I joined a tour of Shanxi and got to know a group of like-minded friends during the trip. On the last night, we went for a nice dinner in a restaurant recommended by the tour guide.
Tubaozi 土包滋 is a popular local restaurant that specialises in Taiyuan cuisines 太原菜, which is a sub-branch of Jin cuisine 晋菜. It has branches all around Taiyuan and this one is just around the corner from our hotel.
After we settled down, we ordered a “couple” of their signature dishes, and a few classic from the Jin cuisine repertoire. And when the enjoyable evening dragged on, we ordered some more.
Our Dinner Menu at Tubaozi (Nov 2025)
Fen Chiew “Classic Black” Light-Aroma Baijiu, 42% ABV, 500 ml 汾酒
Since we were in Shanxi, we had to go with the local poison, Fen Chiew, aka Fen Jiu 汾酒, and our tour guide recommended that we stick with the normal porcelain bottle ones instead of the fancy vintage and limited editions. An iconic light-aroma baijiu from Xinghua Village with mellow and clean with subtle grain and delicate floral/fruit notes, it was surprisingly good drink with crisp finish and gentle sweetness.
Appetiser 土包滋下酒菜
Food you eat with alcohol 下酒菜, or otsumami おつまみ in Japanese, is a very Asian concept and the concept is diluted (pun intended) with the English translation of “appetiser”. These are usually salty, crispy and strong tasting bites that are not usually served as main courses. Their signature “appetiser” is a cucumber salad dressed with Shanxi vinaigrette. The entire salad is made up of crunchy stuff like walnuts, baby beets, and black wood fungus. Wonderful with the Fen Chiew.
Sow Thistle Salad 静乐沙地苦菜
Annual sow thistle 沙地苦菜 (Sonchus oleraceus) is considered an invasive species due to its rapid growth, prolific seed production, and wide dispersal. Not in China 🙂 as it is collected and made into a salad. Before you make any nasty comments, do note that thistle is actually very nutritious and when cooked properly is very delicious, like this appetiser. Young leaves are tossed with chopped leeks and dressed with sesame oil. Very nice.
Soft Tofu with Shrimps in Stone Casserole 石锅鲜虾嫩豆花
The next dish was labelled as a signature dish and came as a piping hot stone casserole, bubbling along as it was served. Nothing to shout about as the best ones are from Jiangsu region that use crab roe instead of shrimps.
Dingxiang Steamed Meatloaf 定襄蒸肉
Dingxiang steamed meatloaf 定襄蒸肉 is like a very starchy version of Spam. Dingxiang County is in north Shanxi 晋北 and was the hometown of warlord Yan Xishan 阎锡山. This dish originated from 肴蒸 technique from the pre-Qin era, and is considered one of three classic steamed meat dishes from Jin 晋式三蒸. When Chiang Kaishek visited the area, Yan had this dish on the dinner. The sauce is made from Shanxi vinegar, which is very fragrant as it is made from sorghum.
Copper Hotpot 铜火锅
Shanxi copper hotpot 山西铜火锅 originated from Xinjiang Country 新绛县 in central Shanxi 晋中. This historical area is famous for bronze casting since Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC). Unlike the shabu-shabu or our southern hotpot where we cook raw ingredients in the boiling stock, the cooked ingredients are layered into the pot, stock added and then charcoal put in to let the hotpot simmers away.
And ingredients (in this case) included deep fried yam, braised pork belly, deep fried meatballs 炸丸子 ( couldn’t figure out if its lamb or pork), deep fried pork loin 小酥肉, deep fried pork belly 红糟烧肉, placed on top of a bed of Chinese cabbage and kelp and sprinkled with leeks and scallions.
I have no idea who started this custom, but we must have a hotpot during reunion dinners the night before Chinese New Year, “sitting around the hotpot, looking for the taste of new year” “围炉而坐，觅年味”. As the evening worn on, the waitress helped us topped up the stock to prevent the pot from drying up. And as the ingredients simmered away, the pot got even more tastier. And the hot soup was great to “neutralise” the alcohol.
Steamed Pork Buns 黑猪肉土包子
Another signature of the restaurant is their steam buns made a la minute in the restaurant. Many patrons will buy back chilled ones to steam at home for breakfast. We ordered two flavours, but I managed to only try one of them. The steamed pork bun wasn’t what I expected; the dough was similar to mantou 馒头 and not the sweetened raised dough that we use in Cantonese dimsum. The pork was mixed with chives and scallions and seasoned with a lot of soy sauce. Nice and moist with generous amount of filling.
Sautéed Cabbage with Pan Fried Guanchang 卷心菜煎灌肠
The taste is similar to stir-fried napa cabbage with vinegar sauce 醋溜白菜 that you get everywhere in Beijing, but instead of napa cabbage, they used the regular cabbage. Reading the menu, I thought it was Chinese sausage, which we called 灌肠. But guanchang 灌肠 here refers to rice sausage.
Sautéed Celtuce 莴笋小炒皇
At this point in the dinner, we couldn’t eat any more main dishes but we still have half a bottle of liquor. So we ordered a couple more dishes to go with the drinks. I was attracted to the baby corns and walnuts in this simple dish, and it turned out to be a really interesting combination – three different levels of crunch from the celtuce, walnut and baby corn.
Oil Fried Peanuts 油酥花生
We ordered a portion of peanuts to continue drinking and chatting. This was quite nice, like the once very popular 黄飞红花生 Huang Fei Hong Spicy Peanuts.
Spicy Cow Tripe 涮毛肚
Cow tripe 毛肚 has a fatty consistency that is wonderful with spicy condiments like Szechuan mala. This dish isn’t exactly Jin cuisine, but it was perfect to go with the drinks, another of those otsumami 下酒菜.
The restaurant is very popular with locals, and you can see them celebrating birthdays, friends gathering for a chat, etc. The food was nice, but I cannot comment on how authentic as I am not familiar with the genre. The copper hotpot is a must order, and if you are with friends or family that can drink, the Fen Chiew is also an experience. Recommended.
Tubaozi Taiyuan Cuisine 土包滋 太原菜 (长治路店)
No. 199, Changzhi Road, Pingyang Road Street, Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province
山西省太原市平阳路街道长治路199号（长风街地铁站B口步行130米）
Visited Oct 2025
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