Chinese regional cuisine: Guizhou’s spicy and sour dishes and where you can find them in Hong Kong

Guizhou or Qian cuisine is similar to that of its neighbour Sichuan, but has its own unique dishes – such as pickles and fiery noodle soups – and ingredients, including a herb called fishwort and, for the brave, sheep’s reproductive organs

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From left: Li Wenju, Guo Daoqun (head chef and owner), and Zhou Shunli show off their Guizhou specialities at Wan Wan Xiang in Causeway Bay. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 1:03pm, 15 Mar 2018Updated: 7:19pm, 15 Mar 2018

Gathered around a table in a small restaurant, a group of women eat a late lunch after a morning and early afternoon spent feeding customers. Their chatter is punctuated with laughter. They are not related, but call each other “sisters” as they share the same root of origin – Guizhou province in southwest China.

Exterior of Wan Wan Xiang in Causeway Bay. Photo: Dickson Lee

The establishment, Wan Wan Xiang in Causeway Bay, specialises in Guizhou-style beef rice noodles, and is the brainchild of the women.

“This is my favourite home food! It’s called zhe er gen or yu xing cao [a Chinese herb better known as fishwort]. Well, many people can’t stomach it, but we just love it! It accompanies us from childhood to adulthood,” enthuses one of the chefs, Li Wenju, proud of her hometown specialities.

The women met at Hong Kong Guizhounese Association and realised that they had two things in common. One was that they badly missed food from their homeland, and they were unable to find it in Hong Kong. The other was that they wanted to share their delicacies with the city. Subsequently, the like-minded “sisters” started the business, headed by chef Guo Daoqun.

Li Wenju at Wan Wan Xiang in Causeway Bay. Photo: Dickson Lee

Surrounded by Sichuan, Hunan, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, Guizhou cuisine is influenced by neighbouring regions but just as importantly, establishes its own identity and personality in its cooking and flavours. It’s called Guizhou or Qian cuisine.

Guo says, “We love hot food as much as Sichuan folks do. But our ‘hot’ leans toward ‘fragrant hot’, rather than the mouth-numbing hot.”

There are no precise terms to describe Guizhou flavours, and no standard recipes, she remarks. “Every family has their own recipe. We play with recipes to our taste.”