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Haikou cuisine shares similar cooking techniques with Cantonese cuisine, but is known for its coconut flavor, with dishes like coconut milk chicken and coconut milk bird's nest soup. Hainan's four famous dishes (Wenchang chicken, Jiaji duck, Dongshan lamb, and Hele crab) can all be found in Haikou, along with Shishan braised lamb, Qukou seafood, Sibao Qiongshan tofu, and vegetarian vegetable pots. There's also a wide variety of shrimp, shellfish, and fish, ensuring a truly satisfying experience.
Morning Tea – Haikou's teahouses, restaurants, and hotels are packed early in the morning, and the lively morning tea scene lasts until after 10 a.m. We especially recommend Shuixiangkou Street, Boai Road's arcade-style street, home to Haikou's local eateries and an ideal place for breakfast. Hainanese pickled vermicelli noodles, beef brisket rice, pork trotter rice, chicken and duck rice, fried rice dumplings, pancakes, and anting noodle soup are all popular. Hainanese people also top their duck rice with a sauce that makes the duck skin crispy and the meat smooth.
Night Market – After 10 p.m., Haikou's night market brings the day's foodie frenzy to a climax. Street eateries and food stalls offer a variety of delicious snacks, including stir-fries, beef brisket, chicken rice, and qingbuliang (Chinese broth).
The meat pots are usually placed at the front of the store, with two large pots, one cooking beef brisket and the other roasting pig's feet. The fire burns gently under the pots, spreading waves of alluring aroma in the air.
Recommended shop: Dongmen Pork Knuckle Rice
Address: Dongmen Vegetable Market, Boai South Road, Meilan District
Local residents raise high-quality goats using the "pen-raising" method, resulting in goats with shiny black fur, tender and smooth skin, and rich, non-greasy meat. Yongyang goats can be prepared in a variety of ways, including broth-based dishes, boiled meat, braised in red sauce, and stewed with medicinal herbs, with mutton hotpot being the most famous.
Haikou's most famous porridges are undoubtedly pigeon and crab. The ingredients are fresh and without excessive toppings, allowing the aroma of the pigeon porridge and the sweetness of the crab porridge to shine through. When the porridge is served piping hot, topped with chopped green onions and cilantro, a sprinkle of pepper, and perhaps some fried dough sticks, the sweet and delicious flavor permeates the palate, leaving a lasting impression.
Recommended shop: Jinshunde Shenggun Congee (Yilung West Road)
Address: No. 36, Yilong West Road, Longhua District (opposite Yilong Middle School)
Fish stew is a Haikou specialty, primarily found in Baipoli and Daying Village. The flavors vary: the former is primarily fresh and original, while the latter is deep-fried before being stewed. You can choose between light or spicy, depending on your taste. The prices are affordable, with a medium portion typically costing around 20 yuan.
Recommended Shop: Sichuan Fatty Fish Casserole
Address: Municipal Garden, No. 16, Haidian Sanxi Road
Among Hainan's folk foods, coconut rice is an extremely unique food. It is made by steaming Hainan's high-quality glutinous rice, natural coconut meat and coconut milk together. It is a traditional Hainan farm snack.
Recommended store: Original Flavor (Wan Guo Branch)
Address: 6th Floor, Wanguo Metropolis, No. 26 Datong Road, Longhua District
Popular in Haikou area, this kind of rice dumplings is different from ordinary rice dumplings in that: first, they are not wrapped in rice leaves; second, the glutinous rice is steamed first and then the ingredients are added, and then fried and eaten. It is not restricted by seasons and can be made at any time.
Recommended shop: Aer Liangtang Haixiu East Road store
Address: 2nd Floor, Ambassador Hotel, No. 38 Haixiu Road, Meilan District
Hainan's Qingbuliang has at least a dozen and at most more than twenty ingredients. The most common ones include peanuts, red beans, mung beans, macaroni, fresh coconut meat, red dates, watermelon cubes, pineapple cubes, quail eggs, raisins, jelly blocks, pearls, coix seed, taro, etc. There are sweet, sour, southern, northern, and even foreign ingredients, which are perfectly combined like magic.
Recommended shop: New South China Old Brand Coconut Qingbuliang
Address: No. 5 Xinhua South Road, Longhua District, Electrical City
Hainan rice noodles have a long history of being made with rice noodles and more than a dozen condiments with unique colors and flavors. Today's Hainan rice noodles inherit the traditional pickling method and absorb foreign cultures, and their taste is much more delicious than the original.
