Tongli Restaurants

One of the most famous delicacies in Tongli is the "Wanshanti" or braised pig's knuckles! They are braised in soy sauce, rice wine, and other seasonings such as anise, etc. It's fatty but you can just trim the fat with a fork or knife. Guaranteed "melt-in-your-mouth" tender. It should be anywhere between RMB 35-50.

There're also a lot of restaurants converted from traditional houses. They typically serve what they call "farm-style cooking". Language could be a problem, but some pointing goes a long way. I found most of the people in Tongli to be very honest and you're unlikely to be overcharged. A typical mean for 2 should be around RMB 60-100.

Favorite Dish: Pig's knuckles of course!

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Nan Yuan Tea House is a gorgeous Chinese tea house located in the old city of Tongli, situated right along side one of the main canals. Some tables, especially in the upper level, have excellent views of the canal through the lovely wood carved windows. They serve the food on beautiful blue and white porcelain, and have a very diverse selection of teas available. They give you a huge thermos of hot water to refill your tea and they use the old fashioned style Chinese tea cups. The food was also great. I had spring rolls, dumplings and pumpkin cakes, quite delicious.

Smelly tofu / fermented deep-fried beancurd is rare in streets nor as dishes in chinese restaurants due to its pungent smell. However, you can find a few stalls here selling this daring snack along the water canal or at the main street of Tongli. They are dipped in sweet or chilli sauce to bring out the tofu's taste.

Its pungent smell may be disgusting like garbage / drain water but it won't smell the same once you taste it. It becomes tasty & fragrant. It costs only RMB1 for five pieces. Dare to try it ?? Perhaps it is rather like durian, once bitten, forever smitten.

It's a great pleasure to dine beside water canal at Tongli. You can enjoy the nice view with small boats passing by while sipping a cup of tea. Reading a book while brewing a cup of tea is a great experience too.

There are many restaurants and tea bars here for your choice. Allow yourself more time to dine leisurely here.

The food here comes in very large portion and served in big metal bowl or plates. Some of the utensils are old and of poor quality. You have to use a thin plastic cup for chinese tea or beer.

I find the food served here is a bit bland.

Beware, the toilets here are with low partition cubicles.

There isn't much atmosphere other than the good food being served...!!!!!

Favorite Dish: They serve different food in the morning and afternoon, in the morning, the have steam dumpling and in the afternoon its fried dumpling, all are freshly made. Very cheap and excellent taste. Miss it very very much and will definately make a trip there just to have this dumpling.