Garlic Oysters
You can find these garlic oysters not only at the night market, but also from stalls scattered all across the city. They are incredibly popular and once you have had one, it is easy to see why.
The oysters are topped with rice noodles, a mound of chopped garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, green onions and chili peppers. Then they are placed on a charcoal grill and doused with a bit of rice wine. They are cooked until the noodles are soft and the sauce is bubbling away in the shell.
Khleb and Smoked Red Sausages
Khleb is a kind of Russian bread. It is big and round, as heavy as 2.5 kilograms (5.5lb). It tastes fragrant with hard shell but soft inside. The ingredients for this bread are flour, salt and hops. Khleb is convenient for carrying and storage. Hongchang (smoked red sausages) are made with lean meat. Because they are smoked with wood, there is a thin cover of charcoal dust over them. But do not think they are dirty, because it is with this dust that you can taste the true smoking flavor. When eating the Hongchang, you can also make a sandwich with the Khleb.
They are sold in lots of bread and pastry stores in the city, especially Central Avenue. A famous brand is "Churin (秋林)", with chain stores almost everywhere to be found in Harbin.
Guo Bao Rou (sweet and sour pork)
Guo bao rou is Harbin's signature dish and you would be foolish to visit the city and not have it before you left. There are many a restaurant offering platter after platter, but at the night market you can watch them fry up a fresh batch right before your eyes.
The breading is extra crispy, the sauce is tangy and gingery and the pork nestled inside is in tender slices instead of chewy chunks.
Lamb/Beef/Pork Chuanr (skewers of BBQ meat)
If is the reason why you traveled to Harbin and could only try a single dish from the night market or could only visit a single restaurant, it would hands-down have to be a BBQ place. Yes the sweet and sour pork is epic. However, BBQ here is not just about the meat (which is delicious, incredibly delicious), it is about the entire dining experience.
Shredded Chicken Stewed with Mushroom
It is a traditional and famous dish of Harbin, especially popular in winter. You can find this dish in most restaurants. Chicken is shredded and stewed with mushroom, ginger, scallion and vermicelli (bean or sweet potato noodles). When the dish is ready, the chicken and mushroom taste soft, tender and smooth. It is nutritious and fragrant, and a perfect dish to warm you up in winter.