Liu Hongsheng

Liu Hongsheng was founded around 1873 in the late Qing dynasty, when its first owner Song San (Song Deli) and his wife carried their goods by shoulder pole through the old city of Luzhou, selling dumplings and noodles. Their mushroom-and-chicken dumplings, simmered in broth drawn from local chicken, won renown. After the 1956 public-private merger it became the first state-run restaurant in Hefei, and the craft has been carried on for nearly a hundred and fifty years.

Liu Hongsheng is a household name among Hefei people, rising on a single bowl of mushroom-and-chicken dumplings handed down through generations; to this day it anchors the city's breakfast scene, with locals saying one has not truly been to Luzhou without tasting it.

Its signature mushroom-and-chicken dumplings draw a clear, savoury broth from a local hen of about three catties slowly simmered; the wrappers are thin and the filling tender, lifted by dried mushrooms. The house also keeps old Luzhou dim sum such as chicken-oil steamed dumplings, osmanthus red-bean paste, shredded-radish pork pastries and egg-yolk shumai.

Liu Hongsheng was recognised as a third-batch China Time-Honoured Brand by the Ministry of Commerce and four other ministries in 2024.