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.

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. 

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. 

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!

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.