Food & Cuisine in Guangdong

Cantonese (Yue) cuisine comes from Guangdong in southern China. Of all the regional varieties of Chinese cuisine, Cantonese is renowned both inside and outside China. Its prominence outside China is due to its palatability to Westerners and to the great numbers of early emigrants from Guangdong. In China, too, it enjoys great prestige among the eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine, and Cantonese chefs are highly sought after throughout the country.

Cantonese cuisine draws upon a great diversity of ingredients as Guangdong has been a trading port since the days of the Thirteen Factories, bringing it many imported foods and ingredients. Besides pork, beef, and chicken, Cantonese cuisine incorporates almost all edible meats, including organ meats, chicken feet, duck tongue, snakes, and snails. However, lamb and goat is rarely eaten, unlike in cuisines of Northern or Western China. Many cooking methods are used, steaming and stir-frying being the most favoured due to their convenience and rapidity, and their ability to bring out the flavor of the freshest ingredients. Other techniques include shallow frying, double boiling, braising, and deep frying.

For many traditional Cantonese cooks, the flavors of a finished dish should be well-balanced, and never cloying or greasy. Also, spices should be used in modest amounts to avoid overwhelming the flavors of the primary ingredients, and these primary ingredients in turn should be at the peak of their freshness and quality. Interestingly, there is no widespread use of fresh herbs in Cantonese cooking (and most other regional Chinese cuisines in fact), contrasting with the liberal usage seen in European cuisines and other Asian cuisines such as Thai or Vietnamese. Garlic chives and coriander leaves are notable exceptions, although the latter tends to be mere garnish in most dishes.

Cantonese Dishes
Cantonese stir-fried vegetables. Often, vegetables are simply stir-fried plain or with minced garlic. A number of dishes have been a part of the Cantonese cuisine collection since the earliest territorial establishments of Guangdong province. While many of these are on the menus of typical Cantonese restaurants, some are more commonly found among Chinese homes due to their simplicity. Home-made Cantonese dishes are usually served with plain white rice.

Chinese steamed eggs (蒸水蛋)
Congee with lean pork and century egg (皮蛋瘦肉粥)
Cantonese fried rice (炒飯)
Sweet and sour pork (咕噜肉)
Stewed beef brisket (柱侯牛腩)
Steamed spare ribs (pai gwhut) with fermented black beans and chili pepper (豉椒排骨)
Stir-fried vegetables with meat (e.g. chicken, duck, pork, beef, or intestines) (青菜炒肉片)
Steamed frog legs on lotus leaf (荷葉蒸田雞)
Steamed ground pork with salted duck egg (鹹蛋蒸肉餅)
Blanched vegetables with oyster sauce (油菜)
Stir-fried water convolvulus with shredded chili and fermented tofu (椒絲腐乳通菜)

Deep Fried Dishes
Cha Leung 
Yau Tiu
Dace fish balls
Deep-fried marinated pigeon

Slow Cooked Soup
Another notable Cantonese speciality is slow-cooked soup, or lo foh tong (老火湯) in the Cantonese dialect (literally meaning old fire-cooked soup). The soup is usually a clear broth prepared by simmering meat and other ingredients under low heat for several hours. Chinese herbs or medicine are often used as ingredients. Slow-cooked soup is a regular dish in Cantonese families as most believe in its ability to heal and strengthens one's health. Due to long preparation hours of slow cooked soup, soup chain stores or delivery outlets became popular in Cantonese dominated cities like Hong Kong.

Snow fungus soup (銀耳湯)
Spare rib soup with watercress and apricot kernels (南北杏西洋菜豬骨湯)
Cantonese seafood soup (海皇羹) (not formally considered "slow cooked")
Winter melon soup (冬瓜湯) (not formally considered "slow cooked")

Seafood
Due to Guangdong's location on the southern coast of China, fresh live seafood is a specialty in Cantonese cuisine. Many authentic restaurants maintain live seafood tanks. From the Cantonese perspective, strong spices are added only to stale seafood to cover the rotting odor. The freshest seafood is odorless, and is best cooked by steaming. For instance, only a small amount of soy sauce, ginger, and spring onion is added to steamed fish. The light seasoning is used only to bring out the natural sweetness of the seafood. However, most restaurants would gladly get rid of their stale seafood inventory by offering dishes loaded with garlic and spices. As a rule of thumb in Cantonese dining, the spiciness of a dish is usually inversely proportional to the freshness of the ingredients.

