Hello everyone (*´▽｀)ノノ, this is Hu Jianren Leilei who has not been online for a long time.
Xiamen, Zhangquan, especially my favorite Quanzhou, have been written about more than once. Today I will talk about a place that is so niche that it can no longer be niche - the small town of East Fujian Ningde Fuding .
I have a friend from Cangnan, Wenzhou. Every time she said she wanted to eat delicious food, either in Fuding or on the way to Fuding, it instantly aroused my curiosity about Fuding.
In my mind, Wenzhou already has rich and unique food. How amazing is it that Wenzhou people can drive an hour on weekends to go to a place to eat?
There are many different kinds of food in Fuding, and the way of eating them is very different from those in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
There are not only mountain delicacies and seafood, but also a lot of snacks. 300+ types. When you see snacks from other places labeled "Fujian Specialties", most of them are "Made in Fuding".
Perhaps it’s because the food is so outstanding, and it’s located next to Xiapu, which has been praised by photographers. Fuding usually doesn’t show off its mountains or water.
But as mentioned before in Fujian Sea Viewing Guide "China's Ten Most Beautiful Islands" Yushan Island and "Sea Capital" Taimu Mountain are both in Fuding.
Xia Zhangquan is not the only fun and delicious place in Fujian. There are many treasures in Fuding. Let me help you find them~
Fujian people probably have the gene for making snacks in their bones. There is not only Shaxian County, which monopolizes 1/3 of the market in the fast food industry, but there is also Fuding, a well-hidden place that is not well-known, but it is clearly delicious.
In 2019, Fuding applied for "Chinese Food Landmark City" and was successful. However, the tourism promotion effect it brought was very limited. Now it is still a small town with an ancient flavor and affordable prices.
Picture: @丁合利茶馆
Fuding guards the east gate of Fujian. I think more people from Wenzhou come to Fuding just for a meal.
There are KPIs for 300+ kinds of snacks. Can you still eat them without making 30 trips? It is recommended that you prioritize the most representative ones.
①Fuding Pork Slices
I don’t know how you first knew about Fuding. Anyway, it was because of Fuding Pork Slices.
It is said that Fuding meat slices are the prototype of Wenzhou lean meatballs, but it turns out that the latter is more famous. I don’t know whether Fuding is popular or not.
To make Fuding Pork Slices, mince the pork hind leg meat into a fine paste, beat with a stick until soft and glutinous, and then add sweet potato powder for seasoning.
The meat itself is not very meaty, but very chewy. The boiled Fuding pork slices look watery in soup, but yellow pepper and local rice vinegar are added to the soup, which is a taste bomb.
🏡Recommended store: Old street store
📍No. 14, North Building B, Wenzhou Mall
To be honest, it is more difficult to find a bad meat restaurant on the streets of Fuding.
The top of the street is a particularly old street in Fuding, and the "old shop" is indeed an old shop. It was originally known as "Bianshixia" in the world. Fuding's specialty snacks are complete and authentic. Every morning, locals come in droves to fill the shop. Got to be full.
Picture: @slowfoodanimals
🏡Recommended store: Xiyang Mixed Meatballs
📍No. 126, Building A, Huapai Mall, Tongshan Office
When I make Fuding pork slices at home, I usually make them in hot and sour soup. You can also eat them dry in Fuding.
The dry mix still has a spicy and sour base, and the oil used for mixing is scallion oil, so it is particularly fragrant and has many fans.
Xiyang is the birthplace of Fuding meatballs. If you can use Xiyang as your signature, the taste will not be too outrageous.
②Beef balls
Fujian's beef balls are not the same thing as Chaoshan's. It is more appropriate to think of them as Fuding meat slices made of beef (it is also called beef noodles in other places) .
The seasoning of beef balls is very similar to that of Fuding pork slices, and even the taste is a bit similar.
But I would like to use the Cantonese saying, "the beef balls don't taste like beef". As a characteristic of Fuding, it is necessary to reserve stomach capacity for it.
Picture: @reredemption
🏡Recommended stores: Agu/Agumei/North Market Beef Balls
There are also many old restaurants in Fuding that are famous for making beef balls, and these three are generally recognized to be delicious. And they not only make beef balls, they are also good at other snacks and cold dishes, and they are all the best among the cheap and beautiful ones.
Picture: @二凯堂真红
③Flat meat
The great thing about Fuding snacks is that they can make common foods unique. Before eating it, I thought "What's so great about this", but after eating it I realized that it was indeed different.
