in summer and 18:00 in winter. The Wuhou Shrine museum next door is a separate, ticketed site. One exception: during the Chengdu Temple Fair at Spring Festival, Jinli becomes part of the fair and is ticketed with it. Go after the lights come on; that is when it looks best.
• Kuanzhai Xiangzi (宽窄巷子, "Wide and Narrow Alleys"). Three parallel lanes of courtyard houses, also on the national leisure block list. It is an open street, so you can walk it any time, but shops keep their own hours, so go in the afternoon or early evening if you want everything open.
• Chunxi Road (春熙路). The main shopping district, also on the list. The side streets around it are full of snack shops and are busy until late.

Jinli and Kuanzhai Xiangzi are aimed at visitors, so prices run higher than in an ordinary neighbourhood. Many of the best bowls in Chengdu come from small shops on residential streets, where you sit on a low stool and order from a menu board on the wall.

Times can change for festivals, so check the latest notice on the Jinli official site before a holiday visit.

What to eat

• Dan dan noodles (担担面, dàndàn miàn): a small bowl of noodles with minced pork, chili oil and Sichuan pepper. Mix well before eating.
• Zhong dumplings (钟水饺, Zhōng shuǐjiǎo): pork dumplings in a sweet, garlicky chili sauce. A good first dish if you are nervous about spice.
• Chuanchuan skewers (串串, chuànchuàn) and bobo chicken (钵钵鸡, bōbō jī): skewers cooked in spicy broth, or served cold in chili oil. You pick skewers yourself and pay by the stick count.
• Sweet water noodles (甜水面, tiánshuǐ miàn): thick, chewy noodles in a sweet soy and sesame sauce.
• San da pao (三大炮, sān dà pào): sticky rice balls thrown against a board so they bang, then rolled in soybean flour with brown sugar syrup. Jinli is a good place to watch it being made.

Sichuan "a little spicy" is hot by most visitors' standards. Ask for wēi là (微辣, mildly spicy) or bù là (不辣, not spicy). The numbing feeling from Sichuan pepper is normal and fades after a few minutes. Our Chengdu food guide goes further, including teahouses and hotpot. If you would rather learn to make these dishes than only eat them, a Sichuan cooking class or food walk can be booked through GetYourGuide.

Changsha: Taiping Street, Huogongdian and stinky tofu

The Hunan provincial government lists stinky tofu, tangyou baba, fish head with chopped chili and chili-fried pork among the dishes visitors to Hunan should try, and describes the local food as sour, spicy and strongly flavoured. Hunan heat is a dry, sharp chili heat, without the numbing pepper of Sichuan. Changsha also eats late: the streets are full well after dark.

Where to go

• Taiping Street (太平街). An old street of stone paving and shopfronts in the centre, and Changsha's entry on the national leisure block list. Start your snack walk here.
• Huogongdian (火宫殿). Originally a temple to the god of fire, built in 1747, it grew into one of China's best-known snack markets thanks to its yearly temple fair, and snacks such as stinky tofu and sister dumplings are still served there. Huogongdian's way of making stinky tofu was put on the national intangible heritage list in 2021. It is a sit-down restaurant with a snack menu, which makes it a calm place to try several things in one go.
• Pozi Street (坡子街). A short walk from Taiping Street, and where many visitors end up at night for snacks and drinks. It is busy and noisy in the evening.

What to eat

• Changsha stinky tofu (长沙臭豆腐, Chángshā chòu dòufu): black, deep-fried, pierced and filled with chili sauce. It smells strong, but it tastes savoury and much milder than it smells.
• Tangyou baba (糖油粑粑, táng yóu bābā): chewy glutinous-rice cakes fried in sugar syrup.
• Spicy crayfish (口味虾, kǒuwèi xiā): a summer night food, eaten with gloves at plastic tables.
• Sister dumplings (姐妹团子, jiěmèi tuánzi): soft glutinous-rice dumplings, one sweet and one savoury, a Huogongdian classic.
• Changsha rice noodles (长沙米粉, Chángshā mǐfěn): the local breakfast, in clear broth with a choice of toppings.

Changsha's night streets are loud and the menus are rarely in English, so a guided night food walk is an easy way to try a lot in one evening. You can compare Changsha food tours on Klook. See our Changsha guide for where to stay and what else to see.

Chongqing: noodles for breakfast, hotpot at night

Chongqing is a short high-speed train ride from Chengdu, but its food is hotter and more direct. Many locals eat chili noodles for breakfast and hotpot for dinner. It is a city of steep streets and stairways, so food streets here tend to run up and down the hill.

