Char Siu Rice

Char Siu Rice (Simplified Chinese: 叉烧饭; Traditional Chinese: 叉燒飯; Pinyin: Chāshāo fàn; Cantonese: chā sīu faahn) is steamed rice topped with sliced Char Siu (Cantonese barbecue pork) and usually a spoon of the roast's glaze or light soy. It is everyday Siu Mei meal food in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau roast shops, and a common diaspora lunch plate—distinct from the bun form Char Siu Bao.

Characteristics

Sweet-savory caramelized pork over plain rice; color runs pink-red on the meat with a glossy exterior from maltose-soy-style glazes. Shops often add cucumber, blanched greens, or a simple vegetable side. The plate is sold as a one-person lunch beside roast duck, goose, crispy pork, and combination siu-mei rice orders under the same counter glass.

Identity is the rice-plate service of already-roasted char siu, not a separate roast technique. Fat-to-lean cut choice (shoulder vs belly-lean mixes) and glaze sweetness vary by hanging-oven house style.

Ingredients (overview)

Encyclopedic overview only: steamed rice; sliced Char Siu; glaze or soy; optional pickled vegetables or greens. The meat is the same roast sold by weight as standalone char siu; this page covers the rice-plate serving grammar. No recipe here.

History and culture

Cantonese siu mei culture grew with urban roast shops where meats hang in display windows and are chopped to order over rice—efficient lunch for workers and students. Char siu rice is the pork line of that grammar, parallel to roast-duck rice or goose rice rather than a teahouse dumpling course. On Guangdong Food and Hong Kong Food it sits inside the wider Siu Mei family.

Cha chaan teng and economy restaurants may plate a simplified version; clay-pot rice with char siu is a related but different service (rice crisped in clay with toppings cooked together) and should not be merged into this page's identity.

Southeast Asian Cantonese diaspora menus often keep char siu rice as a weekday staple, sometimes next to chicken rice or curry rice in the same shop window.

Serving and variations

Single-portion lunch. Combination plates mix char siu with other siu mei meats. Keep distinct from Char Siu Bao (steamed or baked bun) and from Clay Pot Rice as a cooking vessel category.

See also

• Char Siu
• Char Siu Bao
• Siu Mei
• Cantonese Roast Duck
• Clay Pot Rice
• Guangdong Food
• Hong Kong Food
• List of dishes (A-Z)

References

• English Wikipedia
• Chinese Wikipedia