Qunyinglou

Qunyinglou began in 1892 in the late Qing dynasty as a small snack shop named "Chun" opened by Wang Jiechen in Dalian, later growing into a renowned restaurant across southern Liaoning; built on Shandong cuisine, it stood first among old Dalian's celebrated houses and was hailed by fellow chefs as a cradle of cooks.

Qunyinglou made its name through Shandong cooking and traditional pastries, with its glutinous-rice shumai living in the memory of generations of Dalian diners; in 1994, on its centenary, it was awarded the "China Time-Honoured Brand" title by the former Ministry of Internal Trade.

Its pastries are made by careful hand-work: glutinous-rice shumai mixes sticky rice and minced meat into a filling wrapped in a lotus-edged skin and steamed, soft and glossy and flower-shaped; its Shandong dishes show precise heat control, deep in flavour without heaviness.

In the 2023 review of time-honoured brands by the Ministry of Commerce and other departments, Dalian's Qunyinglou failed the review due to demolition, reconstruction and business stagnation, and was removed from the China Time-Honoured Brand register.