Tianjin Dining

Plan Tianjin food culture tour? Tianjin Dining introduces Tianjin Food and Restaurants including Tianjin Cuisine, Restaurants in Tianjin, Tianjin Snacks, Tianjin Food Street, which can guide you what to eat in Tianjin, where to eat in Tianjin. Tianjin Dining is renowned at home and abroad, and not only its traditional snacks, but the local dishes. When you come to visit charTianjin, the traditional and famous snacks cannot be missed.

What to eat in Tianjin

Must-eat Tianjin Dishes

Jar Pork(坛子肉)

Tianjin's jar pork is famous for placing the pork in the ceramic jar. So far, it has two hundred years of history and is regarded as the most authentic Tianjin cuisine. The dish is very delicious. For people who like eating pork, they will love this dish. 

Tianjin Preserved Vegetable(天津冬菜)

A type of pickled Chinese cabbage similar to the salt pickled vegetable (腌菜) of Guizhou cuisine, but the former takes much longer to prepare than the latter, usually half a year. Another clear distinction between the two is that instead of having two separate steps of salt pickling and then fermentation, the salt pickling and fermentation is combined in a single step that takes longer time. The Chinese cabbage is mixed with salt and garlic together and then fermented, which creates the unique garlic flavor/taste and golden color. In order to preserve the unique taste, Tianjin preserved vegetable is often used for soups and fish dishes or stir-fried and eaten.

Eight Great Bowls(八大碗)

The Eight Great Bowls, a combination of eight mainly meat dishes are every popular with Tianjin citizens. They can be further classified into several varieties, including the "rough" and "smooth" types. The "rough" eight great bowls consist of fried shrimp, boiled chicken and seared carp. The "smooth" eight great bowls refer to such dishes as fish fillet, boiled shrimp and Sichuan shredded meat. The eight great bowls are often served at banquets.

Four Great Stews(四大扒)

Four Great Stews (四大扒) actually refers to a very large number of stews, not just four, including chicken, duck, seafood, beef, and mutton. When you come to Tianjin, you shall have a taste.

More about Tianjin Cuisine

Local Snacks in Tianjin

Tianjin's snacks are even more attractive and unique that its dishes. It's worth trying the fried dough twists, ear-hole fried cake, and Goubuli stuffed meat buns, thin pancakes, fried dough sticks, rice-flour cakes, and so on.

Chatang(茶汤)

Chatang is Tianjin's traditional snack. It is made of baked millet and glutinous millet flour. The soup is made by pouring boiling water into the mixed flour and then adding sugar or brown sugar. Traditionally, the water is boiled in a big copper pot whose spout is usually fashioned into a dragon's head. While making the soup, the skilled Chatang maker holds several bowls in one hand and pours the boiling water into them from a significant height.

Ear-hole Fried Cake(耳朵眼炸糕)

It derived its name from the narrow Ear-Hole Street in Tianjin's Beidaguan, where the shop selling it was located. This dish has a history of more than 80 years. It was introduced by a man named Liu Wanchun (刘万春), who peddled it on a single-wheel barrow from street to street. When his business prospered, he rented a room and opened Liu's Fried Cake Shop. Because the fried cake he made was of high quality, reasonable in price and had a special flavor, it soon became a popular snack. 

Goubuli baozi(狗不理包子)

"Goubuli" literally means "dog doesn't care". This snack was created in the late Qing dynasty by a man from Wuqing Country whose nickname was "Dog". At the age of 14, Dog left home and came to Tianjin, where he became an apprentice at a restaurant specializing in baozi. A diligent and honest young man, Dog eventually opened a shop of his own. As his baozi tasted better and had a unique flavor, they attracted an increasing number of customers. As time went by, his nickname became known far and wide. Later, people changed his nickname from "Dog" to "Dog doesn't care" because he was often too busy to speak to his customers. Today, with its main outlet located at Shandong Road, Heping District.

Guobacai(锅巴菜)

A snack of strong local flavor, Guobacai is a sort of pancake made of millet and mung bean flour. The pancake is sliced and cooked in the sauce made of sesame oil, chopped ginger, soy sauce, preserved beancurd and green onions. Guobacai is often served along with fried dough and sesame cakes.

