For authentic Liaoning fare snatch a table at the Boat House located inside the Gloria Inn Shenyang. Its ever-changing menu adheres to the Chinese saying "we cook everything with four legs except chairs and tables" by offering smoked chicken, bear's paw, shark's fin, bird's nest, fried shrimp and more. Its spacious main dining room is bright and airy and affords spanning window views. VIP rooms are available for special occasions. Na Jian Guan honors the area's Manchu heritage with Manchu dishes featuring barbecued beef and mutton and plenty of stewed items. For the utmost in Liaoning cuisine, find your way into the Lao Bian Dumpling Restaurant. For more than an amazing 170 years its kitchen has been filling local bellies with jiaozis—dumplings packed with minced pork and various vegetables. Despite an absence of decor, this two-story dining legend's tables are always occupied. The Laobian Eating House also enjoys "Do Not Miss" status for its jiaozi menu. Its service is poor on good days, yet never deters the crowds. Next-door proximity to the Imperial Palace makes it popular with tourists.

Shenyang's glut of Cantonese restaurants has caused many visitors to presumptuously conclude: the author of China's Cantonese recipe book must be one very wealthy human being. Wealthy indeed. The city seemingly, by some arcane government decree, has a Cantonese restaurant on every street corner. Sifting the good from the bad is easy if you stick to the hotel restaurants. Shang Palace, located inside the Traders Hotel pampers diners with a regal setting of white tablecloths with dark red napkins. The five-star Sheraton Shenyang Lido Hotel's Celestial Court offers a five-star setting complemented by five-star menu. If the evening needs the stamp of being special, phone in a reservation to the Lin De Court. Located inside the four star Hotel Inter-Continental, its menu offers such Cantonese favorites as shark's fin, bird's nest, and a host of seafood options. The Times Plaza's appropriately named Canton Restaurant also enjoys a favorable standing, especially with locals, as does the Holiday Inn's Cafe Asiana with families. Or for seafood splendor amble into the Gloria Plaza's Sampan Cantonese Seafood Restaurant. All the offerings are just-caught fresh and include everything from shrimp and oysters to sea bass and eel.

Mikado's, in the five star Marriott Hotel, represents Japanese cuisine at its delicious best. Besides the usual sushi and sashimi offerings, it is best known for its teppanyaki cooking. Japanese trained chefs dazzle diners with a dexterous display of flashing knives as they chop, dice, and stir meats and vegetables on a tabletop grill. Large groups especially favor this restaurant.

If the stomach grumbles for western fare try Traders Cafe in the Traders Hotel. Its fourth floor setting affords diners great city views while enjoying steak, pasta and a variety of other European dishes. The Hotel Inter-Continental's Lombardi Fine Pizza and Grill attracts a massive local following for its Texas-perfect steaks, heaping pasta dishes, and thick crust pizzas. Or for something more casual in a livelier setting hunker down in the hotel's Mulligan's Irish Bar. Sandwiches dominate its menu.

Fast food restaurants are a common sight throughout Shenyang's streets, especially in downtown. Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's, and Pizza Hut lead the grab-and-eat list.