Jinan Cuisine
Being a political, economical and cultural center of Shandong Province, Jinan is equally with a time-honored food culture. Jinan food is celebrated for its faint scent, fresh and tender taste and pure flavor. One dish with one flavor, not two dishes have the same taste, and using soup-stock as an important condiment are the main features of Jinan food.
Featured local snacks in Jinan are Tian Mo (millet porridge boiled with peanuts, cowpeas, small red beans, vermicelli, thin sheets of bean curd, spinach, and seasonings like ground pepper, ginger and green onion), You Xuan, thin pancake made of millet flour, steamed stuffed bun, fried dumpling, lamb soup, baked sweet potato, barbecue, Mai-mai Tea (Buy-sell Tea), and so forth.
Great Cat-tail cooked in milk soup (奶汤蒲菜)
The great cat-tail from Daming Lake of Jinan is fresh and tender; boiled in nutritional milk soup, the Great Cat-tail is crowned as the No.1 soup dish of Jinan.
Sweet and Sour Carps from Yellow River (糖醋黄河鲤鱼)
Jinan is a city seated in the downstream of the Yellow River, the carps from which are quite delicacy with rich nutrition. Cooked with unique local method, the Sweet and Sour Carps is the first dish should be mentioned when speaking of Shandong Cuisine.
Recommended food streets in Jinan:
- Jinan Food Street, nearby the city’s Sports Center and with dozens of flavored snack bars, gathers thousands of famous snacks and dishes from Jinan as well as from all parts of the country.
- Barbecue Street. Barbecue stalls can be found in all Jinan’s big streets and small alleys, but the barbecue street located just behind the Spouting Spring is the largest and the most famous. It features Muslim styles and provides no pork.
- On Quancheng Road, there is also a Western-style food Street.
Recommended restaurants of Jinan:
- Quancheng Da Bao (泉城大包) for steamed buns, located in No.2 South Gate Street.
- Meng Family’s Ba Ti (孟家扒蹄) for pig’s legs, pork ribs and minced steak. The time-honored restaurant is located in No.28 Chaoyang Road, and operated from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 16:00 to 18:00.
- Ming Shi Duo Roast Whole Lamb Restaurant (名士多烤全羊), is one of the "Top 10 Famous Food of Jinan" which got its reputation since late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The address is No.26 Jing San Wei Jiu Road.
- Huang Family’s Roast Pork (黄家烤肉). Sauced with special made ingredients, the a little salty lean meat and streaky pork are roasted by fruit tree’s branches.
- Tian Tian Fried Chicken (天天炸鸡), in the east of the Tianqiao Hospital, also a "Top 10 Famous Food of Jinan", is popular with many foreign students for its special flavor.
