Stone-Bowl Bibimbap

Stone-bowl bibimbap fills a scorching stone bowl with rice, topping it with carrot, fern brake, bellflower root, spinach, shiitake, beef and fried egg, mixed through with chilli sauce, while the rice at the bowl's base crisps into a golden fragrant crust, a signature Korean-ethnic staple.

Bibimbap is a traditional Korean festive and everyday rice, prized for the harmony of "five elements and five colours" among its toppings; reaching Yanji it took on local seasonal wild greens such as bellflower and fern, and the scorching stone bowl keeps the dish hot and yields a crackling crust, a signature of Yanji Korean-ethnic restaurants.

Served hot, the chilli sauce and toppings are stirred thoroughly through the rice; one first tastes the mixed rice then scrapes up the crisp golden crust at the bowl's base, two textures from a single bowl.

The golden crust baked by the scorching stone bowl, the abundance of five-colour toppings and the ritual of mixing in the chilli sauce are the marks of Yanji stone-bowl bibimbap.