Steamed fish (蒸魚)
Steamed scallops with ginger and garlic (蒜茸蒸扇貝)
White boiled shrimp (白灼蝦)
Lobster with ginger and scallions (薑蔥龍蝦)
Pissing shrimp (拉尿蝦)

Wonton noodles

Delicious Snacks in Guangzhou 
Cantonese dim sum ranks the best in the whole country. Exquisitely made dim sums attract your eyes and stomach. Panxi Restaurant (Panxi Jiujia) creates 1,000 kinds of dim sums. Among the various choices of dim sums, you may choose the most typical ones: Shrimp Dumpling, Streamed Shaomai, Steamed Vermicelli Roll and so on.

Shuang Pi Nai (Double-Skin Milk): Nanxin Shuang Pi Nai is the specialty of Nanxin Milk Store on the Xia Jiu Lu. Simmered milk has a frozen cover made of the mixture of egg white and milk, Hence the name Double-Skin Milk. When finished, this food appears to be pure white and semisolid. It tastes soft and sweet. And most importantly, it has much nutritional value, good for your health.

Jidi Zhou (Jidi Porridge): Jidi Zhou served in the Wuzhan Ji Restaurant is the most famous of all. It has been a noted snack bar since the early 1900s.
Liuhua Porridge City: inside the Liuhua Park, Liuhua Lu, Guangzhou

Yuntun Mian (Wonton Noodle): Go to Shangxia Jiu Lu, Xihua Lu and Renmin Lu. You will find many eateries that serve Wonton Noodles. Cantonese like to have the delicious Yuntun Miao for breakfast.

Chang Fen (Steamed Vermicelli Roll): This featured snack is popular among local people. It is now a must-serve in nearly all teahouses and night markets.

Guiling Gao: Being afraid of suffering from excessive internal heat, Cantonese love to have Guiling Gao. That is a kind of brown jelly that holds the shape of the vessel. It is said the Guiling Gao can clear internal heat. The bitterer, the better.

 

Famous Restaurants in Guangzhou 
Guangzhou Jiujia (Guangzhou Restaurant)
Location: No. 2, Wenchang Nan Lu, Guangzhou
Specialties: Jiaji Duck, Wenchang Chicken and Fried Duck Palm.

Taotao Ju Jiujia (Taotao Ju Restaurant):
Location: No. 20, Di Shi Fu Lu, Guangzhou

Lianxiang Lou (Lianxiang Lou Restaurant)
Location: No. 67, Di Shi Fu Lu, Guangzhou
Specialties: Vegetable Spring Roll

Panxi Jiujia (Panxi Restaurant)
Location: No. 151, Longjin Xi Lu, Guangzhou

Datong Jiujia (Datong Restaurant)
Location: No. 63, Yanjiang Xi Lu, Guangzhou
Specialties: Roast Suckling Pig
 

There are also a lot of restaurant represent more Chinese cuisines and foreign cuisines.
Cantonese
Xin Li Zhi Wan Restaurant 新荔枝湾酒楼
Tongji Resturant 同记白切鸡
Nanhai Yucun Restaurant 南海渔村 (South Sea Fishing Village)

Sichuanese
Chong Qing Xiao Dong Tian Restaurant 重庆小洞天
Xiang Cun Guan Restaurant 湘村馆

North china
Dong Bei Ren 东北人风味连锁饺子馆

Beijing
Beijing Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant 全聚德烤鸭店

Thai
Banana Leaf Thai Restaurant 蕉叶咖喱屋
Cow and Bridge Thai Cuisine 牛桥泰菜

Italian
Buongiorno Italian Restaurant
Oggi Pizzeria & Trattoria ( Jianshe Si Malu) 卡布里意大利餐厅

Portuguese
Macau Street Restaurant 澳门街

Indian
Haveli Restaurant & Bar唐乐宫
Rice & Curry Indian Restaurant

American
Gail’s Place - American Food & Bar

Madison American Food & Drink

Other Western
Station Restaurant 火车头餐厅
1920 German Restaurant 德国餐厅
Australian Great Barrier Reef Restaurant 澳洲大堡礁
La Seine French Restaurant
Lucy’s Cafe & Restaurant
Mexican Restaurant 墨西哥餐厅