If you happen to be passing through, or needing to take the train from here then there is great news about the street food Kunming South Railway Station scene, and that is that it is bloody epic.
Located on Ju Xian Street down the street from the Hampton By Hilton it encompasses restaurants and almost a kilometer of street food stalls offering a mixture of Kunming, Yunnan, Chinese ands international favorites, with even “Kunming chips” being a thing.
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What the Kunming South Railway Station?
Known as the spring city Kunming is one of the most beautiful and important touristic cities within China. Famous for its temperate climate in that it is never too hot, or cold. As well as being popular in its own right it is also the gateway to key sites such as Dali and Lijiang, not to mention being a gateway to south-east Asia.
It is all this that makes Kunming South the most important train station in the city with direct routes to Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing and even Vientiane in Laos, which is what drew me here this time.
Traditionally Chinese train stations, such as Guangzhou often have epic street food scenes generally different and more laid back than in stuck up city centers. And Kunming south railways station really lives up to this with the main street food street here (Ju Xian Street ) offering the best of not just Kunming street food, but far beyond.
Of course there is much more to the Kunming Street Food scene than just the train station, but this is the least touristy and most authentic Yunnan street food experience, in my mind at least.
Street Food Kunming South Railway Station
OK, so for this we will concentrate on the aforementioned Ju Xian Lu, which is about 10 minutes taxi or a few kilometers from Kunming South Railway Station.
This street is not just full of local hotels, nice and cheap, but also hordes of Yunnan style restaurants, as well as the key part here and that is almost 1 whole kilometer of street food stalls, with a whole heap of hawkers eagerly feeding both locals and travelers alike.
Food here is incredibly eclectic with it as I have mentioned covering a broad spectrum of dishes both local and further afield. So, what is worth having here?
What to eat?
What are the Kunming street food must try dishes? Well I will firstly go over what they generally have, before hitting with my 5 must try dishes.
As expected all the main favorites are here, such as kou rou (bbq), fried noodles, ro jia mou, dumplings and Kunming chicken style BBQ which tends to be very spicy. Other than this there are a few locally specialities, such as their take on “chips” i.e. fried potatoes, which were not just plentiful, but really good (alas without vinegar). The most popular stall though was selling pig skin, which was almost gamey.
Alas there are few places other than the restaurants to sit down and eat, as in no seating, but you can take it back to your hotel and chow down there.
5 Must try Kunming Street Food Dishes
5) – Fried Potatoes (Huize Fried Potatoes 会泽炸洋芋)
Not chips as the local guys pointed out to me, but instead Huize Fried Potatoes 会泽炸洋芋. For all intents these are fried potatoes that are more akin to what you get with English fish and chips (link) rather than French fries. Local herbs and garlic put on them, with the potatoes slightly harder than at back home.
4) – BBQ Chicken
While hardly reinventing the wheel BBQ chicken here is omnipresent with Kunming street food. Not breaded but comes as spicy as you like with a great tasting seasoning. And At $1.50-2.00 pure value if you need a meat injection.
3) – Kunming Style Jian Bing
While Jian Bing is a famous breakfast throughout China in Kunming they treat this as a snack throughout the day, with there being more slightly more spice to the Kunming street food variant. The main part of this dish are the egg filed pancake, the sausage and the crispy interior.
2) – Kunming sweets
While deserts are not all that much of a thing it seems that with Kunming street food they have a bit more of a sweet tooth. This included a whole heap of cakes, such as a Macau style egg tart, but also ice-creams, yoghurt and of course bubble tea. The later of these tends to actually taste like lightly sweetened tea rather than and injection of sugar.
1) – Kunming BBQ
When it comes to Kunming street food you can do much worse than a little outside Kou Rou with some Beer Lao while shooting the shit with the locals. Similar to bbq in the rest of China, but with some Laos and Vietnamese offerings, such as the rice sausage.
How to do Kunming Street Food
Aside from Ju Xian Lu – which I call the best street food in Kunming, there are a number of other place worth hitting up.
These include;
Xiba District 西市区美食
One of the most interesting places for Kunming street food in that its not really about Kunming. The main speciality here is Guizhou street food and overall Guizhou cuisine, which is certainly unique!
Beijing Road 北京路美食
Again there are lots of great restaurants here with this also being the main place for seafood street food in Kunming. Also a great Brazilian BBQ here.
Middle of Guanshang Road 关上中路美食
As you might hav guessed this is in the middle of Guanshang Road. Most famous here for hot pot with the resatuarnats here more pervasive than the street food.
And that is the overall skinny on not just Kunming Street food around the South Railway Street, but also further afield. And to ne at least the Kunming Street Food scene is well worth a look!
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