Bazi Rou (Braised Pork Belly)

Bazi rou is long strips of pork belly slow-braised in soy sauce until red, glossy and meltingly tender. It is Jinan's most emblematic everyday dish, typically sold and eaten over rice alongside meatballs, tofu and the like.

The name is said to trace to an old custom of sharing sacrificial meat: blocks of pork were tied into bundles ('bazi') with rush grass before braising. The dish has long been a staple of Jinan home cooking.

It is traditionally laid over a bowl of rice with a ladle of the dark, savoury braising liquid poured on top, often paired with a bowl of tianmo or soup — a classic Jinan lunch.

Look for the long, layered fat-and-lean strips, a deep reddish-brown sheen and meat that falls apart at the bite — savoury with a faint sweetness, all down to the seasoned braising broth.