Pugongying Restaurant offers excellent tea tree mushrooms and five-ingredient rice noodles.

The dry pot duck and Thousand Beef Hot Pot at Huaguo Hotel are must-try dishes.

A row of small restaurants opposite Huaguo Hotel serve cheap, fresh river fish.

Lijia Flatbread House in Zhangwan serves wonderful home cooking, including the popular Three Earthly Delicacies stir-fry. Their flatbreads and various congees are signature items. The restaurant is clean and tidy, but you need to arrive early to avoid crowds.

The hand-pulled noodle shop diagonally opposite Zhangwan Hospital provides great food with delivery service.

Haoweite Fast Food on the underground floor of Shoukang Yongle Supermarket in Laohugou has a diverse menu with snacks, stir-fries, clay pot rice, braised rice, lotus leaf rice and barbecue. They also serve freshly squeezed fruit juice.

Lüyuan Mountain Delicacies inside Century Garden makes tasty wild mushroom soup, though it is a bit pricey.

Opposite Liulin Hotel, roughly 60 to 70 metres ahead of Meng Laosan Restaurant, Qinghai Hotel serves good stir-fries and chicken soup.

Nongtang Wonton, a Chengdu-style eatery behind the Local Taxation Building in Wuyan, offers set menus priced at 15, 20 and 25 yuan, with assorted local snacks. A 15-yuan set with two bowls of thick broth wonton is enough for two people. It beats chain fast food such as McDonald’s and KFC. The dining environment is warm, especially Private Room No.1 decorated with earthy yellow and red tones.

The self-service hot pot restaurant opposite Dongyue Shopping Mall (the small shop near the bus stop) is cheap and pleasant. Most diners can eat their fill for around 20 yuan.

For spicy hot pot, head to Hongwei. Xiao Ou Chicken Pot near Hubei University of Automotive Technology tastes great.

Dry-fried Chinese cabbage is the signature dish at Jinjiu Restaurant.

The best fish hot pot is still the one under the bridge at the Support Department.

Yipin Coffee House opposite the city park serves black pepper steak and set meals with rich aroma.

Xiangcun Rice Crust Restaurant across from Sanyan Gas Station offers authentic, affordable meals, and their chicken hot pot is full of flavour.

Xiangshui Renjia next to Sister Su Restaurant cooks spicier yet tastier fish head than the restaurant in Huanglong. It mainly serves classic Hunan cuisine with consistently good quality.

The lamb chops and beef tendons on Yindu Street are incredible, plus the waitstaff are very welcoming.

For soft-shelled turtle, go to Qinglian Hotel by Factory 44 Bridge. It is costly but genuinely authentic, far better than the overhyped restaurant near Factory 41 last year.

Try the lamb trotters at Hongtaiyang Restaurant in Yun County. I always stop by whenever I visit the county on business trips.

Beef offal hot pot is trending across Shiyan. A good restaurant sits near Gate 6 and Gate 7 of the General Assembly Factory.

Nihonbashi inside Century Garden on Dongyue Road offers authentic Japanese dishes, though it is quite pricey.

A newly opened Japanese restaurant in Century Garden provides tasty food at lower prices, plus barbecue options.

More small eateries in Liulingou: Meng Laosan Dumpling House diagonally opposite Liulin Hotel serves affordable dumplings and stir-fries, paired with homemade pickles and spiced peanuts.

Beef patties sold at Dongyue Market are well-loved local snacks.

Qianlixiang Wonton Shop in Laohugou Market makes big, flavourful wontons. I used to eat breakfast there two or three times every week.

Grilled crisp bones at the stall near the fire station intersection have just the right amount of fatty meat, not hard and dry like other stalls.

The wontons at Nanjing Soup Dumpling House in Zhangwan are amazing. Their fermented rice wine with egg drop is sweet, smooth and not greasy.

No.1 Congee House opposite Liuyuan Gymnasium is famous for raw pork congee and preserved egg pork congee. Apart from congee, their stir-fried dishes are excellent, especially the Three Earthly Delicacies. The food is reasonably priced, and the restaurant is always packed with waiting customers. Its branch in Sanyan cannot match the original Liuyuan shop’s flavour.

A stall near Liuyuan Library sells pan-fried buns with golden crispy crust.

Jinhua Restaurant serves top-tier hot dry noodles and tofu skin pancakes. After a big meal, I always order a portion of tofu skin pancake plus a small bowl of hot dry noodles.

Near the outpatient building of Zhangwan Hospital on Gongyuan Road, a stall at the community gate sells Chinese hamburgers (roujiamo) for 1.5 yuan each. Ask for extra green peppers, pickled vegetables and coriander, plus a drizzle of meat gravy to avoid greasiness.