Eat like a local.
What to eat. Where to eat. What to say. Wuhan doesn't eat breakfast, it 过早 — passes the morning.
Guozao 过早
Hot Dry Noodles热干面
Wuhan's morning ritual: springy alkaline noodles tossed in sesame paste, pickled radish and chili oil. No soup, eaten fast, often while walking.
Three-Fresh Doupi三鲜豆皮
A crisp mung-bean and egg crêpe folded over glutinous rice, mushrooms, pork and bamboo shoots, fried on a giant iron plate and cut into squares.
Mianwo Rice Doughnut面窝
A savoury rice-and-soy ring, crisp at the rim and thin in the middle, fried in a shallow iron ladle with a bump in the centre.
Fish Paste Rice Noodle Soup糊汤粉
Thin rice noodles in a thick, peppery soup made by simmering tiny wild fish for hours. Served with a fried dough stick to tear into it.
Xiangyang Beef Noodles襄阳牛肉面
Thick alkaline noodles in a fiery, oily beef broth with soybeans. Xiangyang people wash it down with a bowl of warm yellow rice wine at 7am.
Mains
Lotus Root & Pork Rib Soup排骨藕汤
Hubei's home-cooking soul: starchy Honghu lotus root simmered with pork ribs until the root turns powdery-soft and the broth goes faintly pink.
Steamed Wuchang Fish清蒸武昌鱼
A tender bream from Liangzi Lake, steamed whole with ham, mushroom and bamboo shoots. The fish Mao Zedong wrote a poem about.
Tujia Heza Tofu Stew张关合渣
Roughly ground soybeans simmered with greens into a rustic, savoury porridge-stew. The Tujia mountain dish that once got villages through famine years.
Jingzhou Fish Cake荆州鱼糕
Steamed fish paste cake with an egg-yolk top, sliced and served in a light sauce. A 2,000-year-old Chu dish: 'fish you eat without seeing fish'.
Snacks
Spicy Duck Neck鸭脖
Duck necks braised in a numbing-spicy brine of chilies, Sichuan pepper and dozens of spices. Wuhan's favourite late-night and train snack.
Enshi Griddled Potatoes恩施炕土豆
Small mountain potatoes pan-griddled until blistered, then tossed with chili, cumin, scallion and pickled greens. Enshi's best street food.
Seasonal
Qianjiang Braised Crayfish潜江油焖大虾
Big crayfish braised in oil, garlic and chili. From May to August the whole province eats them by the kilo with beer, gloves on.
Hongshan Purple Stem with Cured Pork洪山菜薹炒腊肉
A purple-stemmed winter brassica grown only around Hongshan in Wuchang, stir-fried with smoky cured pork. Sweet, crunchy and once a tribute vegetable to emperors.
Drinks
Egg Rice Wine蛋酒
Sweet fermented rice wine (米酒) poured over a whisked egg, served hot. Barely alcoholic, the classic partner to hot dry noodles.
Yichang Liangxia宜昌凉虾
Not shrimp at all: tiny rice-flour droplets shaped like shrimp, served ice-cold in brown-sugar water. Yichang's summer street drink.