Morgan Bakewell

I'm consistently amazed that expats in China don't know about my favorite Chinese dish, huangmenji mifan. Not even expats who have lived here for years. I'm always a little nervous taking a friend for their first huangmenji because I know they are in for disappointment--Have I truly lived before this moment? Will I ever enjoy another food as much as this?--and they will feel they've been blind when they realize that huangmenji is basically on every block. In Nanjing alone there are more than 1200 registered huangmenji restaurants. How did it become China's most popular dish? And why don't foreigners know about it? These are some questions I have journeyed to answer.

What is huangmenji mifan?

The essential ingredients of huangmenji: the most tender braised chicken leg you will ever taste, green peppers, and xianggu mushrooms in a thick gravy. Other common ingredients include thick ginger slices, carrot, and potato. It is always served with a bowl of white rice (that's the mifan). It is salty and spicy with other signature flavors of Lu Cai, the traditional cuisine of Shandong Province.

Where did it come from?

Data released by Alipay showed that in 2015, huangmenji mifan surpassed Lanzhou pulled noodles and Shaxian Snacks in popularity, become the most popular dish in China. And, believe it or not, the national popularity was achieved in just a few years, although the dish was being served in restaurants as early as the 1890s. Much of the early history is disputed, but agreed upon facts are that the dish originated in Jinan, the capitol of Shandong Province, and gained local popularity in the 1930s with the merger of three well-known restaurants. Almost eighty years later, huangmenji was pushed onto the national stage by a man named Yang Xiaolu. In 2011 Yang perfected the recipe and opened the first restaurant that exclusively serves huangmenji—a restaurant that grew into a chain with more than 4600 locations in just five years. Yang's is now just one of many large chains that exclusively peddle huangmenji, though most are supplied with the exact same product.

The explosion of huangmenji, I'd argue, is one of the most under-appreciated events of the twenty-first century. It's hard to truly comprehend such an exponential expansion of a brick-and-mortar industry serving a single product. It's become so commonplace that even many Chinese people forget it's only been a national staple for a few years. Yet, huangmenji's overnight rise to China's most popular dish did not go unnoticed, and even garnered a fun, popular saying:

一道菜的餐厅

一只鸡的传说

in English:

A restaurant of one dish

A legend of one chicken

The saying cuts deep into what makes huangmenji's popularity so remarkable: The nations most popular restaurants typically have just one item on the menu: 就是huangmenji mifan! But the success of the industry is not without reasons: First, most chains purchase the same name-brand sauce, giving the basic taste continuity across restaurants. Second, opening a huangmenji restaurant is an incredibly cheap business venture, as this single-product operation requires only a few pieces of cheap kitchen equipment; the dish itself is very easy to make, keeping labor costs low. Third, and most importantly, it's just so delicious.

Why don't foreigners know about it?

To be fair, I probably only know huangmenji because I lived in its birthplace, Jinan, where locals take pride in it. Elsewhere in China, despite being the nation's most popular dish, it is not regarded as 'fine dining' simply because of its affordability and omnipresence. So, Chinese acquaintances aren't likely to take you there. And, quite understandably, expats in China tend to stick to restaurants with photo menus. Fear not! Huangmenji is very easy to order, as it's typically the only thing served. You'll only need to tell the laoban if you want a big dish or small dish and how spicy you want it—four syllables. Learn those four syllables, grab twenty kuai, and hit the streets. Once you're looking for it, it's impossible to miss “黄焖鸡米饭”!