Huntun has definitely become one of my favorite local delights. Unfortunately, most expats never have the opportunity to try them. Lots of foreigners in China enjoy mutton kabobs, sweet & sour pork and cashew chicken. If they haven’t, they should. It’s rare to stay in China for a long time without eating dumplings, especially during the holidays. But in my conversations with internationals living in Beijing, I find very few who regularly enjoy Huntun.

We can order wantons in overseas Chinese restaurants, but they aren’t the same as the Huntun locals eat in China. The Chinese venues in my hometown aren’t even open at breakfast time, the most popular time for eating Huntun in China.

A hot bowl of hudun is a great way start a wintery Beijing morning, but recently I’ve become addicted to eating them at night. There’s an alley in our Haidian neighborhood where the Huntun eatery has become an evening hotspot, especially for students (pictured right).

This restaurant (pictured below) serves a special kind of Sichuan style Huntun called “shaoshou.”(抄手). They are bigger and meatier than other Huntun. You can order them extra spicy, medium spicy or mild, but I’ll warn you, if you’re not used to Sichuan flavor, stick with the medium or mild. They give a whole new meaning to “extra spicy!” You can always order mild and then add hot pepper, which is in little jars on the tables.

So, if you’re ready to venture outside of the “foreign bubble” of exclusively western food, and you would like to try rubbing shoulders with real locals, Huntun will make an excellent first impression of Chinese flavors. One bite and you’ll be hooked!