Mahua(麻花)

Although plain in look, this queue-shaped fried dough is not easy to make. Each bar of dough is made with quality flour and then fried in peanut oil. The bars are usually stuffed with a variety of fillings, most often the waxy tasting sweet bean paste.

Tanghulu(糖葫芦)

It is customary in Tianjin to eat Tanghulu on the eve of the Lunar New Year. The most popular tanghulu is made of hawthorn berry. Hawthorn berries have their seeds removed and are skewered on a thin bamboo stick, then dipped in hot syrup. When they turn cool, the stringed berries wrapped in crystallized sugar look like beautiful stone beans pungently sweet and sour. Sometimes, the hollowed hawthorn berries are filled with red bean paste, walnut and melon seeds. Today, in addition to hawthorn, a wide variety of tanghulu has been developed, including water chestnut, tangerine, apple, pear and crab-apple, etc.

More about Snacks in Tianjin

Where to Eat in Tianjin

Tianjin Cuisine

• Guiyuan Restaurant(桂园餐厅)
  Add: No. 101-103 Chengdu Avenue, Heping District, Tianjin District(天津市和平区成都道101-103号)
  Tel: 022-23397530
• Yimin Restaurant(益民餐厅)
  Add: No. 120 Harbin Avenue, Heping District, Tianjin City(天津市和平区哈尔滨道120号)
  Tel: 022-27117218
• Tianjin Old Wharf(天津老码头)
  Add: Inside Wudaomen, Shuishang Gongyuan East Road, Nankai District, Tianjin City(天津市南开区水上公园东路五岛门内)
  Tel: 022-58950999
• Xiangzishen(巷子深)
  Add: No. 61 Siping Avenue, Heping District, Tianjin City(天津市和平区四平同道61号)
  Tel: 022-60350609

Jiangsu Cuisine and Zhejiang Cuisine

• Huazhu Restaurant(华竹食府)
  Add: No. 8 Guinan Avenue, Heping District, Tianjin City(天津市和平区睦南道8号)
  Tel: 022-23316538;022-23113283
• Grandma's Home(Nankai Joy City)(外婆家(南开大悦城店))
  Add: 4F of South Area of Tianjin Joy City, No. 2-6 Nanmenwai Street(天津市南开区南门外大街2-6号天津大悦城南区4F)
  Tel: 022-58100006
• Qiyuan Fengshang(乾园风尚)
  Add: No. 241 Xinhua Road, Heping District, Tianjin City(天津市和平区新华路241号)
  Tel: 022-23308746

Halal Food

• Xianglaishun Hui Restaurant(祥来顺回民饭馆)
  Add: the opposite of Beipaifang, Antique Market, Shenyang Avenue, Heping District, Tianjin City(天津市和平区沈阳道古董市场北牌坊对面)
  Tel: 13803037553
• Lideshun Xiaolao Restaurant(利德顺小老饭庄)
  Add: North 300 meters of the Junction of Xima Road and Xiguan Street, Nankai District, Tianjin City(天津市南开区西马路与西关大街交汇口向北300米)
  Tel: 022-27586640
• Hongqishun Restaurant(鸿起顺饭庄)
  Add: No. 20 Nanshi Food Street, Heping District, Tianjin City (天津市和平区南市食品街20号)
  Tel: 022-27266058
• Halal Huiweizhai(清真回味斋)
  Add: No. 15 of Floor 1, Area 2 of Nanshi Food Street, Heping District, Tianjin(天津和平区南市食品街二区一层15号)
  Tel: 022-27338898

Hot Pot in Tianjin

• Hai Di Lao(Nankai District)(海底捞(南开区))
  Add: Floor 3 of Renrenle Shopping Plaza, No. 78 Xihu Avenue, Nankai District, Tianjin City(天津市南开区西湖道78号人人乐购物广场3层)
  Tel: 022-85685886
• Lian Xing Cheng(连兴成)
  Add: No. 72 Binjiang Avenue, Heping District, Tianjin City(天津市和平区滨江道72号)
  Tel:  022-27118528
• Sanxing Instant Boiled Mutton(Rong'an Street) (三兴涮羊肉(荣安大街店))
  Add: No. 89 Rong'an Street, Heping District, Tianjin City(天津市和平区荣安大街89号)
  Tel:  022-3207615769

Famous Food Streets in Tianjin