Joanna James
Visitors to the vibrant Chinese city of Ningbo would find several must-try local dishes such as yellow croaker in cabbage, braised river eel, steamed turtle soup, fried lichen cubes and more. Here's more on what to add to your foodie tours in the city.
The yellow croaker in salted pickled cabbage happens to be a renowned Ningbo dish that would delight the food lover. To make this dish well, skill would be needed and the correct ingredients would also be essential. The main ingredients would be the yellow croaker, cabbage pickled in yellow wine and winter bamboo shoots, in addition to several sauces. When prepared correctly, this dish should be fresh, delicious, fragrant, visually appealing and nutritious.
Another well-known Ningbo culinary highlight would be the braised river eel. In fact, this dish inherits a long history as it has been enjoyed in this locality since times long past. Eels which are readily found in the local rivers and lakes are recognized for their tasty meat. To prepare this dish, the eels would first be steamed, after which the bones would be removed; the meat would then be braised within a special sauce that contains Shaoxing wine. The final result would be a tender and flavourful dish.
A rather distinctive and interesting Ningbo speciality would be fried lichen cubes which would capture the imagination of food lovers who appreciate unusual dishes. This tasty dish would be made with slices of fried pork belly in addition to slices of lichen seasoned in Shaoxing wine, sugar and preserved red bean curd. This dish would also have visual appeal with its attractive appearance. An accommodation choice to consider where you could enjoy authentic local foods at a Ningbo restaurant would be the appealingly located Pan Pacific Ningbo.
Jinhua ham would be another interesting food to savour during your visit to Ningbo. This dry-cured variety of ham would be made using the rear legs of breeds of Chinese pigs which feature abundant meat and comparatively fine skin. Several procedures would be needed to create this tough, salty ham; during its preparation, it would be salted as many as six times. Jinhua ham would often be used to flavour braised dishes, stews, broths and soups.
Many locals would argue that this would be one of Ningbo's foremost culinary creations. You would find different variations of this mouth-watering dish in the restaurants of Ningbo, with both salty and sweet varieties available. This culinary creation would also be noteworthy for its distinctive colour as it happens to be a deep yellow in hue. The method of cooking employed in preparing this dish makes the turtle meat tender, soft and full of flavour.
You would also have the chance to savour several interesting beverages during your visit to Ningbo and one of them would be the appealing Longjing tea. In fact, this tea would be counted amongst the finest and most-loved of the teas of China. When this variety is brewed, you can expect a gold-green liquid featuring an invigorating flavour as well as a distinctive aroma. Generally, it would be considered that the finest Longjing tea would be the leaves harvested in spring.
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