Diqing Dining

Diqing dining will bring you some information about what to eat and where to eat in Diqing. Diqing food is featuring strong ethnic flavor, buttered tea and Zanba are the main food for Tibetan people in Diqing.

What to Eat in Diqing

The population of Diqing consists mainly of Tibetans together with many ethnic minorities. This creates a chance to immerse yourself in the beautiful scenery while enjoying the local food and drinks. When visiting Diqing during your Yunnan travel, Tibetan cakes, zanba, pipa meat, buttered tea, yogurt and barley wine(a Tibetan wine made from barley) are must taste.

Featured Food

Zanba

Zanba is the Tibetan staple food, made of highland barley powder. In fact, it is the highland barley fried noodles, and is the staple food that Tibetan people must eat every day. When visiting a Tibetan family, the host will certainly serve the fragrant buttered tea and highland barley fried noodles.

Pipa Pork

Pipa pork is a kind of meat prepared by traditional Tibetan salting methods. Pipa meat can be preserved for a long time and can be preserved for years if not cut. The meat is delicious and tasty, meat color is transparent, making people mouth watering. Pipa pork can be boiled, stewed or fried, usually used to entertain guests.

Yak Meat

Living in the area above 3500 meters all year round, yaks often eat wild herbs such as fritillaria, cordyceps and so on. Therefore, their meat is delicious and tasty. Yak body is treasure, meat can be eaten, skin can be sewn into garment, boots and bags, etc., head can be processed into crafts, tail can be made into brooms, and bullwhip is an aphrodisiac medicine. In addition, yak beef can be braised in soy sauce, stewed or dried to eat, with unique taste.

Yak Meat Hot Pot

Yak meat hot pot is a specialty dish in Yunnan Diqing. Yaks live on the pollution-free plateau. They are grass-fed with delicate meat, and are the favorite of Tibetan people. Delicious soup base and appetizing yak meat can let people come to Diqing enjoy the delicious yak meat. Yak hot pot is an indispensable delicacy in the cold winter.

Matsutake Mushroom

Matsutake mushroom is also known as "king of fungi". Every year when the rainy season comes, matsutake mushroom can be seen from Dali and Lijiang to Diqing and northwest Yunnan. Matsutake mushroom is rich in various elements such as crude protein, crude fiber and vitamin, which not only tastes delicious, but also is good for the stomach.

Highland Barley Bread(青稞饼)

Highland barley cake is made by highland barley flour, kneading dough with baking powder and water, waiting for the dough to ferment, then adding canola oil to bake, which is one of the favorite staple food of Tibetan people. Highland barley cake also helps digestion, invigorates health effectively and improves immunity, and is easy to carry.

Drinks

Buttered Tea

Yak butter tea is a necessary drink for Tibetan people to entertain guests. It is often served with zanba and other staple foods. Brick tea contains much tannic acid, which can stimulate gastrointestinal writhing and accelerate digestion. If you drink the tea alone, you will be easy to get hungry. So yak butter or milk is needed when drinking the brick tea. Buttered tea is the best beverage in Shangri-la area because of its high quantity of heat, which can eliminate the cold and replenish the heat needed by human body. 

Barely Wine 

The highland barley wine, which has a history of more than 1000 years, is one of the main drinks in Tibetan area of Shangri-la. When you enter a Tibetan house, they always welcome you with barley wine. The barley wine has a clear and pure color, and a lingering taste.

Tibetan Yogurt

Tibetan yogurt is a kind of unique dairy product in the Tibetan area of Shangri-la. It is made with the yak milk which has been extracted yak butter. It is rich in nutrition, helpful for digestion, producing saliva and slaking thirst. It is most suitable for the old people and children.

Baixue Tea(白雪茶)

Baixue tea is also known as the Dixue tea, which grows in the snow mountain with an altitude of more than 4000 meters, is fragrant and sweet and has a slightly bitter taste. It contains many elements which are beneficial to the human body, and can reduce the blood fat, reduce the weight, refresh the brain, clear the summer-heat, promote saliva, moisten the lung, relieve the cough, and have a remarkable curative effect on the hypertension, the neurasthenia, the pharyngalgia, and the like.

Where to Eat in Diqing

There are various Restaurants in Diqing, including Tibetan-style restaurants, Western Restaurants, Sichuan cuisine restaurants and Yunnan cuisine restaurants. Besides going to restaurants, you can spend some money having a meal in a Tibetan family.

Recommended Restaurants in Diqing

  • Quiet Manishi Tibetan Restaurant(静静的嘛呢石藏餐吧)
    Address: No.3, Zuo Ba Rui, Dukezong Ancient Town, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市独克宗古城作巴瑞3号
    Tel: 0887-8286627/13988776674
  • Kangba Herd Tibetan Restaurant(康巴牧人藏餐吧)
    Address: No.13, Du Gu Shuo, Dukezong Ancient Town, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市独克宗古城独古硕13号
    Tel: 18760883035
  • The Puppet Western Restaurant(香格里拉木偶西餐厅)
    Address: No.92, Dawa Road, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市达娃路92号
    Tel: 0887-8225485
  • Little Chef on the Tongue Tip(舌尖上的小厨师)
    Address: Yingbin Avenue, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市迎宾大道
    Tel: 13988792520/15284553375
  • Akhustonpa Tibetan Restaurant
    Address: Xiangbala Old Street, Cangfang Street, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市仓房街香巴拉老街
    Tel: 13988724351
  • Yintong Bianmin Snack(银同便民小吃)
    Address: No.32, Yirou Mulang, Dukezong Ancient Town, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市独克宗古城依若木廊32号
    Tel: 13988719963
  • Once Upon A Time in Meili(梅里往事餐厅)
    Address: Feilaisi, Deqin County, Diqing迪庆州德钦县飞来寺
    Tel: 0887-8416617
  • Shouwang Meili Restaurants(守望梅里餐饮吧)
    Address: Near National Highway 214, Deqin County, Diqing迪庆州德钦县214国道附近
    Tel: 13988734076/13508871460

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