Recommended Cuisines of Yangjiang

Yangjiang boasts a long coastline dotted with islands. Dongping is the nation’s largest shark fin production base, abundant in live seafood such as prawns, lobsters, swimming crabs, silver pomfrets, Spanish mackerel, oysters, mud cockles, clams, as well as shark fins and fish maws. Seafood dominates Yangjiang’s cuisine, especially on Hailing Island, where cooking prioritizes preserving the original natural flavors, mainly via steaming. Signature dishes include Pork Crab Soup with Raw Rehmannia Root, Braised Sea Eel, Clam Stew with Chinese Wolfberry and Chinese Angelica, Steamed Pork Belly with Shrimp Paste, and Sautéed Fresh Squid. Countless seafood stalls line the shorelines here.

Yangjiang fried rice cakes are exquisitely crafted from carefully selected rice flour, mung bean flour, white granulated sugar, peanut powder, coconut shreds and other ingredients. Crisp and crumbly upon biting, they are a famous local specialty of Yangjiang.

Yangjiang fermented black beans are made from local black soybeans and fresh ginger through time-honored traditional techniques. They have won Provincial and Ministry of Light Industry High-Quality Product Awards and earned a reputation as an unparalleled local treasure renowned at home and abroad. Soft and savory with a delicate sweet aroma and rich nutrition, the fermented beans serve as an excellent seasoning for steaming fish, meat, spareribs and stir-fried dishes.

Also referred to as rice rolls by some locals (though the term "rice roll" now denotes another snack, so locals rarely use it for this dish). Similar to regular rice noodle rolls, it is wrapped in thin rice sheets stuffed with sesame seeds, bean sprouts, dried shrimp and egg crepe. You may eat the whole roll or cut it into sections, then dip it in special condiments such as chili sauce. It carries a fragrant salty taste and is incredibly palatable.

A newly cultivated variety of sweet potato with silky tender flesh and a delicate fresh sweetness. Its striking multi-colored flesh greatly whets the appetite. Xitou Town in Yangxi County sits between mountains and the sea with pristine scenery. The local sweet potatoes grow in pollution-free natural environments, featuring diverse varieties with purple, red, yellow, white and multicolored flesh. They are of superior quality, among which Yong’an multicolored sweet potatoes from Xitou Town stand out, boasting powdery, fragrant, sweet, smooth and tender textures.

These fish are naturally raised in small mountain ponds by local farmers in Yangchun. Compared with feed-farmed fish, their flesh is firmer, tender and carries a natural light sweetness.

Amomum villosum is a world-famous precious medicinal herb. Records in the Song-dynasty Kaiyuan Tongbao and Ming-dynasty Compendium of Materia Medica state that amomum villosum is pungent and warm in nature, capable of invigorating the stomach, regulating qi movement, aiding digestion and preventing miscarriage. Dishes prepared with it enjoy widespread fame.

Small in stature, early-maturing, easy to fatten with tender meat, Yangjiang yellow-maned geese rank among Guangdong’s four superior goose breeds and China’s five famous goose varieties. They have long been highly sought-after in Hong Kong and Macao markets.

A signature delicacy at Zhapo Fishing Port, fish noodles feature a uniquely soft, silky, sweet and crisp texture. They are commonly stir-fried or cooked in soup.

The wrapper is made of pure glutinous rice flour mixed with brown sugar, enclosing a fragrant filling of peanuts and black sesame seeds before deep-frying. Golden all over, it has a crisp outer skin and sweet soft filling.

Also known as sea oysters, they are an important commercial shellfish plump, silky, tasty and nutrient-dense, nicknamed "milk of the sea". Oysters from Chengcun Town, Yangxi County are the most celebrated in Yangjiang, with plump, flavorful and nutrient-rich meat. The brand "Cheng Village Oysters" is well-known across Guangdong and nationwide.

Also named blood cockles, Yangjiang is Guangdong’s major breeding base for mud cockles, especially Pinggang Town in Jiangcheng District, where cockle farming thrives. Products sell well in Hong Kong, Macao and markets across the province and the country. As bivalve marine creatures, mud cockles boast tender delicious meat abundant in nutrients, especially vitamin B12. They nourish blood, tonify the kidney and invigorate the stomach.

A superior local strain of mud crabs native to the Jianshan River waters in Yangdong District. Tender, tasty and highly nutritious, they are a time-honored premium seafood specialty of Yangdong and an excellent mariculture breed.

Yangjiang produces abundant galangal fruit, and Yangdong hosts Guangdong’s largest galangal planting base, titled "China’s Hometown of Edible Galangal Fruit". Galangal fruit stimulates appetite, aids digestion and invigorates the spleen.