Nanjing earned the nickname China's 'duck capital' and ranks among the country's four leading culinary traditions. Jinling cuisine, or Jinling-style food, stands out for keeping flavors natural rather than leaning on heavy spices — the care lives in the cooking technique and the quality of the ingredients. The Confucius Temple area along the Qinhuai River is a food lover's paradise you shouldn't skip.
#1 Nanjing Salted Duck · Nanjing Salted Duck
Nanjing salted duck is the city's signature dish, full stop. It's simmered with peppercorns, ginger, yellow wine and star anise for more than an hour, then served cold as a starter. The meat is tender and moist, the skin pale, the salty-sweet flavor soaking right down to the bone. It's counted among China's 'four famous ducks,' and Nanjing locals say that eating salted duck while reading the evening paper is a complete life.
- You can buy it to take home from souvenir shops all over the city.
- The old-school shops in the Confucius Temple and Fuzimiao district have the best traditional recipes.
- Eat it with hot steamed rice, or sip yellow wine alongside it the way the locals do.
#2 Duck Blood and Vermicelli Soup · Duck Blood and Vermicelli Soup
A wildly popular Nanjing breakfast. The rich, savory broth holds set duck blood, glass vermicelli, gizzard, liver and duck stomach, seasoned with dried shrimp and coriander. It's a national-famous standard-bearer for Jinling cuisine, and the way the broth's flavor pairs with the noodles leaves you full and warm first thing in the morning.
- Many shops let you ask for free extra broth.
- Fried bread dipped in the broth is the combo locals love.
- Early-morning street stalls tend to be fresher and tastier than the late-night spots.
#3 Qinhuai Eight Delicacies · Qinhuai Eight Delicacies (Qinhuai Snacks)
Eight local snacks that have been famous in the Confucius Temple district for ages. The lineup is varied — pan-fried dumplings, thin-skinned soup buns, brightly colored sweets, and all sorts of stuffed baked pastries. Each shop has its own recipe and style, which makes eating your way through this district a fun, worthwhile experience.
- Get the eight-piece sampler set from the century-old original shops in this district.
- Watch out for tourist-trap shops — pick the ones where locals are lining up.
- Eat as you walk in the evening while taking in the night market atmosphere.
#4 Pan-fried Beef Dumplings · Pan-fried Beef Dumplings (Niurou Baozi)
One of the most famous of the eight Qinhuai snacks. The dough is soft and thick, the bottom fried to a crisp golden color, the filling minced beef and pungent scallion. Each bite releases hot broth, so be careful not to bite too fast or you'll scald your mouth. It's an essential standard-bearer of Nanjing's food streets.
- Order by the number of pieces — it's cheaper than you'd expect.
- Let it cool a touch, then dip it in white vinegar before eating.
- The good shops usually have long lines, especially at breakfast and lunch.
#5 Lion's Head Meatball · Lion's Head Meatball (Shizi Tou)
A hand-chopped pork meatball as big as your fist, braised long with napa cabbage in a light, clear broth. The special technique is chopping the meat by hand rather than grinding it, which gives the texture a soft, porous quality that soaks up the broth's flavor better. This dish represents Huaiyang cuisine and its emphasis on traditional kitchen technique — a favorite for family meals and banquets.
- Order the clear-broth version over the red-braised one if you want lighter flavors.
- Eat it with hot steamed rice and broth ladled over the rice.
- Most mid-range Chinese restaurants in the city have this on the menu.
#6 Sesame Seed Cake · Sesame Seed Cake (Shaobing)
A crisp baked flatbread sprinkled with fragrant sesame, served hot from a traditional clay oven. It comes plain or stuffed with pork or onion, a cheap breakfast that Nanjing locals have eaten forever. It's often paired with duck blood and vermicelli soup for a complete breakfast that costs just a few yuan, and the aroma drifting from the oven carries far enough to make the shops easy to find.
- Eat it hot and fresh from the oven — don't wait too long or the dough turns chewy.
- It's only 2–5 yuan a piece, great value.
- The best pairing is with duck blood soup and a pot of old-style bitter tea.
Where to stay in Nanjing for this trip
A well-located hotel means less commuting and more sightseeing. Here are real, top-rated stays in Nanjing — compare Agoda · Booking · Trip.com in one click.
Jinling Hotel Nanjing
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Central Hotel Nanjing
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voco Nanjing Oriental Pearl
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Novotel Nanjing Central Suning
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Tours, tickets & activities in Nanjing
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Before You Pack
Nanjing food is more than duck. The depth of Jinling cuisine hides in the details of each dish, and sitting down to a bowl of duck blood and vermicelli soup along the Qinhuai River at night is an experience many travelers say they remember longer than the sights.