China has several thousand years old history for socio-cultural development, and with all certainty, the Chinese food has evolved with time. In fact, there are so many food types in China. Every Chinese city, including Wuxi, Changzhou, has lots of food. No matter where you go in China, you’ll find delicious, healthy, and mouth-watering Chinese cuisines waiting for you. I had a trip from Suzhou to Hefei in March, 2018. It was a wonderful opportunity to explore the best authentic Chinese street food in Hefei city (the capital of China’s Anhui province).
Also, in Hefei, I came across a unique gender empowerment measure by the Chinese government- the main food street in Hefei is named as Women’s Street. In this post I’ll further share my experiences from my Hefei city trip and provide additional details about the Chinese food culture. All the photos in this post are from the Hefei’s Women’s Street.
Related post: Top Things To Do In Hefei City, Anhui, China, Travel Review – Part 2
Lady’s street for best Chinese food
In Hefei downtown there is a famous Chinese street food area which is known by the following interchangeable names-
- Lady’s street
- Women’s street
- 女人街
- Nǚrén jiē
- Nv Ren Jie
- Nu Ren Jie
Make no mistake, if you want to eat authentic Chinese food in Hefei, then this is the place to explore.
In fact, I was so impressed by the Chinese food culture prevailing in Nu Ren Jie that I decided to dedicate a separate post about the street. And here I am…
Location of the Nu Ren Jie
The Women’s Street is located very close to the Sanxiaokou (三孝口, Sānxiào kǒu) subway station. You can use Baidu Map to find the street (you’ll need to know basic Mandarin). 🙂
Why the food street is called Women’s street?
Well, before coming to Hefei, I thought maybe all (or probably most of) the employees in the street are women. But I was proved to be wrong – there are both men and women who work in the street.
Apart from the gender empowerment measure in China, I think the main reason behind the street’s name is that the market has quite many shops to sell goods and beauty products for women.
Affordable Food price
The food price would obviously depend on what you choose to eat. However, in general, food in the Lady’s Street is simply not that expensive. For example, for RMB 5-10, you can get 3 medium size pieces of fried chicken. For RMB 5 you can get 4 pieces of stinky tofu. For RMB 8 you can get one ultra-delicious Juanbing (捲 餅, Juǎn bǐng).
Frankly, China is a food paradise and Hefei is an amazing destination for exploring Chinese food culture.
What to eat?
Well, in China (or elsewhere), if you don’t know what to eat, just see if there is a crowd waiting in a long queue behind a food stall. A long queue at any stall would be a clear-cut indication of finding delicious food. Let me show you the crowd at a fried chicken stall in Hefei’s Lady’s street.
I’ll quickly list down some of the food you should try in Nv Ren Jie-
- Stinky tofu – the vegetarian Chinese food
- Roasted naan bread (stuffed pork, beef, or vegetarian)
- Fried chicken – the most famous stall is located just near the street’s front gate towards the Sanxiaokou subway station
- Pearl milk tea
- Roasted eggplants
- Jaunbing
The food was so tasty in the Women’s Street that I kept coming here – again and again. I think Juanbing is a must try. It’s basically a pancake filled with meat and vegetables.
The pancake itself could be either roasted or unroasted. If you prefer vegetarian Chinese food, you could request the vendor to not include meat in Juanbing (or any other cuisine).
gender equality & gender empowerment measure
We all know that the women empowerment is the need of the hour. There is certainly an increased focus on gender equality. I feel that a solid gender empowerment measure could be to name, at least, some of the famous places to cherish women’s contribution to the mankind and society.
Hope you enjoy eating delicious Chinese food in Hefei. 🙂
That’s all in this post about authentic Chinese street food restaurant in Hefei, Anhui. Do check out my other posts about Hefei (Hefei City, Anhui, China, travel review – Part 1 and Part 2).
If you have any question about Chinese street food or travelling in Hefei city, feel free to post in our forum so that others could also contribute and learn. For regular updates like us on Facebook, or follow on Twitter!
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Happy travelling in Anhui, China.
Cheers!
Last updated: Wednesday, April 11, 2018