辣子鸡 làzǐjī spicy chicken

Laziji is a dish of deep-fried small pieces of chicken. The chicken pieces typically have some bone or gristle in them. Chinese people enjoy eating gristle. The chicken is surrounded by a large amount of dried chilies.

回锅肉 huíguō ròu twice-cooked pork

Huiguorou is originally from Sichuan, but it's so popular you can order at almost any type of restaurant. It literally means "return-to-the-pot pork." It's pieces of pork belly, aka bacon, stir fried with chilies and spring onions.

水煮牛肉 shuǐzhǔ niúròu boiled beef

Shuizhu niurou is just like the fish dish below except with beef.

水煮鱼 shuǐzhǔyú boiled fish

Shuizhuyu is a huge bowl of pieces of fish sitting in boiling oil and dried chilies. It sounds gross, but it's actually really good. It makes me think that consuming oily things doesn't lead directly to getting fat, as Chinese people are some of the skinniest in the world. The fish will typically have bones in it unless you ask for a very un-bony fish. Chinese people have no problem eating around bones in fish or whatever meat. I've come to like meat with bones in it much more since I've been in China. I can no longer see what is appealing about a boneless, skinless chicken breast. Blech. Anyway, I'm not sure whether this dish is from Hunan or Sichuan. I've had it from both types of restaurants. The waiter will give you a slotted spoon so you can just eat the fish and not the oil.

番茄炒蛋 fānqié chǎodàn stir-fried tomato and egg

Fanqie chaodan is homestyle cooking. It doesn't even seem Chinese. It looks and tastes like scrambled eggs with tomato.

臭豆腐 chòudòufu stinky tofu

Stinky tofu is sold on the street, and when I got to Shanghai, I thought it was one of the worst smells I had ever smelled. It smells like acidic body odor. It took me about a year to work up the courage to actually eat some of it. It actually is not that bad, and now that I've eaten it, the smell no longer bothers me. It's not something that I crave, but I'll eat it if someone buys it. The smell comes from the fermentation of the tofu, which is then deep-fried and served with chili sauce or a nondescript brown sauce. When buying from a street vendor, they will typically ask you how stinky you want your tofu, to which you should reply, "Extra stinky!" Gag.

皮蛋豆腐 pídàn dòufu thousand-year-old-egg tofu

Pidan doufu is a cold dish made of tofu and garnished with a brown sauce, suan cai (Chinese pickled veggies), cilantro, and thousand-year-old-egg. These eggs are not actually that old. They are made by preserving the intact egg in clay for several weeks to several months. The eggs are an acquired taste; I didn't like them at first.

椒盐排条 jiāoyán páitiáo salt and pepper pork stips

Jiaoyan paitiao is a dish of pork strips seasoned with salt and pepper and deep fried. The pork is also usually cooked with onions and green bell peppers.

口水鸡 kǒushuǐ jī mouth-watering chicken

Koushui ji is a cold dish, so it is served at the beginning of the meal. It hails from Sichuan, I believe. It is one of my favorite Chinese dishes. Cold, yellow-skinned chicken is submerged in a spicy, oily sauce and garnished with peanuts and cilantro. Amazing!

生煎包 shēngjiān bāo pan-fried soup dumplings

Shengjian bao are the greatest food item to come out of Shanghai. They're just like xiaolong bao except bigger and a bit breadier. They're still soup dumplings but are pan-fried on the bottom. They're one of the most difficult things to eat with chopsticks without getting scalding-hot soup all over you. The way I eat them is to bite a small hole in one, pour the soup into a spoon, drink the soup, dunk the remaining dumpling in a sauce of vinegar and dried chili sauce, then try to eat that in 2 or 3 bites without making a fool of myself. I searched photos of them and my dear friend, Amanda's blog actually popped up, so photos are to her credit. The best ones in Shanghai are from a chain called 小扬生煎馆 xiǎoyáng shēngjiān guǎn, in Chinglish that's Yang' Sfry-Dumpling.

Great form, Lawrence!

Sip that soup!

炒面 chǎomiàn fried noodles

Chaomian is called chow mein in the U.S., where the dish is disgusting and dry. In China it is much more flavorful. I also get this dish from street vendors, who will ask you whether you want rice or noodles and then typically put the exact same meat, eggs, vegetables, and spices in both.

炒饭 chǎofàn fried rice

I never order fried rice at restaurants, but it's really good from Shanghai street vendors. A small town in China, Yangzhou, is particularly famous for its fried rice, which just seems to have a bunch of different vegetables and other ingredients in it. For ordering, it's just called yangzhou chaofan.

麻辣豆腐 málà dòufu numb and spicy tofu

Mala tofu or mapo tofu you can find in almost any Chinese restaurant. It's homestyle cooking, and you can even buy seasoning packets at regular grocery stores in the U.S. that just ask you to add tofu and ground pork. 麻 má means numb. It also means the sensation you get when your feet are asleep, or in British English - pins and needles. This spice I have never eaten outside of China, but I definitely craved it when I was in the states. The flavor comes from 花椒 huājiāo or flower pepper that comes from Sichuan. It is pictured below. It will make your whole mouth numb. This dish is fairly spicy. Mala tofu is also sometimes called 麻婆 mápó tofu. I cannot tell the difference between the two if there is one. Mapo means pock-marked, and supposedly comes from a pock-mark faced woman who used to serve the dish in Chengdu.

