Guangzhou
Food
Guangzhou is a gourmet’s heaven, where you can all different kinds of delicious food, from famous Chinese cuisines to local snacks, and dishes from home or brought in from other countries are all available.
Top recommendation in Guangzhou must be the Cantonese food. Cantonese food gathers the advantages of other food styles. It is good in color, fragrance, taste and presentation. In addition, the delicate Cantonese pastry is also well-known for its wide range of varieties, delicious flavor and beautiful color. Various extractive materials and seasonings like birds, beasts, games, sea foods, and wild vegetables are used in making Cantonese cuisine. The cooking skill also pays priority to light, fresh, clear, slippery, tender and nutrition, which also change with the seasons.
Guangzhou is the meeting ground of all dishes in China. You could also find food from outside, like Sichuan food, Shandong food, Hunan food, Beijing food, Jiangsu food, Northeast China food, Muslim food and Royal food. People could taste Chinese royal dishes of Qing dynasty, full Man and Han ethnic dishes, Beijing roasted duck, Yunnan Guoqiao rice noodle, Shanghai Longxiang steamed bun, Tianjin Goubuli steamed bun, xi'an royal court dumpling, Chongqing chafing dish, Lanzhou beef noodle, Chaozhou snack and Shanxi chopped noodle.
The tasty dish of the world are brought to Guangzhou, including the French raw oyster, Japanese sushi, sashimi, Thai potted fish and chicken claw, Korean BBQ, Indian fried curry chicken, Vietnamese grilled gold edge fish and cuisine from Nepal, Middle East, Italy, U.S.A. and South East Asia.
Guangzhou people like to drink tea, especially loved the morning tea. In fact, there's not only morning tea in Guangzhou, there are also afternoon tea and night tea. As a result, restaurants big or small are lively day and night. Far from just drinking tea and savoring dim sum, these occasions give people the opportunity to socialize and enjoy one another's company.
Whatever local flavor, country snack and traditional cuisine are available in Guangzhou. All kinds of restaurants cover every street and commercial area, no matter it is a well known one or a snack bar. In recent years, dining out has become an indispensable activity of people in the daily life and catering industry has attracted more investors to join in. Not surprisingly, catering has been the pillar industries of Guangzhou.
The following are some famous Cantonese dishes which you can have a try while in Guangzhou.
Roast Goose
Cantonese roast goose is prepared by seasoning the skin of the goose and then marinating the meat with honey and spices. The goose is next cooked above a charcoal fire until it is golden and roasted. Cantonese goose is traditionally served with a delicious soy based dipping sauce.
Mantanxiang Assorted Soup
This soup consists of chicken, goose, duck meat, shark fin and mushrooms simmered in delicious Shaoxing wine. This dish is also said to be nutritious and is great to warm you up on a cold winter’s day!
Sliced Steamed Chicken
Sliced and delicately steamed chicken is the most common way to prepare chicken meat in Guangzhou. As such, this is a very popular dim sum dish and the meat prepared this way maintains its succulence and flavor. Meat prepared in this way has its skin brushed with peanut oil and the cooked chicken is usually accompanied by a ginger and shredded onion sauce. The Banxi Restaurant serves some good dim sum.
White Melon Bowl with Assorted Delicacies
Local Guangzhou residents believe this dish has properties to help them cool down in the summer time. This dish is made by removing melon flesh from the skin and boiling it. The melon skin is then stuffed with oyster, ham, frog, pork and turkey meat and the boiled melon is added. The whole concoction is then steamed in the melon skin and then served. This delicious dish is widely available in most Guangzhou restaurants and the combination of flavors, while alien to many foreign palates, is surprisingly tasty.
Rice Flour Noodles
Rice four noodles originated in Guangzhou approximately 100 years ago. These noodles differ from egg noodles in that they are very fine and translucent. To cook, the noodles are boiled for literally seconds as they are fine enough to absorb water very quickly. They are often served with salad or stir fried with vegetables.
Steamed Raddish Cake
These small steamed cakes are a popular dim sum dish in Guangzhou made from rice flour and shredded radish and shrimp. These cakes are especially popular during the Mid-autumn Festival but are available all year round in most Guangzhou restaurants.
Shrimp and Rice in Lotus Leaves
Rice served in Lotus leaf is widely available in most Guangzhou restaurants. Rice served in this way makes a refreshing change from the staple diet of boiled or steamed rice popular elsewhere in China. There are many variations on this dish including rice flavored with crab, chicken and sesame, all are served and presented in Lotus leaves like a small parcel. This makes a great snack to eat on the move or to have in a restaurant.
Won Ton Soup
Won ton (dumpling) soup originated in Guangzhou. This delicious and very popular soup is traditionally made with pork and shrimp meat dumplings which are served with egg noodles in a light translucent soup.
Wenchang Chicken
If you order Wenchang Chicken you will be served boneless pieces of chicken and chicken livers cooked in a spicy sauce. The county of Wenchang in Hainan is famous for its tender birds and game meat, hence the name of this dish. The combination of tastes in this stew is great and the Guangzhou Restaurant is a good place to sample Wenchang Chicken.
Shrimp Dumplings
Shrimp dumplings were actually the invention of one of the original chefs in the Banxi Restaurant many years ago. Filled with lean pork and shrimp and flavored with coriander, the dumplings are traditionally served in small steamed baskets. They are particularly good dipped in soy sauce and vinegar.
