What Delicious Dishes Are There in Yingde? What Are the Most Famous Local Specialties of Yingde?

Anyone living in Yingde simply has to try braised beef offal with radish, widely hailed as the "king of street snacks" in Yingde’s food scene. Many office workers often find themselves longing for the exact flavour they tasted at street stalls outside their school gates in childhood. Seasonings have changed with the passing of time, and that unique childhood flavour remains forever etched in our memories.

Most stalls serving tasty beef offal are tiny shops or mobile food carts. Yet passersby are happy to stand by the roadside, holding small bowls and munching heartily with bamboo skewers amid clouds of steaming hot air.

This street snack tastes fantastic all year round, summer and winter alike. You can order tender radish, beef tendons, plus assorted beef lungs, intestines and tripe. Add a dash of chilli sauce, and a single mouthful in winter is absolutely amazing.

Egg waffles are an indispensable snack in Yingde’s food lineup. If you were once a student here, you must cherish memories of a special someone buying you egg waffles for breakfast.

Watching egg batter pour into the mould, I always ask the vendor to bake them lightly, as I prefer them medium-rare. Undercooked egg waffles are extra fragrant, soft and utterly tempting.

An egg waffle in winter warms you like a tiny sun. Its rich aroma instantly stokes your appetite, and no matter how full you are, you will always crave another one.

Egg pancakes are sold everywhere along Yingde’s pedestrian streets. Crisp outside and soft inside, holding one in your hands in winter fills your heart with warmth.

Strolling the pedestrian street on cold winter days with a hot egg pancake in hand, its steaming fragrance is the ultimate comfort food for the season.

A classic Cantonese delicacy, ginger pork trotter stew is widely available at street stalls and snack shops across Yingde. Rich in nutrients and renowned for nourishing the skin, it is a firm favourite among women. New mothers are traditionally served several bowls of this hearty stew after giving birth.

Sipping a bowl in winter leaves your lips slightly greasy yet your heart wonderfully warm.

I am equally fond of curry and fish balls. When I was little, I constantly heard mentions of curry fish balls on Hong Kong Jade TV dramas, though they were nowhere to be found in Yingde back then. In recent years, curry fish ball stalls have finally appeared on local streets.

Beyond curry fish balls, assorted fish balls, beef balls and shrimp balls are equally delicious. You can enjoy them skewered on sticks or served in small bowls with a touch of chilli sauce. Springy, bouncy and full of flavour, they are absolutely perfect.

Crispy radish cakes have been popular in Yingde for decades, beloved by locals for their crisp, tender texture and simple preparation process.

A traditional Japanese street food that is quick and easy to make. Freshly baked takoyaki are topped with assorted sauces, bonito flakes and crushed seaweed.

Cook over low heat; once the bottoms turn golden brown, flip each ball with a bamboo skewer and continue frying until evenly golden all over.

Cantonese dim sum, once only served steaming hot in teahouses, can now be found as round-the-clock street snacks.

Freshly steamed piping hot varieties include shrimp dumplings, steamed pork siu mai, E Jie rice fruit cakes, water chestnut cakes, char siu pork buns, lotus leaf glutinous rice parcels, honey taro croquettes, chicken shortbreads, salty turnip cakes and sweet Lunjiao rice cakes. There is such a vast selection you will want to take leftovers home!

A traditional rural staple unique to Yingde, Guangdong. It is vividly described as "unassuming in appearance yet exquisite in taste; every bowl quenches thirst, every spoonful nourishes the spirit". Pounded tea congee boasts the deepest cultural roots and widest popularity among all local Yingde specialities, concentrated along the North Bei River and its tributaries in towns including Dadong, Jiulong, Shuibian, Xiniu, Shihuipu, Lianjiangkou and Lixi. Statistics show it is enjoyed by nearly 300,000 residents across roughly 100 villages and communities, with the tradition still upheld to this day. Middle-aged and elderly locals are especially attached to it, to the point of believing "I would rather skip meat than miss my pounded tea congee". A well-known local saying goes: "Two bowls of pounded tea beat two boxes of tonic medicine".

When visiting villages in West Yingde during festivals or receiving guests, pounded tea congee is the most prestigious treat hosts can offer. Local custom judges a host’s hospitality and manners by whether they serve pounded tea congee to visitors. Before the formal main meal, guests are first served a bowl of pounded tea congee as a light pre-meal snack known as a "half-meal".

Surprisingly, many people as far away as Xinjiang, Xizang, Heilongjiang and Hainan also make pounded tea congee. Countless Yingde migrants carry their hometown culinary customs wherever they work, bringing along pounding basins, pestles and tea leaves. Remarkably, some tea farmers in Dadong Town store aged tea leaves for over a decade, with one jin fetching nearly 100 RMB — a testament to the immense appeal of pounded tea congee