Zao Fan: Breakfast of China

Winner of the Fortnum & Mason Cookery Book Award 2025

Let Michael Zee, creator of the popular SymmetryBreakfast account, be your knowledgeable guide to breakfast in China.

Contains over 40 recipes with QR codes that allow you to watch how the dishes are made in China.

Breakfast in China is an important affair. At dawn, the streets come alive with vendors setting up for the morning breakfast rush. Each vendor will have their speciality that they make day in, day out, honing their recipe over years, and even generations. Locals are spoilt for choice, with a huge variety of spicy noodles, plump dumplings, and fluffy buns all made fresh to order right on their doorsteps.

Michael Zee, creator of the popular SymmetryBreakfast account, has eaten his way around China, hunting down the very best versions of these morning favourites and recreating them at home so that you can too. In China, these are recipes devised for speed and convenience and so are also perfect for filling lunches, nourishing dinners, and quick and tasty snacks.

Why not try:

• Dan dan mian – Sichuanese street-style noodles with a sesame paste sauce
• Jian bing – savoury filled crêpe
• Xiaolongbao – steamed Shangainese soup dumplings
• Youtiao – sweetened fried dough sticks, delicious dipped in fresh soy milk or covered in soft serve ice cream

With Michael as your knowledgeable tour guide, you’ll be transported to the bustling streets of China, see the mesmeric pulling of noodles and pleating of dumplings, and be fully immersed in one of the most exciting and diverse food cultures in the world.