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A taste of Dali

Jinshan Centennial Courtyard Restaurant (Wang Family Old Residence)

尽善百年古院餐厅（王家老宅）

Bai cooking served in a genuine old courtyard house inside Dali Old Town. The kitchen's signature is a sour-and-spicy fish soured with passionfruit rather than the traditional heavy vinegar and pickled chilli, which makes the dish much more approachable for a first-timer without losing the point of it.

¥70–90 per person≈ US$10Ctrip Dali City list No. 10Dali Old Town (大理古城). No metro; Dali Old Town is about 30 minutes by bus or taxi from Dali railway station in Xiaguan.
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Why come here

A place worth making time for

No. 10 on Ctrip's Dali City food list, rated 4.6

The house favourites

What to order

Point at the Chinese. Staff will understand it even where the menu has no English at all.

  • Passionfruit sour-and-spicy fish (百香果酸辣鱼)
  • Clay pot fish (砂锅鱼)
  • Fried rushan milk fan (炸乳扇)
  • Stir-fried Erhai water-lily stems (水性杨花)

What it actually tastes like

Bai cooking is built on sour and salty rather than numbing, and the sourness is assertive. Rushan is a dried cow's-milk cheese, deep-fried or grilled — a dairy product in a cuisine region where dairy is rare nationally, and a genuine problem for anyone lactose intolerant. Erhai fish is served whole with bones. Water-lily stems are slippery and faintly bitter.

Allergens in this kitchen

fishdairysoygluten/wheatsesameegg

This is the kitchen, not one dish. Woks, fryers, blanching water and utensils are shared in almost every Chinese restaurant, so for a serious allergy treat the whole premises as the unit rather than ordering around it.

Get to know the menu

Local specialities to try here

Rushan Milk Fan 乳扇Milky and faintly sour, chewy-stretchy when grilled and crisp when fried; the rose jam version is floral and sweet.