Where to go

• Ciqikou (磁器口). An old riverside town inside the city, on the national leisure block list. It is free and open around the clock, shops keep their own hours, and Metro Line 1 stops at Ciqikou station. The main lane is crowded at weekends; the side lanes are calmer.
• Shibati (十八梯, "Eighteen Steps"). A restored old stairway district in the city centre, free and open all day, with shops on their own hours, near Jiaochangkou station on Lines 1 and 2.

What to eat

• Chongqing xiaomian (重庆小面, Chóngqìng xiǎomiàn): the breakfast noodle, in a broth of chili oil, Sichuan pepper and crushed peanuts. Order èr liǎng (二两) for a normal portion.
• Hot and sour noodles (酸辣粉, suānlà fěn): slippery sweet-potato noodles in a sour, spicy broth.
• Chongqing hotpot (重庆火锅, Chóngqìng huǒguō): beef-fat broth full of chilies. Ask for a split "yuanyang" pot (鸳鸯锅, yuānyāng guō) with a mild side if you are not used to the heat.
• Ciqikou mahua (麻花, máhuā): crunchy twisted dough sticks, sold in flavours from sweet to spicy. Easy to carry home.
• Chongqing grilled fish (烤鱼, kǎoyú): a whole fish grilled, then simmered in a tray of chili and vegetables. A shared evening dish.

More on getting around and night views is in our Chongqing travel guide.

Guangzhou: Yongqingfang and a Cantonese breakfast

Cantonese food is about freshness and light seasoning, not chili. The Guangzhou city government names soup, tea, dim sum and late-night snacks as core parts of local eating. For a visitor, that means two good windows: breakfast and dim sum in the morning, and congee or sweet desserts late at night.

Where to go

• Yongqingfang (永庆坊). A restored block of old Xiguan houses in Liwan District, on the national leisure block list. The lanes around it, and nearby Shangxiajiu pedestrian street, are the classic area for old Guangzhou snacks.
• Any neighbourhood with a morning market. Rice-roll and congee shops open early and are often sold out of the best items by late morning.

What to eat

• Cheung fun (肠粉, chángfěn): silky steamed rice-noodle rolls filled with shrimp, beef or egg, with sweet soy sauce.
• Wonton noodles (云吞面, yúntūn miàn): thin egg noodles and shrimp wontons in clear broth.
• Beef offal (牛杂, niúzá): slow-braised tripe and radish, sold from steaming pots and eaten from a cup with a skewer.
• Double-skin milk (双皮奶, shuāng pí nǎi): a soft, sweet steamed milk pudding, eaten hot or cold.
• Shahe fen (沙河粉, Shāhé fěn): the wide, flat rice noodle used in stir-fried beef ho fun. Its traditional making in Guangzhou is on the national heritage list.

Our Guangzhou and Shenzhen guide covers getting there and the metro. If you are going on to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong food guide picks up where this leaves off.

Xiamen and Quanzhou: seafood snacks on the Fujian coast

Southern Fujian (Minnan) food is mild, soupy and full of seafood. The Xiamen city government lists ginger duck, oyster omelette, popiah spring rolls, peanut soup, sipunculid jelly, shacha noodles and vegetarian food from Nanputuo Temple as local flavours. Quanzhou, a short train ride away, shares most of these dishes and was named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2025.

Where to go in Xiamen

• Zhongshan Road (中山路). Xiamen's old shopping street, about 1.2 km long, lined with arcaded buildings and opening onto the sea. The side streets are packed with snack shops. The best-known place for peanut soup is Huangzehe on Zhongshan Road, where it is eaten with fried dough sticks.
• Shapowei (沙坡尾). A former boatyard harbour that the city now describes as a good place to look for food and small shops. Better in the late afternoon and evening.

Where to go in Quanzhou

Quanzhou's old town around West Street (西街) and Kaiyuan Temple is the place to eat; the food is in small family shops rather than in one food street. Wudianshi (五店市) in Jinjiang, south of the city, is the area's national leisure block.

What to eat

• Oyster omelette (海蛎煎, hǎilì jiān): small oysters fried in a sweet-potato starch batter with egg, with a sweet-chili sauce.
• Peanut soup (花生汤, huāshēng tāng): soft peanuts in a sweet, milky soup. A breakfast or late-night dish.
• Shacha noodles (沙茶面, shāchá miàn): noodles in a rich broth made with shacha, a mildly spicy sauce of sesame, garlic, peanut oil, shrimp paste and chili that came to Xiamen from Southeast Asia. You pick the toppings from a counter.
• Sipunculid jelly (土笋冻, tǔsǔn dòng): small sea worms boiled until the liquid sets into a jelly, served cold with vinegar and mustard. Locals love it; many visitors find the texture hard to get used to.
• Noodle paste (面线糊, miànxiàn hú): the Quanzhou breakfast, very fine noodles in a thick seafood broth, with add-ons like fried dough or braised pork.

