Additionally, we found very few places with English menus. With our basic Chinese and Waygo phone app, we were able to order without too many issues though restaurants along the pedestrian street seemed to have more English menus available.
We had some hits and misses but overall, greatly enjoyed the food in Harbin. Here are the places we tried throughout our stay.
Dongfang Jiaozi Wang/Eastern Dumplings King (Numerous locations)
We actually ate here twice because it was close to our hotel, cheap, and tasty. We noshed on various dumplings (I'd recommend the pork and chive as well as the mushroom) with a side of eggplant, all washed down with a few cups of tea. Our bill was around 65 rmb for two people each visit.
Tatos (127 Zhongyang Dajie)
Tatos was one of the few places to offer us an English menu. We ventured here because I wanted to try some Russian food. To be honest, I don't have a ton of experience with Russian food (other than borscht) and had no idea what to expect. The food here was good, but not great. But maybe I'm just not that huge a fan of Russian food? The prices were okay, we spent around 200 rmb for two people, including drinks. I'd recommend trying the baked claypot dishes if you go.
Lao Chang Spring Pancake (178 Zhongyang Dajie)
Again, no English menu though this was easily my favorite meal in Harbin. I'd highly recommend rolling up some spicy pork and red peppers with sliced cucumber as well as one of the egg fillings. And don't forget to order a sauce. 100 rmb will get you more food than you'll be able to finish.
Again, no English menu though this was easily my favorite meal in Harbin. I'd highly recommend rolling up some spicy pork and red peppers with sliced cucumber as well as one of the egg fillings. And don't forget to order a sauce. 100 rmb will get you more food than you'll be able to finish.
After dinner, be sure to purchase a popsicle outside the Modern Hotel (89 Zhongyang Dajie). The ice cream sold here is supposedly made according to a hundred year tradition. Apparently that makes it extra tasty because we went back every day for one of these. Matthew declared it the best ice cream he has eaten in China. That's high praise from my husband.
Anyone else been to Harbin? Did I leave your favorite spot off the list?
That sounds like food heaven. I'm glad you had fun! The secret to not speaking a language, though, is to smile really hard at every single human you see, and eventually someone will take pity on you or befriend you and help you out, because there is at least one person who speaks a little bit of English in every city, and as long as you say one or two garbled native words first they are happy to help. I've learned this from experience :)
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