For example, the first episode features a breakfast stand in Yincheng, North China's Shanxi province. Run by a senior, jovial couple, the nearly 40-year-old stand sells zhutang, literally pig soup, a dish that combines pork off-cuts and offal in milky pork bone soup.

Despite its strange, even a bit distasteful name, zhutang is a local breakfast hugely popular among locals, young and old, who wait in long lines before getting to enjoy the dish with gusto.

"My mouth is watering! Maybe someday I'll ask for a day's leave and fly to Shanxi simply for a bowl of pig soup!" reads a comment by Baipang'er, a user on Douban, a popular Chinese film and TV review site, where the show has so far notched up a staggering 9.1 out of 10.

"So far I've only watched eight episodes, but I want to try them all!" commented Douban user Clara.