Local Guangzhou cuisine

Guangzhou's catering sector has long been second to none in China, with a great number of time-honored restaurant brands and numerous traditional and innovative dishes, dim sum, snacks and specialty foods. Yum cha, dim sum and double-stewed soup are a significant feature of Guangzhou, forming a distinctive local food culture. As the representative of Cantonese cuisine, Guangzhou cuisine features a pure, fresh, tender and crispy taste — without being insipid, raw or greasy — and is highly seasonal, lightly flavored in summer and autumn and strongly flavored in winter and spring. Must-try dishes include double-stewed soup, roast suckling pig, white-cut chicken, braised pigeon, crispy roast goose, baked lobster in soup, and steamed seafood and freshwater fish; popular snacks range from wonton noodles, shrimp dumplings, char siu buns, sampan congee and giblets congee to double-skin milk, ginger milk curd, Shahe rice noodles, turnip cake, water chestnut cake, Cantonese mooncakes, Cantonese sweet soups and put chai ko.

Cantonese dim sum (Photo: Guangzhou Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau)

If you want to try the most authentic Guangzhou dishes, we highly recommend these time-honored restaurants: Guangzhou Restaurant (founded in 1935, long known as "the first restaurant for enjoying Guangzhou cuisine"), Tao Tao Ju (a century-old Cantonese teahouse established in 1880), Lian Xiang Lou (founded in 1889, hailed as "the first restaurant for lotus-paste products" for its pastries and morning tea), the garden-style Panxi Restaurant (founded in 1947), and Beiyuan Restaurant (founded in 1928, famed for its Lingnan garden architecture) — all "living ambassadors" of Guangzhou's food culture. For a street-food feast in one go, famous food streets such as Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street, Beijing Road Food Court, Huifu Food Court, Xiguan Food Court (around Pantang Road and Longjin West Road) and Xihua Road Food Court are excellent choices, where time-honored brands and humble local stalls line up side by side, letting you eat your way from one end of the street to the other amid the authentic local color of old Guangzhou.

Guangzhou Beijing Road (Photo: Guangzhou Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau)

Cantonese dim sum (Photo: Guangzhou Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau)

Cantonese shrimp dumplings (Photo: Guangzhou Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau)

Tao Tao Ju (Photo: Guangzhou Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau)

Cantonese breakfast (Photo: Guangzhou Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau)