I found the best food is in 5 star hotels, kind of expensive and I rarely ate in them.

In any Italian restaurant runned by Italians.

Sichuanese place a lot of emphasis on food preparation and eating in their lives. They scoff at the 'northerners' habit of eating simple food with few spices. I'd say they make their dishes taste nice in terms of spices and flavour, but stll make very Chinese mistakes - call it traditional habits. They still cut the bones into splinters, they cook fish 'soup' with fishbones included, and good luck eating it without a spoon. And they have a nasty habit of cooking rare meats with few spices. So. if you try something pricy for a change, like goat's meat, expect it to be served boiled without salt, and only plain cabbage as accompaniment. They want to preserve the flavour of the meat unspoiled by any spices. Yay.

Rare parts of the animal are also more valued than regular meat, especially the parts most likely to be covered in faeces during the animal's life. "We clean it." - a great consolation. Enjoy your bowels, pig's feet and skin dishes. Whatever elitists convinced regular people in China to eat that stuff must have been laughing their heads off, while they bought the good meat for low prices. "You want Shitty Pork or Shitty Chicken?"

Why do all Chinese believe foreigners love beef? Because it's the safest thing on Chinese menus: Usually no skin or bones involved. Even saying yes to a simple question like: "Do you like duck?" will result in plates full of claws, skulls and hearts... just say you like beef... how are they going to get cow's skulls and hooves onto a plate?

I think it's a very personal things, it's a bit like asking where in Europe is the best food !

* Sichuan food rocks my world. I eat very little meat and I love spicy food, Sichuan have a large variety of dishes with vegetables only or mostly vegetables.

* Xinjiang food is also a personal winner. If you need something filling with a strong (and unique) character, it fits the bill. It seems quite popular with Westerners.

* Yunnan food is really, really diverse, at the image of the province. I love the Thai/Sichuan fusion things, and Yunnan noodles soups and dishes are always a great time.

* Zhejiang food have quite a wide range of delicate tastes, which can be a refreshing change from the hot & strong tastes.

* For the little I tried it, Guizhou food was great.

I live in Jiangsu, I'm not big fan of the cooking there, it's too soft, too sweet (Wuxi, where they put sugar in *everything*) or too boring (Nanjing food...) for my taste. Anhui food is a better memory, but nothing that made me passionate. Hubei food always was definitely a *bad* memory.

Sichuan and Xinjiang hands down, there are also these Hui minority (the Muslim guys with white hats, can't miss then) restaurants scattered across the country where the food is usually great and cheap.

Guangdong where I live has some nice dishes but most local things taste way too sweet for my tongue.

I am a big fan of Mongolian food. Inner Mongolia is my favourite place for food. They like a drink though.

South of China