Lijiang's old town is full of restaurants, but the tourist-facing ones near Sifang Square tend to serve safe, overpriced versions of Naxi and Yunnan dishes. The real flavours are found in the market lanes and in smaller places where local families eat — look for the places where the menu is handwritten in Chinese and the staff look surprised to see a foreigner.
Naxi and Yunnan cuisine rewards curiosity: the local dishes are distinct from the spice-forward cooking of Sichuan or Guizhou and draw on influences from Tibet, Burma, and the Han heartland. Roast pork, mountain mushrooms, fresh goat cheese (Yunnan rubing), and buckwheat preparations are all worth seeking out.