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My favorites are Hunan, Sichuan ("szechuan") and XinJiang foods.
Hunan - Hui Guo Rou is a personal favorite, a smoky pork dish from Hunan that reminds me of the real bacon we used to eat when I was a kid in the countryside of Iowa. Fortunately, it's so common you can eat it at most any "home cooking" Chinese
restaurant.
Sichuan - GongBao JiDing ("Kung Pao Chicken") really is a treat, especially if prepared authentically, in which case it tastes much better than the American version (tastes like it has lime juice, and is much hotter).
XinJiang - although some Chinese don't like to think of XinJiang food as "Chinese" (even while they maintain that XinJiang is part of China), many westerners like it because it's a lot like western food (no surprise, XinJiang's Huighers are China's caucasians). XinJiang cuisine is heavy on lamb, cumin, oninons, tomatoes, garlic, and nan (a kind of bread). My all-time favorite is a special pie ("rou nan") which a local XinJiang restaurant makes . It looks exactly like an American pinched-crust apple pie, but is filled with stewed lamb with green pepper and onions. Every westerner I have taken to this restaurant swoons over it. In fact, this dish was my Thanksgiving meal.
DaShi, if you wander up to Shanghai sometime, I'll take you there.
Almost forgot - my favorite snack (so many great ones) is ShengJian, something like GuoTie ("potstickers"). They are basically XiaoLongBao (sometimes called "Shanghai dumplings on western menus) that have been fried on the bottom. YUMMMM!
Hunan - Hui Guo Rou is a personal favorite, a smoky pork dish from Hunan that reminds me of the real bacon we used to eat when I was a kid in the countryside of Iowa. Fortunately, it's so common you can eat it at most any "home cooking" Chinese
restaurant.
Sichuan - GongBao JiDing ("Kung Pao Chicken") really is a treat, especially if prepared authentically, in which case it tastes much better than the American version (tastes like it has lime juice, and is much hotter).
XinJiang - although some Chinese don't like to think of XinJiang food as "Chinese" (even while they maintain that XinJiang is part of China), many westerners like it because it's a lot like western food (no surprise, XinJiang's Huighers are China's caucasians). XinJiang cuisine is heavy on lamb, cumin, oninons, tomatoes, garlic, and nan (a kind of bread). My all-time favorite is a special pie ("rou nan") which a local XinJiang restaurant makes . It looks exactly like an American pinched-crust apple pie, but is filled with stewed lamb with green pepper and onions. Every westerner I have taken to this restaurant swoons over it. In fact, this dish was my Thanksgiving meal.
DaShi, if you wander up to Shanghai sometime, I'll take you there.
Almost forgot - my favorite snack (so many great ones) is ShengJian, something like GuoTie ("potstickers"). They are basically XiaoLongBao (sometimes called "Shanghai dumplings on western menus) that have been fried on the bottom. YUMMMM!
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