The simply decorated Honggaoliang Restaurant in Shenzhen is a popular eatery featuring Northeastern dishes like the one in your neighborhood, but it has many regular foreign customers.

Recommended by a friend, I went to Honggaoliang (or red Chinese sorghum) to find the secret of its special appeal.

Cumin-flavored fried mutton was said to be a favorite dish of a German patron. The thinly sliced mutton was fried with sliced garlic, cumin and red chili powder on a hot iron plate. Green coriander leaves are sprinkled over the dish when served. The aroma alone was mouthwatering, not to mention its tasty and heavy flavor.

Pickled Chinese cabbage is most popular with Korean diners, who come from a nation which loves pickled vegetables. The pickled Chinese cabbage, however, widely differs from Korean pickled vegetables either in preparation or in combination with other ingredients.

The Chinese cabbage is placed outside in the open air for two or three days before being placed in jars. Each layer of cabbage is covered with a little salt, and a pressure is placed on top. Water is added until the cabbage is covered. No chili or other seasonings are added. Pickled Chinese cabbage is ready to eat after about one month.

There are many ways to eat pickled Chinese cabbage: sliced pickled cabbage fried with sliced meat; pickled cabbage stewed with meat; Chinese ravioli stuffed with pickled cabbage and minced pork or beef and so on.

The dish I tried at Honggaoliang was pickled cabbage stewed with spareribs and fine noodles made from mungbean. It was sweet and only slightly sour, without the special strong sour smell of an ordinary pickled cabbage dish. Apparently, the chef has adjusted the traditional recipe to meet the preference for the light and sweet taste in Guangdong.

A traditional dish called deep-fried shredded meat saut¨¦ is also served at Honggaoliang. It is one of the luxury dishes remembered by many middle-aged people who lived through the difficult years when food was in short supply.

The dish is very simple. The shredded meat is wrapped in potato starch before being fried in oil. The fried meat is cooked again with chopped green pepper and carrot.

After being cooked twice, the shredded meat is very tasty. I was told that the dish was also a frequent choice by some foreigners.

Other popular dishes include the fried three vegetable delicacies (fried green pepper, potato and eggplant), the cold cucumber dish from Northeast China, and the rich varieties of jiaozi, or Chinese dumplings.

I asked the owners how did the foreigners order from the menu which was completely in Chinese. The wife smiled and said some Korean people took pictures of the dishes they liked and came back with the pictures.

The dishes at Honggaoliang are all simple dishes, just like its style of decoration. The owners, a couple from Northeast China, are very hospitable and honest, qualitities that help retain customers. I saw that most of the diners seemed like old friends with the couple and the husband went to many tables to greet his customers.

Economical prices are another attraction. For an average cost of 20 to 30 yuan, patrons have a pretty good selection of typical Northeastern flavor.

Editor: Wings