Liu Defang Tangyuan is a famous snack of Changsha City. It is sold in Liu Defang Tangyuan Restaurant only, which was established in Daoguang Period (1812–1850) of Qing Dynasty.

Liu Defang, nicknamed Liu San, was born in a poor family and sold tangyuan to make a living. Due to the good material and nice taste, his tangyuan was very famous. In 1852, Liu Defang went to buy flour and found that there was a sycee in the flour. So he went to buy six bags of flours and got another six sycees. With the silver, he bought a restaurant to run tangyuan. For the nice taste of its tangyuan, the restaurant has been very popular.

Lobster kind of big shrimp with crust propagating crazily in the lakes. With pepper, aniseed, fennel, garlic, gingers and other seasonings, stir–fry it with wine and cook it until done. It look red and quite delicious. It is so hot, but one cannot help eating it again and again.

Talk about Baozi (steamed stuffed bun), one must talk about Deyuan. Deyuan Baozi has thin skin and big stuffing. The sweet stuffing is made of candy, rose candy or sweet–scented osmanthus candy. The meat stuffing is made of pork, dried mushroom and jelly oil.

Deyuan was built during Guangxu Period of Qing Dynasty. It got its name from “where there is morality; where there is happiness, there is endurance” from the ancient book “The Spring and Autumn with commentary”. Originally, it was a small shop run by a couple. After several times of change of owners, there was no great success.

In the beginning of the Republic of China, several unemployed official chefs bough Deyuan and moved it to the crossing of Fangxi Lane, Huangxinglu, offering the customers the dishes of feudal official. There were always some leftover of seafood and fresh foods, so they chopped these food and made the stuffing for baozi. To their surprise, the baozi with such stuffing was quite popular. From then on, Deyuan baozi became famous.

After “Wenxi Fire”, some of the original chefs rebuilt the restaurant and named it Deyuan Teahouse. Gradually, it is well-known in Changsha for its “Eight Baozi”, which are Rose and Sugar, Dried Mushroom and Pork, Sugar and Salt Vegetable, Crystal Sugar, Sesame, Shrimp and Pork, Seashell and Pork, and Barbecued Pork Baozi.

This Hunan braised pork dish was said to be so beloved by Chairman Mao that he insisted that his chefs in Beijing cook it for him. Using belly pork cut into cubes and coated with a fragrant sweet and salty red sauce, the dish is best served with plain white rice and some stir–fried vegetables.

This Hunan classic, known across the globe, blends color and fragrance with fresh fish and spice. A large fish head is steamed and then covered in a heady mix of chopped bell peppers, garlic, coriander, onion, ginger and fermented soya beans.

This is probably the most typical local dish. It was said that the one who hasn’t eaten this dish equals is one who has never eaten Hunan Cuisine.

Simply stir–fry the chicken dices with pepper, capsicum, vinegar, shaohsing wine over high heat. The finished dish should have a bright color and spicy flavor. It is easy to describe, but very hard to cook. The best place to enjoy it is Yuloudong Restaurant.