8 Chinese Weird Menu Names

Speaking of Chinese dishes, many people may think of peking duck, steamed dumpling, and dim sum. Many Chinese dishes are loved by people all around the world. Nevertheless, there are many Chinese dishes that are named weirdly to make that menu more interesting. Today, ACU PAY gathers 8 Chinese dishes with uncommon names. Let’s see how these names are related to the food.

1. Buddha Jumps Over the Wall (佛跳墙)

You may be familiar with “Buddha Jumps Over the Wall” which is famous for its properties to nourish health. Legend has it that this menu smelled so good that Chinese monks in the temple nearby had to jump over the wall to taste this delicious dish.

This menu is a Fuzhou local food. This menu consists of excellent ingredients with various body care properties such as sea cucumber, abalone, fish maw, shark’s fin, mushroom, Cordyceps, and so on to be boiled together and stewed for a long time until it has a strong and smooth taste.

2. Ants climbing a tree (蚂蚁上树)

“Ants climbing a tree” is Stir-fried glass noodles with minced pork. It is one of the Sichuan and Chongqing traditional dishes, so it is slightly spicy. The reason why this menu is called ants climbing a tree is because when the glass noodles are pinched up, the minced pork will stick up with the glass noodles as well just like ants climbing up a tree.

Apart from the glass noodles and minced pork, this menu usually has carrot, ginger, spring onion, and other vegetables. Thus, this menu has no ant as an ingredient.

3. The donkey rolled around (驴打滚)

“The donkey rolled around” is a menu made of glutinous rice flour rolled up with red bean filling and sprinkled with soybean flour. This is a traditional menu in Beijing. The name comes from the northern Chinese who prefer to raise donkeys for use and donkeys like to roll with yellow sandy soil. This way of making snacks, they have to roll it over with roasted soybean flour.

4.Mother and son meet (母子相会)

“Mother and son meet” is stir-fried bean sprout with soybean. This dish consists of mother (soybean) and son (bean sprout) that can be together. The reason is bean sprouts are grown from soybeans.

5. My hand through your black hair (穿过你的黑发的我的手)

“My hand through your black hair” is a very long and romantic name. This dish is braised pork leg with seaweed. Pork legs are seen as a hand and seaweed as if black hair. This name comes from the song released in 1984 by Lua Tayu, an artist of that time.

6. The Green Dragon lies in the snow (青龙卧雪)

“The Green Dragon lies in the snow” is a snack name. The main ingredient is cucumber sprinkled with caster sugar which makes this dish look like a green dragon lying on the snow.

7. Whisper (悄悄话)

“Whisper” is a menu that you would have no idea what it is. It is actually a “stir-fried pork tongue with pork ear” When mouth and ear are close to each other, it becomes a whisper.

8. To kill Zhu Wuneng with a stick (乱棍打死猪八戒)

“To kill the pig with a stick” this splendid menu name is actually “Stir Fried Onion Flower Stem with Pork” The cut onion flower stem looks like a stick and pork is Zhu Wuneng from Journey to the West. It means that pork has to be surrendered when stir-fried with onion flower stem.

What is your opinion about these 8 weird Chinese menu names? Have you ever heard of or tried these menus? Despite their weird names, they are delicious for sure, as well as nutrition from them. If you have a chance to visit China, do not forget to try these 8 menus!

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