Xiamen's restaurants also let you pick live seafood and have it cooked for you. Ask the price per jin (斤, half a kilo) before the kitchen starts. More in our Xiamen guide and Quanzhou guide.

Beijing: Qianmen, hutong breakfasts and old Beijing snacks

Beijing's best-known foods, Peking duck and copper-pot lamb, are sit-down meals. Its street food is northern and filling: wheat pancakes, skewers, offal stews and sweet snacks. The Beijing city government's own list of local flavours includes tanghulu (common on Wangfujing's snack street), chaogan, douzhi with jiaoquan rings and zhajiang noodles.

Where to go

• Qianmen Street (前门大街). The pedestrian street south of Tiananmen, on the national leisure block list. It is free and open all day, and the lanes to its west (around Dashilar) have old snack shops.
• Wangfujing (王府井). The main shopping street, also free and open all day. The snack lane off it is lively but aimed at tourists. Treat the scorpion and silkworm skewers you may see as a photo stop rather than a meal.
• Guijie (簋街, "Ghost Street"). A long strip of restaurants in Dongcheng known for spicy crayfish and late dinners. Many places stay open late, but check each restaurant's hours on a map app.
• Hutong breakfast stalls. The best jianbing and baozi are often from a window in a residential hutong at 7 or 8 in the morning.

What to eat

• Jianbing (煎饼, jiānbing): a thin crepe with egg, scallion, sauce and a crisp cracker, folded to eat on the go.
• Tanghulu (冰糖葫芦, bīngtáng húlu): hawthorn berries on a stick under a hard sugar coat.
• Chaogan (炒肝, chǎogān): a Beijing speciality snack. It is a thick stew of pork liver and intestine with garlic, usually eaten with small steamed buns.
• Lamb skewers (羊肉串, yángròu chuàn): grilled with cumin and chili, best in the evening.
• Douzhi with jiaoquan (豆汁儿 / 焦圈, dòuzhīr / jiāoquān): a sour fermented mung-bean drink with crisp fried rings. Many visitors dislike it; try a small cup first.

Duck, lamb hotpot and where to eat them are in our Beijing food guide.

Shanghai: neighbourhood breakfasts and soup dumplings

Shanghai is not a night-market city, but its breakfast is some of the best street food in China. Locals talk about the "four warriors" of breakfast (四大金刚): flatbread, fried dough sticks, sticky rice rolls and soy milk. There is no single food street to head for. The best breakfast shops are small open-front places on ordinary residential streets, busy between about 6 and 9 in the morning. To find one, walk a few blocks from a metro exit in a residential area and look for a queue and steam at a shopfront, or search for 生煎 (shengjian) or 早餐 (breakfast) in a map app and pick a place with many reviews. Nanjing Road and Tianzifang are open all day and free to walk, but they are shopping streets more than places to eat.

What to eat

• Shengjian buns (生煎包, shēngjiān bāo): pork buns fried until the bottoms are crisp, full of hot soup. Bite a small hole first.
• Xiaolongbao (小笼包, xiǎolóng bāo): steamed soup dumplings. The Nanxiang xiaolongbao craft has been on the national heritage list since 2014.
• Scallion pancake (葱油饼, cōngyóu bǐng): flaky, oily and fried to order.
• Sticky rice roll (粢饭团, cífàn tuán): glutinous rice wrapped around a fried dough stick, pickles and pork floss.

Our Shanghai food guide covers sit-down restaurants and how ordering works there.

Tianjin: an easy day trip for breakfast snacks

Tianjin is a short trip from Beijing by intercity train; the line opened in 2008 and put the two cities about half an hour apart. It has a strong breakfast culture and two snacks on the national heritage list: Goubuli steamed buns and Guifaxiang fried dough twists.

• Where to go: Ancient Culture Street (古文化街), an open pedestrian street in Nankai District that includes the Tianhou Temple, has snack and souvenir shops. For breakfast, any busy neighbourhood stall will do.
• Jianbing guozi (煎饼果子, jiānbing guǒzi): Tianjin's original version of the crepe, made with mung-bean batter and wrapped round a fried dough stick or cracker.
• Goubuli buns (狗不理包子, Gǒubùlǐ bāozi): pleated pork buns. Good, but expect tourist prices at the famous shop.
• Mahua (十八街麻花, Shíbā Jiē máhuā): large, crunchy fried dough twists, sold boxed to take home.
• Erduoyan fried cake (耳朵眼炸糕, ěrduoyǎn zhágāo): a fried glutinous-rice cake filled with sweet bean paste.

See our Tianjin guide for planning the day.

