Three Chinese cities with the best food — and one disappointment

After a decade exploring China's culinary landscape — from the deserts of Xinjiang to the rainforests of Yunnan — I narrowed my favorites to three epicurean destinations worth the trek, and one city that fell flat for me. Hangzhou sits about an hour by high-speed rail from Shanghai and is known for West Lake, tea plantations, and a refined regional cuisine.

Classics include braised and lacquered pork, shrimp stir-fried with local Dragon Well tea leaves, beggar's chicken, and West Lake fish in vinegar sauce. In the backstreets near West Lake I found Wuzi Mianguan, a humble Michelin-recognized noodle shop where hand-pulled noodles are wok-fried with oil-splash eel, river shrimp, or sautéed pork liver, or steeped in a fragrant broth with mustard greens and bamboo shoots.

At the high end, Song at the Four Seasons serves Zhejiang comfort food like a signature crispy pigeon leg laced with a citrus nip of Sichuan peppercorn heat. In Shangri-La, five hours north by train from Kunming, the food shifts as dramatically as the scenery.

China, Hangzhou; Shangri-La; Kunming; Shanghai; Xinjiang; Yunnan

hangzhou, west lake, dragon well, beggar's chicken, wuzi mianguan, michelin, four seasons, zhejiang cuisine, pigeon leg, shangri-la