Fuding's wontons are very famous, and the locals also call them Bianrou.
The most important thing is that you cannot use a meat grinder for the meat filling, so that the meat and tendons can feel connected. Then the thin and translucent flat meat skin is used to wrap the fillings such as shrimps, scallops, dried peppers, etc., which is much fresher than the usual small wontons.
The soup base is also spicy and sour, similar to Fuding Pork Slices. The hardest thing for me to resist in the morning is this soupy breakfast.
🏡Recommended shop: Jieding Huangji Wonton King
📍No. 34, Zhongshan Middle Road
Fuding is a small place with many century-old restaurants. The most famous one is Huangji Wonton King. 9.5 out of 10 tourists who come to Fuding want to eat at this restaurant. The food is very stable.
④Rice noodle soup
Rice noodle soup is also one of the most common breakfast options for Fuding people. Unlike the spicy and sour soup base of sliced meat and flat meat, rice noodle soup is really light (I even think it is bland) , But you can make a fuss about the toppings.
The rice noodle soup uses water noodles that are common in Fuding, which is thicker and coarser than rice noodles. It will be more delicious when paired with toppings such as braised beef and fatty intestines.
🏡Recommended shop: Ah Xiong Nodding Rice Noodle Soup
📍No. 116, Haikou Road
The rice noodle soup in Nodou Town is the best in Fuding.
This Ah Xiong’s Nodding Rice Noodle Soup is also an old shop with awards and honors hanging on half the wall. The rice noodle soup cooked in a large firewood stove is very delicious. It is recommended to add bone meat as a topping.
Picture: @cbz
Picture: @ark
⑤Pearl Xiao Long Bao
Xiaolongbao can be found everywhere in the country, but Fuding’s recipe is also different.
Small in size, as cute as pearls, with thin skin and plenty of meat, and medium juice. The most important step is to steam the steamed dumplings on a rice dumpling leaf over high heat . It has its own plant fragrance, but it’s the same Snacks that can be eaten from breakfast to late night snacks.
Picture: @香脱球_
🏡Recommended shop: Qiuji Snacks
📍No. 193, Yuchi South Road
Qiu Ji is the founder of Fuding's pearl steamed dumplings, which he started making in 1846. However, the location of the store is close to Taimu Mountain Scenic Area, so it will be more troublesome to get there in the urban area.
Picture: @caninidy
Picture: @violet817262
⑥Honey Chicken Wings
Food like honey chicken wings has not been popular in Fuding for a long time, but because it is easy to bring, it is often used as a souvenir.
The honey chicken wings made in Fuding are salty yet sweet, with a shiny sauce color and a firm and hard texture. The more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes, and it will probably taste good with wine.
🏡Recommended store: Fuding Chuchi
📍No. 247, Longshan North Road
If you have friends who are from Fuding, chances are that they have been fed chicken wings from Chu Chi.
Chu Chi is the most famous braised food brand in Fuding, one of the best. However, honey chicken wings are a must-have item in Fuding snack bars and can be found everywhere, so you don’t necessarily have to choose Chu wings.
Picture: @志志大哥
Anai·Centennial Fuding Pork Head
📍No. 300, Haikou Road
Fuding people like to "eat a little wine" on weekdays, and their drinking capacity can be called "Shandong people in Fujian Province".
Pork head meat is a top-notch dish for drinking wine, and it is also rare. This Pork Head Pork restaurant has been open for hundreds of years, and it is still one of the top internet celebrity restaurants in Fuding City, with several branches.
Their restaurant is very special from the moment you order the food - there are a bunch of menus there for you to choose from, and it is easy to arouse your desire to eat.
Apart from the two signature dishes of Anai's Pork Head and Chicken Bones, there are so many other dishes that it's hard to recommend.
In addition to the serious stir-fry dishes, their family basically covers Fuding dim sum and snacks. They are completely an all-around player that is most hated by their competitors.
Their business is very popular, especially during late night snack time, so be sure to order your meal in advance.
Shihu Community Seafood Food Stall
📍Shihu Road, Fuding City
Fuding is famous for its snacks, but due to its location near the sea, it is a good place to eat seafood no matter how you think about it.
When eating seafood in Fuding, diners have an unspoken destination—Shihu Community. This was originally a place where locals cooked simple food stalls and had late-night snacks. Later, it became so popular that it gradually became a popular place for people in Fuding to eat seafood. An important base for food stalls. (It is currently being renovated, so it will have some impact)
Seafood is the most indispensable part of the late-night snack table of Fuding people. As long as it is not a fishing ban period, the seafood is caught on the same day and delivered fresh.