Other cities worth a food detour

• Liuzhou (柳州): home of luosifen (螺蛳粉), a sour, spicy river-snail rice noodle soup with a famous smell; its making is on the national heritage list along with Guilin rice noodles.
• Chaozhou (潮州): a UNESCO City of Gastronomy since 2023, with Paifang Street as its national leisure block. Known for beef balls, rice rolls and Chaozhou-style braised goose.
• Hangzhou (杭州): Qinghefang, the area of Hefang Street and the Southern Song Imperial Street at the foot of Wu Hill, is free and open all day, with many long-established shops.
• Fuzhou (福州): Sanfang Qixiang ("Three Lanes and Seven Alleys") is a national leisure block, and fish balls and wonton-like rouyan are the snacks to look for. See our Fuzhou guide.
• Macau (澳门): a UNESCO City of Gastronomy since 2017; try egg tarts and pork-chop buns.

How much street food costs and how to pay

Street food is cheap. As a rough guide, most single snacks cost from a few yuan to a few dozen yuan, and a grazing dinner across three or four stalls usually costs less than one restaurant main course in Europe or North America. Prices are higher inside the famous tourist blocks (Jinli, Wangfujing, the Muslim Quarter's main street) than a few streets away, and seafood or anything sold by weight can add up fast. Ask the price per portion or per jin before they cook.

Paying: set up a QR wallet before you go

Almost every stall takes payment by scanning a QR code, either through Alipay (支付宝) or WeChat Pay (微信支付). As a foreign visitor you can link your own card to either app:

• Alipay accepts UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners Club and Discover cards, according to the People's Bank of China's payment guide for visitors.
• WeChat Pay also accepts American Express, as well as UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners Club and Discover.
• With Alipay you register with your phone number, add your card, and enter your passport details before the first payment.
• WeChat Pay charges no fee on foreign-card payments of up to 200 yuan each and 3% above that, so check the latest terms in the app before a big purchase. Single snacks are well under that line.
• Some overseas e-wallets from countries such as Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore can scan Chinese payment codes directly through the Alipay+ network.

At a stall you usually scan the code printed on a card at the counter, type in the amount, and show the vendor the green or blue "paid" screen. At busier places the vendor scans a code on your phone instead. Step-by-step setup and fixes for failed payments are in our guide to using Alipay with foreign cards.

Cash and cards

Renminbi cash is legal tender, and businesses are not allowed to refuse it. In practice, small vendors may not have much change, so carry small notes (10s and 20s) as a backup for when your phone battery dies or a payment fails. Do not expect to tap a foreign credit card at a stall: as of a 2023 survey, card machines that accept foreign cards were mostly found in large hotels, big stores and airports, while small shops ran on QR codes.

How to order without Chinese, and how to pick a good stall

Ordering

Street food is the easiest food in China to order with no Chinese, because you can see it. Point at what is cooking, or at what the person in front of you is eating, and hold up fingers for how many. At skewer stalls you take the skewers you want and hand them over. For menus on the wall, point your phone's camera translator at the board; translation apps handle printed menus well. Keep this page open and show the Chinese characters of the dish you want. Spice is the one thing worth saying out loud: bù là (不辣, not spicy) or wēi là (微辣, a little spicy). Our guide to ordering food with zero Chinese covers QR-code ordering at sit-down shops, menu translation and dietary requests in detail.

Choosing a stall

• Go where the queue is local. A line of local people means fast turnover and fresh food.
• Choose food cooked in front of you. Things fried, grilled or boiled to order at high heat are the safest bet.
• Be more careful with cold dishes, cut fruit and seafood that have been sitting out, especially in summer.
• Look at the oil. Dark, smoky oil that has clearly been used for a long time is a reason to walk on.
• Look for the hygiene rating at shops. Licensed restaurants display a food-safety rating board at the door or in the dining room: a smiling face means a good result at the latest inspection and a letter A is the best yearly grade. The exact design differs from city to city; Shanghai's boards, for example, use a smiling, straight or crying face. Open-air stalls often have no board, so the other signs above matter more.
• Pace yourself. If your stomach is not used to chili and oil, start with milder dishes and do not order everything at the first stall.

Allergies are hard to manage at stalls, because oil, sauces and woks are shared and there is no ingredient list. Our food safety and dietary guide covers allergy cards, tap water and what to do if you get sick.

Summary

For a street food trip, put Xi'an first, Chengdu second and Changsha third. Add Chongqing for heat, Guangzhou for breakfast and dim sum, and Xiamen or Quanzhou for seafood snacks. In Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, eat breakfast on the street and dinner at a restaurant. Before you fly, link a card to Alipay or WeChat Pay and carry a few small notes. At the stall, point, say how spicy you want it, and pick the busy place that cooks to order. Then use our city food guides for Xi'an, Chengdu, Beijing and Shanghai to plan the sit-down meals.

Last updated: October 2026