Zhangjiajie Self-Guided Travel Guide Part 3: What to Eat in Zhangjiajie
1. Eating in Zhangjiajie: Downtown Zhangjiajie has plenty of good food, and it's spicy! Spiciness is a hallmark of Hunan cuisine, and Tujia dishes are no exception. Beyond heat, the Tujia people are especially fond of smoked, sour, and pickled foods with a distinctive flavor—definitely worth a try. The first recommendation is Zhangjiajie's signature dish, Sanxiaguo ("Three Down the Pot"), which is essentially...
This article is compiled from the original travel notes on the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com); it is a record of trips from earlier years. Time-sensitive information such as ticket prices, schedules, and accommodation prices is subject to the latest announcements from scenic areas and transportation authorities; the itinerary ideas and attraction introductions still have reference value.
1. Eating in Zhangjiajie:
In Zhangjiajie's city area, there is a lot of good food. Spicy! is a characteristic of Hunan cuisine, and Tujia cuisine is no exception. Besides spicy, Tujia people also particularly love cured, sour, and pickled foods, with unique flavors that I suggest you try. The first recommendation is Zhangjiajie's signature dish-----
"Sanxiaguo" (Three Ingredients in a Pot). The so-called Sanxiaguo is actually a convenient dry pot, made from three main ingredients, a hot pot stewed without soup. "Master Hu's Sanxiaguo" is very representative, at 15 yuan per portion, the portion is very generous, guaranteed to fill you up and satisfy you! I recommend the dry-fried intestines, dry-fried walnut meat, and Xiangxi cured meat stewed together. While eating, you can also order a portion of pickled radish, both crispy and sour. It's truly superb!
(Address: Fengwan Bridge, next to Jindu Hotel)
"Heizhugou Wild Mushrooms", fresh varieties of mushrooms will dazzle you.
(Address: Fengwan Bridge, opposite Leighton Hotel)
"Zhangjiajie Straw Hat Noodles". The name comes from the owner who wears a straw hat year-round selling noodles. The sauce is very fragrant and can be added. The noodles are processed by himself, said to be entirely handmade. The owner is quite eccentric, selling only a little each day. It used to be even more eccentric—only available at 9 PM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. If you want to eat his straw hat noodles, you actually have to call him to ask if he's in a good mood and whether he'll come out to sell noodles? Only by making a reservation will you not come up empty. But because of this mystery, his noodles have a mythical quality. At the alley entrance opposite the east gate of the Department Store at the bus station, a flatbed cart with a straw hat hanging on it—that's the place. However, it's gone by around 1 PM each day. If you want to eat, hehe, you'd better go early! Whether you can eat it depends on your luck!
(Address: at an alley entrance on the road from McDonald's to the bus station, the 2nd shop opposite Qifeng Market)
"Old Wu Fish Head", a place specializing in fish head hot pot. It's a very small shop with an old-fashioned interior. The menu only has fish head hot pot; at most you can add some vegetables to cook in the pot, no other dishes. Before long, the waiter brings a huge pot. A big pot of creamy yellow thick soup, where you can vaguely see tender white fish meat, topped with a generous handful of cilantro, like the lush green of Orange Isle at the head of the rolling Xiang River. Scoop a mouthful of fish soup, blow on a spoonful, wait for it to cool slightly, hold it in your mouth, and savor it carefully. Delicious. Then quickly pick up the tender meat by the fish head gills, put it in your mouth—sour, numbing, spicy—and blurt out: delicious.
After eating the fish head, you can also ask the shop for noodles to cook in the soup, gathering the essence of the fish soup, even more delicious.
(Address: Sanjiaoping, the new shop is still under renovation)
"Yanboduo Live Fish Restaurant", a place specializing in fish, usually mandarin fish and yellow catfish. The fish is prepared in a very distinctive way, and both the soup and fish are very fresh!!
(Address: Jinhaian, diagonally opposite Yichen Huatian Hotel)
"Big Mouth", a place for hot and sour noodles, and the Taiwan ice dessert shop opposite it—both do very brisk business.
(Address: between KFC and Pretty Baby)
"Night Market" has grilled lamb skewers opposite Guanghe, real lamb, 1 yuan per skewer, and pork too. (Some other places just brush a layer of lamb fat on pork), the taste is really quite good. Only the owner isn't very good at talking!! Zhangjiajie has night markets in many places. The place for eating lobster is in Guanliping, the shop is called (Xiang Gala)
"Old Wang Mutton", the most famous place in Zhangjiajie for eating mutton. The specialties are mutton, mutton offal, and mutton trotter hot pot, and the individual stir-fries are also very good!!
(Address: from Sanjiaoping gas station, turn left at the second intersection)
"Yinmandou", a hot pot restaurant with very high value for money, most famous for its pickled cabbage beef, and the stir-fried pork is outstanding. Recently the craftsmanship has been declining.
(Address: in the alley opposite Zhangjiajie Aviation School)
"Xiangli Renjia", a place specializing in Hunan cuisine. It was recently renovated. The chicken pot and duck soup taste superb, and the cured meat is also good.
(Address: left side of the bus station entrance)
'Bami Bridge' has a very distinctive name, and the taste is still good. This place requires a special taxi trip, within 15, negotiate the price yourself, and you can ask the driver to pick you up for the return trip. There's wild boar, bamboo rat, muntjac meat, cured meat, etc. I recommend local specialty dishes: huangzi meat, also known as pressed meat, and Miao sour meat.
(Address: by Bami Bridge on the road from Nanzhuangping to Fenghuang)
In addition, within the Zhangjiajie scenic area you can eat sweet and delicious corn on the cob and wild kiwi fruit that are hard to find in big cities.
If you want to taste authentic smoked bacon, you really have to eat it within the Zhangjiajie scenic area. In the small restaurants run by locals in the scenic area, you can eat fragrant bacon that has been roasted black by charcoal fire; you just need to wash off the outer layer. This kind of bacon cannot be eaten in the city—it is slowly roasted on the farmhouse stove.
If you want to chat or taste Tujia cuisine, you can also go to the night market next to the commercial building, pick a place with lots of people, order a few skewers and some vegetarian dishes. Outside the breeze is chilly, inside it's steaming hot—a unique flavor!
Zhangjiajie's local specialties are especially famous for kiwi fruit, Qingyan Mingcui tea, lobster flower tea, pine mushrooms, and more, all with their original fresh flavors. You can also buy some Tujia-flavored "Tujia Mei La La" series foods to take home.
Some of the above images are from the internet.