Restaurants in Kunming

We had tried different restaurants in Kunming during a recent trip. Some were simple noodle places, some cafes and some restaurants. As we were brought around by local hosts, everything was quite a blur. Fortunately we have some photos of the restaurants to remember them by. Today we show you four restaurants in Kunming that we tried. From what we could tell, there are lots of restaurants in Kunming. Deciding what to eat in Kunming is the real problem.

There were so many dishes at each restaurant, we can’t remember each of them specifically. What we can remember in general about eating in Kunming is that the standard of food is generally high. The taste is also quite similar with the style of Chinese food that we are used to in Singapore. Not too salty or spicy but sometimes a bit oily, but not as serious as in some other cities. By and large, the restaurants in Kunming that we went to were mid-tier restaurants, suitable for families and friends. The food served was usually mainstream and wholesome, nothing exotic, but always in abundance. In fact the endless stream of dishes usually encourages eating beyond our daily calorie count. Looks like we need to start hitting the gym.

Fuzhaolou Dian-style Chinese Restaurant 福照楼

The Fuzhaolou restaurant has a pleasant interior with classical Chinese style chairs. It is also a visitor-friendly restaurant as samples of their dishes were displayed at the reception. That would certainly help unfamiliar guests in deciding what to order. The memorable dishes were the very good chicken soup, the braised pork and the vegetable salad that reminded us of Singapore rojak.

Happy Seafood Restaurant Kunming (昆明快乐海鲜楼)

The Happy Seafood Restaurant in Kunming is a Cantonese style seafood restaurant. We were told that it was the biggest seafood restaurant in Kunming. Entering the restaurant was like stepping into Sea World. The tanks contained a wide variety of critters from the sea and the wall murals displayed the images of other sea creatures. The memorable dishes were the small abalones with glass noodles, the meat and vegetable dumplings and the flatfish steamed with soy sauce.

Kunming Wild Mushrooms Hotpot Restaurant 昆明野菌园

Yunnan province in general and Kunming in particular are well-known for their natural produce. We learnt that some of their best dishes are prepared with flowers, wild vegetables and wild mushrooms. Unfortunately we did not get sample their flower based delicacies, but we were brought to a restaurant specialising in wild mushrooms. A wide variety of mushrooms and other foods were displayed in the lobby.

The meal at the wild mushroom restaurant proceeded like a steamboat dinner, except that all the cooking was done for us. How was the taste of the mushrooms? Frankly, the only thing I can remember is that the different mushrooms simply had different textures. They take on the flavour of the broth and the sauces that are available for dipping. But still definitely a good experience when in Kunming.

Mushrooms take quite a while to be cooked and other ingredients require different cooking times. And so the attendant dropped in the items in sequence as the cooking progressed. In the meantime, the hungry diners are kept at bay by a stream of other cooked dishes. The most memorable of the other dishes was the wonderfully presented hanging pieces of pork ribs.

Just when we thought we had eaten everything, it was time for noodles to be cooked in the broth which was wonderfully flavoured by all the mushrooms, vegetables and meat that had gone in earlier. More vegetables were added into the pot together with the noodles. As you can imagine, the taste was amazing. I thought the soup noodle was the best part of the meal!

Yi Xin Yuan Restaurant

Yi Xin Yuan Restaurant is located in this building in one of the shopping districts of Kunming city. It is the not very distinctive in terms of the decor or types of dishes. What I find memorable about the restaurant was that the dishes were very similar to dishes found in Singapore family restaurants and zhi char places – steamed fish, fried egg plant, meat dishes served on hot plates and in claypots. They even provide chilli padi in light soy sauce! Looking back at the food that we ate, it reminds me of Westlake restaurant in Singapore. Unspectacular food, but prepared very well.