Recommended stores: Qiongcaifang Concept Store, Overseas Chinese Store
Address: No. 17 Datong Road
Here you can taste fresh seafood on the boat, or buy freshly caught seafood, which will be processed into your favorite flavor by this seafood processing shop. This is a gathering place for seafood stalls.
Qilou Snack Street resembles a collection of similar food stalls, but each stall offers varying tastes, quality, and service. The Hainan noodles are excellent, and the Indian parathas are quite fragrant. It's quite crowded and lively. If you're looking for a Hainanese snack experience, this is a great choice.
The snack street outside the south gate of Hainan University opens after 5 PM. Student prices are available, but there are no seats. Here, you'll find specialties from all over the country: Korean cold noodles, Mongolian barbecue, Xinjiang fried noodles, Shanxi shaved noodles, Henan braised noodles, Shaanxi cold noodles, roujiamo (Chinese roujiamo), Wuhan duck neck, braised dishes, Guangdong rice noodle rolls, Sichuan Bobo chicken, and some local Hainan delicacies.
For noodles, there's Lao Yang's and Shanxi Noodle House. Wu Mei Roasted Meats is delicious, and the set menus and afternoon tea snacks (fried spareribs, Senbao black tea, and hot and sour chicken feet) at Senbao Coffee Casual Restaurant are also excellent.
Barbecue, Sichuan cuisine, Northeastern cuisine, Anhui cuisine, Mongolian cuisine, Xinjiang cuisine, Taipei Soy Milk King, all kinds of flavors are available.
Hainan is the first choice for outsiders to try the flavors of home. Recommendations include the barbecue and sauce soup at "Hanjiang Ting", the chicken, shrimp paste beans, and sour bean fish soup at "Fu Le Chicken Restaurant", the roast lamb leg and Maoge old duck soup at "Northeast 1+1 Dumpling Plaza", the local cuisine of "Zhang's Beef" and "Hangzhou Qiandai", the tomato sauce hot pot with fish fillet at "Dazui Yuxiang", the roast lamb leg and lamb tendon at "Silk Road Flower Rain Xinjiang Restaurant", the yellow croaker at "Shandong Baozi", the clay pot soybean pork trotter soup at "Jiangxi People", and the Hubei cuisine at "Little Blue Whale".
Haikou Qiongcaiwang Food Village is a restaurant that always insists on highlighting the local flavor of Hainan from its name to the dishes it produces and its management style, and it innovates healthy and special dishes with a distinctive personality.
Address: Opposite to the Agricultural Reclamation Machinery Factory, Jinken Road, Longhua District
Contact: 0898-66667788
Average spending per person: ¥84
The restaurant’s biggest specialty is the Wenchang chicken, which has tender muscles and a delicious sauce. It’s perfect for a simple lunch or dinner.
Address: Block B, Guolian Building, Guomao Avenue, Longhua District
Contact: 0898-66740947
Average spending per person: ¥48
This is a restaurant that specializes in Thai cuisine. The decoration blends very well with the environment. The design is quite thoughtful and the overall style is full of Thai flavor.
Address: Building 7, Meiyuan Commercial Plaza, Guomao Avenue, Haikou
Contact: 0898-66775757
Average spending per person: ¥80
It is a very interesting store. When you walk in, you will be greeted by a unique and antique environment. Inside the store hangs a striking signboard that reads "If you haven't been to the Great Wall, you are not a true man. If you haven't eaten tofu, it's a pity." Every detail in the store, from the dining utensils to the entire environment, is in a retro style. Sitting here is like going back to the corridor of history. Every decoration in the store is full of folk characteristics, with ancient lanterns, big red folding fans, carved dragon patterns, ancient copper coins and landscape decorations, which will satisfy the taste buds and eyes of everyone who comes here to eat tofu.
Address: 1st Floor, Jinghai Garden, Renmin Avenue, Haikou
Contact: 0898-66161628
Average spending per person: ¥35
Dazui Fish Village is now a well-known restaurant in Haikou. They use large male fish from Songtao Reservoir, and use the owner's unique dipping sauce to create a delicious and flavorful dish. Dazui Fish Village's reputation is growing through word of mouth.
Address: No. 16, Jinlong Road, Longhua District
Contact: 0898-68525666
Average spending per person: ¥52