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Rice noodles, tea and mushrooms around Kunming
Kunming brings together food from across Yunnan: rice noodles, steam-pot chicken, Dai dishes, mushroom hotpots and Pu’er tea.
Cross-bridge noodles arrive as components rather than a finished soup: a bowl of very hot broth, rice noodles and small plates of raw meat, herbs and vegetables. A layer of chicken fat traps heat at the surface, so the broth remains hotter than it appears.
The dish comes from Mengzi, not Kunming, although Kunming is where most visitors meet it. Small-pot noodles are the opposite approach: noodles, minced meat, pickles and chilli cook together in one small copper pot, producing a stronger, messier breakfast.
Steam-pot chicken uses a special ceramic pot with a chimney rising through its centre. Steam enters through the chimney, condenses and gradually creates the broth without the chicken sitting in a large amount of added water. The cooking vessel and method are what distinguish it from an ordinary chicken soup.
Yunnan’s health commission reports poisonings from misidentified and undercooked wild mushrooms.
Flower cakes contain rose-petal jam inside flaky pastry. They have a floral aroma and a sweet filling. Pu’er can be raw (sheng) or ripe (shou): raw tea develops over time and can be sharp when young, while ripe tea is deliberately fermented for a darker, earthy cup.
Bai food around Dali and Xizhou
Cheese is common in parts of Yunnan. Rubing is a firm goat’s-milk cheese, usually fried or grilled; its mildness makes it closer to paneer than blue cheese. Rushan is cow’s-milk curd stretched into thin sheets, dried on bamboo frames and grilled until crisp or chewy.
Xizhou baba is a thick griddled flatbread, layered and stuffed in sweet or savoury versions. Sweet fillings may include rose paste or brown sugar; savoury ones use pork, spring onion or pickled vegetables.
Restaurants around Dali and Erhai also serve Bai meals built around vegetables, pork, pickles and lake fish. Sour-and-spicy fish, often cooked with pickled vegetables or a local souring ingredient, is a Bai dish served around the lake.
I ate street food in Xizhou’s old town around noon during my 2024 trip. In Kunming, I went around Wuhua for food in the evening.
Naxi food around Lijiang
Lijiang’s chickpea jelly is made from chickpea starch. Cold versions are slippery and dressed with vinegar, chilli and garlic; fried versions develop a crust while staying wobbly inside. Cured pork-rib hotpot is smoky, salty and built for cold evenings. The broth can already be heavily seasoned.
Other easy dishes to find include Lijiang baba, a local griddled flatbread, rice noodles for breakfast or lunch, Naxi-style grilled fish and shared mushroom or yak hotpots.
Tibetan plateau food around Shangri-La
In Shangri-La, barley, yak or beef, dairy, butter tea, momos and noodle soup replace much of the subtropical food found farther south. Tsampa is roasted barley flour, usually mixed with tea or butter tea; momos are filled dumplings; and thukpa is a noodle soup. Barley also appears in bread, porridge and alcohol.
Butter tea is salty and fatty and is available by the cup or flask. Yak hotpot is generally a shared meal.
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