京酱肉丝 jīngjiàng ròusī shredded pork in sweet bean sauce

This dish is served like mushu pork. The pork is accompanied by shredded leek and gets wrapped in either a thin pancake or thin sheets of tofu.

酸辣土豆丝 suānlà tǔdòusī hot and sour potato strips

Before I came to China, I didn't think potatoes were in any Chinese dishes. The Chinese actually do potatoes quite well, as seen in this dish and disanxian, which both come from the North. 

红烧肉 hóngshāo ròu red-braised pork

Hongshao rou is known as Mao Zedong's favorite dish. Mao hails from Hunan, and you can tell you're in a Hunan restaurant if his photograph hangs from the wall. The cut of meat is pork belly, the same as bacon. If Americans cut bacon length-wise, the Chinese cut it width-wise, creating large cubes of fatty pork. Usually when foreigners encounter this dish, they eat around the fat, but the Chinese think it's the best part. Shanghai has adopted the dish but made it slightly sweeter.

鱼香肉丝 yúxiāng ròusī fish-fragrant pork

Same sauce as the eggplant dish, yuxiang qiezi.

鱼香茄子 yúxiāng qiézi fish-fragrant eggplant

This dish gets its name because it is cooked in a sauce in which fish is usually cooked. It has a sweet and sour flavor. It has pieces of pork in it, so it's not vegetarian.

兰州拉面 Lánzhōu lāmiàn Lanzhou pulled noodles

Lanzhou restaurants are good if you want to get a cheap meal of hand-pulled noodles. You can watch the chefs pull the noodles while you eat. You know the noodles are good if they're chewy. The New York Times just ran a good article on these noodles invading New York City.

四季豆 sìjìdòu green beans

I believe this dish is more specifically called 干煸四季豆 gānbiān sìjìdòu, which means something like dry stir-fried green beans. It is usually cooked with 酸菜 suāncài - pickled chinese cabbage, garlic and dried chilies. 

宫保鸡丁 gōngbǎo jīdīng kung pao chicken

Just like the American-Chinese dish, kung pao chicken.

香酥鸡 xiāngsūjī pressed chicken

A specialty of Dongbei. I have no idea how they really prepare it or smash it. I've read that the chicken is braised, and then fried to a crispy, golden brown. It's a favorite of mine.

火爆大头菜 huǒbào dàtóucài hot cabbage

This dish is really good unless the kitchen overcooks it. If you're ordering it at a Hunan restaurant, it will be called 黑盘白菜 hēipán báicài black plate cabbabe, and usually comes out on a sizzling griddle à la fajitas.

蛋挞 dàntǎ egg tart

Egg tarts are commonly seen at dim sum restaurants, but they are popular all over China. Even KFC sells them. They originally came from Portugal. When the Portuguese colonized Macau, a city in Guangdong that is akin to the Las Vegas of China, they brought their egg tart along with them. My feeling is the Portuguese one is better because it's sweeter. The Chinese are not big fans of dessert that is too sweet, so their egg tart is much more mild. Both egg tarts that are browned on the top and not browned are available.

地三鲜 dìsānxiān three flavors of the earth

Dìsānxiān literally means "earth three fresh," but I think it means the three flavors of the earth. It's a mixture of bell peppers, potatoes, and eggplant, and it is excellent!

饺子 jiǎozi dumplings

Originally, dumplings came from Dōngběi, but now they are widespread throughout China. It's lucky to eat them around Chinese New Year because they resemble the shape of yuánbǎo, which was China's currency during the Ming Dynasty. Eating them during Chinese New Year is supposed to bring prosperity and wealth. They are usually eaten with Zhenjiang vinegar, a dark brown vinegar, and sometimes chili sauce.

鍋包肉 guōbāoròu sweet and sour pork

Guō bāo ròu literally means "pot wrapped meat," but it tastes close to American-Chinese food's sweet and sour pork. 肉Ròu means meat. In China when you see the character 肉ròu by itself in a dish, it automatically means pork. Pork is the default meat in China, since it is so widely used in Chinese food. If the character 肉ròu is preceded by 鸡jī, it means chicken. If 肉ròu is preceded by 牛niú, it means beef. Pork can also be denoted by 猪肉zhūròu, literally "pig meat." 
Therefore, 鸡肉jīròu = chicken, 牛肉niúròu = beef, and 猪肉zhūròu or just 肉ròu = pork.

烘豆花生冰沙 hōngdòu huāshēng bīngshā red bean and peanut ice sand

Bīngshā comes with many different toppings. This one is the deluxe version: boiled peanuts, red bean, pineapple, mango, boba, mochi, and sweetened condensed milk. Below is a mountain of finely pureed ice. We got this one at a restaurant chain in Shanghai called Bellagio, but many restaurants have their own versions of this snow cone-like dessert.