Many small restaurants and coffee shops can be found along Zhongyandajie and in neighboring alleys. You can also eat and buy fruit on Tongjiang-jie Street.
Dongfang Jiaozi Wang DUMPLINGS
Inexpensive jiaozi are always good, and in addition, there is a rich selection of vegetarian dishes and excellent fruit drinks. The dumpling shop on Hongjunjie Street is a 10-minute walk in the south-east direction from the railway station. Turn into an alley behind the Overseas Chinese Hotel and walk a few steps. Both establishments of the chain have a menu in English.
Russia 1914 RUSSIAN RESTAURANT/CAFE
A quiet, ivy-covered cafe-tea-restaurant will take you back a hundred years. The walls are hung with unique black and white photographs from the past of Russian Harbin. Antique-style furniture and a fireplace complete the picture. The menu includes Russian classics like borscht and pies with cabbage, potatoes and meat. And vodka, of course!
The restaurant is located in a closed courtyard, a little away from Zhongyang Dajie. Look for a sign in local English “Russian Food and Tea”.
Bi Feng Tang RESTAURANT
The northernmost restaurant of the famous Shanghai culinary empire. Tender dumplings in the South Chinese style, rice noodles, dishes in clay pots and wonderful desserts. It’s good to come here late at night. The address is the same as that of the Jingu Hotel – opposite “Russia 1914”, but only on the side.
Ding Ding XiSng HOT SAMOVAR
Harbin winter and hot pot are made for each other, like strawberries and whipped cream. The three-storey restaurant, which looks more like a Chinese karaoke club from the outside, can hit your pocket if you decide to order seafood or Japanese beef on display. However, the same beef, lamb and fish are served here at very reasonable prices, but without unnecessary advertising. After ordering a pot, demand special sauces for it.
On summer evenings, kitchens on wheels and beer outlets in the open air appear on the streets next to Zhongyang Dajie, where you can take your soul away for a bottle of cold Hapi, skewers of squid, lamb or something else.
There is a food market on Zhongyandajie Street all year round; @8.30-20.00), where you can have a snack with fine bread, smoked meats, sausages and other delicious things, and then stock up on nuts and sweets. We recommend this place to those who are going to buy food for the road or prefer to have dinner in their room.
Where to drink and have fun
Karaoke TV clubs are very popular in Harbin. If you don’t like to sing in company, go to one of the few bars on Zhongyang Dajie and Tiandilu. In summer, in the Zhongyang Dajie area and the park. Stalin opens a lot of open-air pubs, where you can have a snack and even watch a sports broadcast on a large television screen.
The noisy disco bar “Elosy”) attracts Chinese and Russian youth.
