Chinese Cuisine

Cantonese  The fresh, natural flavors of Cantonese cuisine are designed to tantalize the taste buds. Cantonese is the best-known style of Chinese cooking worldwide. Ingredients are purchased and prepared the same day and cooked just before serving, using few spicy seasonings. In many seafood restaurants, diners can choose fish from the tanks in which they are swimming. The price of the seafood is determined on a "pay by tael" basis. A tael is a Chinese unit of measurement, approximately equal to 1.2 ounces. Dried seafoods such as shark's fin, abalone and conpoy, are often served. Enjoy an old Cantonese custom, dim sum, which is inextricably linked to the Chinese tradition of yum cha or "drinking tea". Dim sum(literally "to touch the heart") are special Cantonese snacks chosen from steaming bamboo baskets of delectable dishes paraded past on trolleys. Hong Kong boasts the best international dim sum chefs, who prepare mouth-watering delicacies such as steamed pork spareribs, steamed buns with roast pork and har gao, shrimp dumplings with a translucent skin. There are usually three to four pieces per order, with each dish, plate or steamer basket having a different price. When getting your teacup filled, it is Chinese custom to tap your fingers on the table near your cup twice as a sign of reverence and thanks. Another style of Cantonese dining can be found at outdoor cooked-food stalls. These aromatic eating-places serve some of the best - but very simple - seafood, noodle and rice dishes - typically in an alfresco atmosphere.

Szechuan & Hunan

The fiery flavors of Szechuan and Hunan are renowned for their intensity.

Landlocked Hunan's chilli-rich cuisine is similar to that of western China's Szechuan province. Chilli, garlic and the unusual "strange sauce" enliven many dishes. Mustard sauce complements duck's tongues, and minced bean paste forms a pungent and powdery coating for fish or scallops. Honey sauces are favored for desserts such as water chestnut or cassia-flower cakes. Hunan's range of soups includes noodles in soup, mashed pigeon in consomme and a salty, thin version of the West's pea soup. Although rice is Hunan's staple, northern-style bean-curd "bread" rolls or dumplings and savory buns are also popular.

Bursting with flavor, Szechuan food includes some of the spiciest dishes in China, so check the chilli content on the menu. The zest of dishes is flavored with star anise, fennel seed, chilli, coriander ("Chinese parsley") and other spices. Chillied bean paste, peppercorns and garlic are also widely used. Chicken, pork, river fish and shellfish are popular ingredients, and noodles or steamed bread are preferred to rice.

Not all Szechuan cuisine is spicy. Common cooking methods include smoking and simmering, which allow peppers and aromatic seasonings time to infuse food with unforgettable tastes and aromas. Traditional dishes include crispy beef, deep fried with tangy kumquat peel, and duck, the premier Szechuan specialty. The duck is flavored with peppercorns, ginger, cinnamon, orange peel and coriander, marinated in Chinese wine for 24 hours, steamed for two hours, then smoked over a charcoal fire with camphor-wood chips and red tea leaves added.

Chiu Chow

Tantalizing taste sensations and refined poultry dishes are the hallmark of Chiu Chow cuisine.

The Chiu Chow flavours originated around the Swatow district of eastern Guangdong province and are now among the most popular in Hong Kong. Piquant sauces often enhance dishes, with tangerine jam for steamed lobsters and broad-bean paste for fish. Duck and goose are Chiu Chow favorites. Spicy goose is served with garlic and vinegar sauce.Many Chiu Chow classic dishes are light and tasty, with an abundant use of vegetables. Chiu Chow chefs are skilled vegetable carvers, creating fine flowers, birds, dragons and phoenixes from carrots and ginger. The region's deluxe delicacies include shark's fin and bird's nest soups. The pungent Tiet Kwun Yum oolong tea served in tiny cups before and after a meal is a digestive aid. Shanghainese Experience the sensationally rich, sweet flavors of Shanghainese cuisine. Shanghai does not have a definitive cuisine of its own, but refines those of the surrounding provinces. Its flavours are heavier and oilier than Cantonese cuisine, featuring preserved vegetables, pickles and salted meats. Lime-and-ginger-flavoured "1,000-year-old" eggs are perhaps Shanghai's best-known culinary creation. Beggar's Chicken is a legendary dish wrapped in lotus leaves, covered in clay and oven-fired to steamy, tasty perfection - in olden times, it was baked in the ground. Other popular dishes include hairy crab, "eight treasure" duck, "drunken" chicken, braised eel and yellow fish. Dumplings, breads and noodles are served more often than rice. Peking (Beijing) Originated in the Imperial courts, Peking's stylistic dishes are fit for an emperor. This mouth-watering cuisine is renowned for its use of the best ingredients. Its flavors are influenced by highly flavored roots and vegetables such as peppers, garlic, ginger, leek and coriander ("Chinese parsley"). The food of this northerly city is substantial, to keep the body warm. Noodles, dumplings, and breads (baked, steamed or fried) are served instead of rice. The most famous dish, Peking duck, is usually prepared for a minimum of six people. To achieve the prized crisp skin, the duck is air-dried, then coated with a mixture of syrup and soy sauce before roasting. The skin is deftly carved at the table and the slivers of skin are wrapped in thin pancakes with spring onions or leeks, cucumber, turnip and delicious plum sauce. Popular, too, are "sizzling" plates of seafood or meat, and succulent beggar's chicken. A whole chicken is stuffed with mushrooms, pickled Chinese cabbage, herbs and onions, wrapped in lotus leaves, sealed in clay and cooked slowly. Usually, the guest of honour breaks open the clay with a mallet, allowing a fragrant aroma to escape and revealing a chicken so tender that it can be pulled apart with chopsticks.