Chaozhou's cooking style is becoming ever more popular in China, though thanks to last century's emigrants from the region, it has long been unconsciously appreciated overseas. Seafood is a major feature, while local roast goose, flavoured here with sour plum, rivals a good Beijing duck. Chaozhou dishes often contain sweet, scented flavours, going to the extent of cooking with fruit - this is where sweet-and-sour pork with lychees originated. Two of the best restaurants overlook Xihu Park on Huangcheng Bei Lu: the elderly Banhu Canting serves a decent portion of cold chopped goose and green vegetables for about ¥45 (enough for two), but the Ciyuan Jiulou is superb; indicate how much you're prepared to spend and they'll arrange a meal for you - four people pay around ¥50 each for roast goose, crispy-fried squid, steamed crab, fishball soup, fried spinach, and a selection of dim sum. Farther west, Huangcheng Xi Lu has heaps of cheaper places to eat rice-pots and stir-fries, too, as do many of the back streets. You can also buy very fresh milk , warm from the cow or goat, from the farmer who tethers his animals around the park gates in the afternoons - bring your own bottle.

The local tea is called gongfu cha, and Chaozhou's residents go through the rituals of its consumption on the slightest pretext - if nobody offers you a cup, most soft drinks shops serve it at a couple of yuan a session. First, the distinctive tiny pot and cups arrive on a deep ceramic tray with a grid on top for drainage; the pot is stuffed to the brim with the large, coarse leaves, filled with boiling water, and immediately emptied - not into the cups, but the tray. Then the pot is topped up and left to steep for a moment before the cups are filled with a rapid movement which delivers an equal strength brew to all. For all this effort you have a thimbleful of bitter tea, which has to be swiftly downed before it goes cold, more of a social activity than a source of refreshment.