With the epidemic now being brought under control in Wuhan, epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, the city’s catering industry has gradually come back to life.

(Photo/Xinhua)

Many quality restaurants offering crayfish and barbecued food in Wuhan are now back in business, while orders for take-out food in the city have increased more than threefold in the past week, with 60 percent of the orders placed at night.

Crayfish, hot noodles with sesame paste and barbecue have become take-out favorites for Wuhan residents. The number of takeout orders in some stores selling crayfish has surged by up to 11 times in one week.

"In February, orders for takeout were usually for masks, medicines and supermarket goods," said Wang Pan, a delivery worker from Meituan, an online shopping platform.

In late March, many people opted for a more diverse range of choices when ordering take-out food, according to Wang.

“As many restaurants have reopened, people are now ordering more take-out food,” Wang noted, adding that some shops selling hot noodles with sesame paste have increased their orders tenfold this week.

According to data from a platform focusing on takeout food delivery services, orders for takeout in Wuhan have quadrupled from March 20 to March 27, with orders for food and beverages up more than 50 percent from the same period in February.

The change in food delivery orders has been strikingly obvious for merchants. In the last few days since resumption of business, there have been more orders for take-out food than before the outbreak, with many Wuhan residents ordering steamed buns and rice cakes, said a person surnamed Tang who works at Dehualou, one of the city's best-known local snack brands.