Insiders’ guide to Kunming: what to eat, drink and do in Yunnan’s capital
Enjoy a vegetarian meal at a Buddhist temple, local beer at Chaba Brewing and a hot springs dip at Yunshang Spring
The Old Street, running west off central Zhengyi Street, through the Flower and Bird Market, is lined with gemstone vendors, textile stores and cafes. The city’s main draws are the “wine-glass-shaped buildings” – twin European-style, curved constructions of 1940s provenance – as well as the flower-festooned parks of Cuihu (Green Lake) and Lianhuachi (Lotus Lake).
Herbivore heaven
“I know all the vegetarian places around town,” says the Briton, before explaining that Kunming’s meat-free eateries are typically all-you-can-eat buffets that, he, warns, “can get busy on auspicious Buddhist holidays, so check the date in advance”.
“Every time you eat out, there are 10 vegetables you’ve never heard of – and they’re all delicious,” says Paterson. “Plus there are yecai [wild herbs] and, in the summer mushroom season, you can eat fresh shiitake, that would be expensive in Japan, for next to nothing.”
Paterson recommends Su Ji Xiang, located between Green Lake Park and Yuantong Temple – a pond-fringed Buddhist complex established more than a millennium ago, where, for 20 yuan (HK$22), one can feast on as many plants as one can digest.