Cuisine is not a reason to visit Pingdingshan. The most popular dish here is a bowl of Hui-Mian noodles, which are quite bland and quite a mouthful at the same time. However, the locals survive on it, so you won't do harm in giving it a shot. Otherwise, find a dumpling shop, or a little Sichuan restaurant å°åå·which there seem to be plenty of. Probably the most entertaining dining experience is just another Mutton-kebab street restaurant during the warmer months. These places sell all parts of a goat barbequed on a stick with a variety of extra cold dishes like Sijidou green beans and xiaofanqie baby tomatoes. Sitting outside at one of these places will guarantee friendly company within an hour. Don't expect any hot-pot, Sichuan or even Hunan restaurants to be very close to home, as the dishes are usually doused in vinegar and cut way too large.
The hot-pot restaurant chains "Little Fat Sheep" of Inner Mongolia and Qingma of Chongqing are both located on north Guangming road. Both are good standard hot pot places just more expensive than an authentic one.
To live cheap, there are RouJiaMo - stuffed breadrolls which are very soul-foodish, comforting and delicious. The stuffing ranges from pork and sprouts to tofu, onion and green pepper. Any one can be picked up for about ¥2 and your chances of getting a good mix are very high. You can find vendors in small stalls along streets or just selling off the street itself. These little 'sandwiches' are a good local alternative to the McDonald's and KFC locations you can find all around the city center.
Find a high school or middle school around breakfast, lunch or dinner time and you will find a cavalry of cart vendors selling some kind of Chinese burrito. They mostly have a wheat-based wrap with anything from pork sausage to egg to vegetable fillings. You can ask them to make it spicy jia la jiao duo as they have chili pepper on hand.
