Tianjin Restaurants and Dining

(Tianjin, China)



Picture of Tianjin and central restaurantTianjin is a vast city and as such, you would be correct to expect a variety of restaurants. These dining venues vary greatly in both price and quality, specialising not only in traditional Chinese cuisine, but also serving dishes of a more international flavour, with French, Italian, German, Japanese and Korean restaurants all being easy to find, amongst many others.

A visit to Tianjin can be considerably enhanced by paying a trip to an authentic Chinese restaurant, where chopsticks and Cantonese dishes will often be the order of the day. Whilst Chinese cuisine may not appeal to every palate, the restaurants in Tianjin do boast rather diverse menus and even the fussiest of eaters can usually find a suitable dish.


Photo of popular Chinese restaurant in the city

When to Eat / Opening Hours

As with the rest of China, breakfast in Tianjin is served relatively early, from 06:00 until around 09:00. Soon after, restaurants open for lunchtime dining, between 11:00 until 14:00. For an evening meal in Tianjin, don't plan on a late night, since restaurants only usually operate from 17:00 until 21:00 or 22:00, sometimes later.

Where to Eat

Some of Tianjin's best offerings on the dining scene are the restaurants housed within the main hotels. These are aimed at the tourist market and as such, you will often find multi-language menus, English-style cooking and award-winning chefs. Particularly noteworthy are the dining options at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Jiefang Beilu, which includes the outstanding Xiang Wei Zhai restaurant, where tasty steamed dumplings have become a speciality.

Central view of eateriesOf course, no dining adventure in Tianjin is really complete without a trip to Shipin Jie, which is otherwise known as 'Food Street'. A long, covered alleyway brimming with more than 50 different restaurants, these dishes on offer here can be rather diverse, ranging from soups, noodles, rice and crispy duck, to the rather more unusual dog meat, eels and even snake - something to talk about afterwards.

Further restaurants in Tianjin stand along Jiefang Beilu, Nanjing Lu, Shandong Lu, Zhejiang Lu and Zhongshan Lu, where you will find the Orchid Cafe and its extensive buffets. Many Americans visiting Tianjin enjoy dining at good old TGI Friday's, which stands along Fukang Lu and offers all the usual favourites, such as burgers, steaks, pasta bakes, chicken and seafood.