The dining options in Baotou are a strange mix of China's cuisine, the northern preference for wheat is offset by many rice dishes, the western prefence for beef and mutton is combined with the southern/eastern fascination with pork. This is not to say that the food here is anything to write home about, and there are few restaurants of note in the city. Most of the best restaurants are to be found in Donghe, the eastern section of Baotou. Many of these have not got English signs or menus, but you will normally be able to either choose your dishes from the kitchen, or do it yourself with a hotpot (Huoguo).

East Baotou: There are two night markets in this section of Baotou, that serve a good selection of local delicacies. The better of the two is to be found to the north of the Donghe Hotel, at the northwestern corner of the intersection of Nanmenwai dajie and Huancheng lu. The other is near to the railway station, foodstalls that are at their fullest at night, but are available during the day.
There is a restaurant in the Donghe Hotel that does fairly good Chinese and Mongolian food, and just opposite here is also a good hotpot restaurant, the Prince Building Hotpot City (Taizilou rouzhou huoguocheng). There are also a number of other restuarants that can be found along Nanmenwai dajie, that serve general Chinese and Mongolian food.

West Baotou: In this section of town most of the best restaurants are to be found in the hotels. The Qingshan Hotel has a fairly decent Chinese restaurant and both the Tian Wai Tian Hotel and the new building of the Baotou Guesthouse serve western-style food. The most famous restaurant in the city is probably the Dafulin Restaurant (Dafulin fanzhuang) at 90 Wenhua lu, that mainly serves Mongolian food at expensive prices.