Tianjin cuisine

Cuisine of Tianjin (Chinese: 津菜 / 天津菜; pinyin: jīn cài / Tiānjīn cài) is derived from the native cooking styles of Tianjin, China. The cuisine of Tianjin is renowned throughout China, and not only the traditional Tianjin snacks, but the cuisines from other regions of China can also be found.Tianjin Cuisine Street is a place where cross-cultural Chinese dishes can be sampled.

Tianjin cuisine differs from Beijing cuisine in the following ways:

Goubuli (literally “Dog does not care”) stuffed buns are known for their filling, which is succulent but not greasy. This snack was created during the late Qing Dynasty by a native of Wuqing County, who had the nickname "Doggy". At the age of 14, Doggy left home and came to Tianjin, where he was apprenticed to a restaurant specializing in stuffed buns.

A diligent and honest young man, he eventually opened a shop of his own. As his stuffed buns tasted better and had a unique flavour, they attracted an increasing number of customers. As time went by, his nickname became known far and wide. Later, people changed "Doggy" (Gouzi) to "Dog does not care" (Goubuli), which literally means "the Doggy who doesn't talk", because he was often too busy to speak to his customers. Then, eventually, his buns were called by the same name.

Today, with its main outlet located at Shandong Road, Heping District, the Goubuli Bun Shop has developed into a corporation with 89 branch restaurants opened in Tianjin and two dozen other Chinese cities, provinces and regions. In addition to over 90 varieties of stuffed bun, its restaurants also offer more than 200 dishes.

The Ear-Hole Fried Cake is another one of the traditional Tianjin snacks. It derived its name from the narrow Ear-Hole Street in Tianjin's Beidaguan, where the shop selling it was located. The Ear-Hole Fried Cake has a history of more than 80 years. lt was introduced by a man named Liu Wanchun, who peddled it on a single-wheel barrow from street to street.

When his business prospered, he rented a room and opened Liu's Fried Cake Shop. Because the fried cake he made was of high quality, reasonable in price and had a special flavour, it soon became a popular snack. The cake is made of carefully leavened and kneaded glutinous rice dough. The filling is bean paste made with good-qualified red beans. The pastry of the finished cake is golden in colour, crisp and crunchy, while the filling is tender and sweet with a lingering flavour.

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