Fuding is not a tourist city. Although the price of seafood is not as good as in Fuding, it is still cheaper than next door Wenzhou.
The criteria for selecting a store are very simple - just pick a store with high popularity. After all, the quality of business on that day is most directly related to the quality of the seafood.
Old Fuding traditional dishes
📍Shihu Community, Shihu Road
Stores in Shihu Community are ranked by popularity, and Lao Fuding is definitely on the list. Their restaurant cannot be classified as a food stall. It is more suitable to call it a seafood restaurant. The seafood displayed at the door looks like a small market.
Picture: @tome917
In addition to the good environment, the biggest advantage of this large store is the wide selection of dishes.
Not only does the seafood variety overwhelm the small shops, but also the various local home-cooked dishes, as long as you can get used to the Fujian taste, you will be praised after eating them.
Picture: @八杯水
I won’t talk about the signature dishes, but I recommend you try their taro rice.
Fujian taro rice is a specialty, and the local betel nut taro in Fuding is famous for its soft, glutinous and sweet taste.
Scallops, dried shrimps, sausages and lard are stewed into a big pot of rice, which is so fragrant that you can eat an extra bowl without adding vegetables.
Lao Xiang Almond Tofu
📍No. 41, Hegan Road, Tongshan Street
How can you sleep soundly without dessert after your meal? Although Fuding belongs to Fujian, its desserts are more like Wenzhou cold drinks.
Laoxiang Almond Tofu is a small shop, but it has all the essentials. Although the name of the store focuses on almond tofu, who would have thought that the must-order is the sausage, which is very delicious with sweet and spicy sauce.
Picture: @Arisa
Of course, the almond tofu itself is also good, and a bowl of 4 yuan is super honest.
Desserts are basically mint-flavored. Except in summer, it’s also great to have a bowl after a late-night barbecue.
Picture: @A-Aurexiaxia
①Fuding Old Street
In a small city, running around is the most suitable mode of transportation.
There are many old streets in Fuding, and Street Ding is one of the more representative ones.
In addition to the old wooden houses that are rare in the city along the street, many of the delicious shops mentioned above are also located on or near the top of the street, which is very popular for shopping.
There is also Yulin Old Street . After renovation, it is also a very representative old street in Fuding. It is different from the commercial streets and food streets that are found in every city. Yulin Old Street is very down-to-earth.
Picture: @丁合利茶馆
②Yushan Island
There are many islands along the coast of Fuding, the most famous of which is Yushan Island.
Although it is an island, the island's landscape includes the sea, three lakes, and even a grassland. It has a beauty that cannot be replaced elsewhere.
"It is located on an island, but it has the meadow scenery of the northwest; being on an island, it has a sky lake as clear as a mirror."
Walking into the Tianhu Scenic Area on the island, you can see four landscapes of mountains, lakes, grass and sea at the same time. It is rare to see thousands of acres of grassland on the island, which is also the core of Yushan Island scenery.
There are many small fishing villages on the island, all of which have the most unmodified appearance.
If you want to leave the village for a walk, the most developed Moon Bay is the first choice. There is a 12-kilometer coastal road from here to Dongjiao Village, which is the most beautiful section of the island.
If you have plenty of time, you can go to Tianhu Temple and Yangguwei to experience the fishing village style.
Although it has the aura of "China's top ten most beautiful islands" , the transportation to the island is relatively complicated (take a boat at Yushan Cruise Terminal) , so it is still quite niche at the moment. .
③Tianmu Mountain
There are Tianmu Mountains in many places, such as Kinmen and Pucheng in Fujian, Jinyun, Xinchang, Xianju and Shengzhou in Zhejiang.
The one in Fuding is considered to be of relatively high importance. The entire mountain range is included in the Ningde Global Geopark.
And because Tianmu Mountain in Fuding faces the sea on three sides, the scenery is incomparably beautiful, and together with Wuyi Mountain, it is known as the "Two Wonders of Fujian".
Especially the main peak, Dongshi Mountain, is even more unique in shape than Tianmu Mountain in Shaoxing, Zhejiang.
Picture: @九丁名堂
Fuding actually has one of its most famous specialties - white tea. There are many tea gardens at the foot of Tianmu Mountain. It's not in season now, so I won't list it here.
In fact, there are indeed many treasures in the county around us, but they just lack a little popularity, but whether it is the scenery or the food, they will live up to your entrustment for a trip.
