In China, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Liuzhou are respectively known for food, silk, scenery and timber. Guangzhou has a long food culture and Guangzhou cuisine is the representative of exquisite and delicious Guangdong cuisine based on a wide selection of ingredients. Guangzhou people advocate "eating while shopping", which is also a way of shopping loved by foodies. There are so many delicious foods in Guangzhou. Then what are not to be missed? Let's read and check the top 10 foods in Guangzhou!
In Guangzhou, soup has been a culture with strong local characteristics. Even if without precious materials, a few hours of simmering are enough to get mellow and fresh soup. Double-stewed Soup and Bird's Nest Soup with Pigeon (hailed as the best soup) are especially famous. Guangzhou citizens are famous for cooking soup. Whether entertaining at home or in restaurants, the first thing they think about is not what dishes they serve, but what soups they serve. "Soup" is always of top priority in their banquet.
Rice Rolls (Chang Fen) head the list of top 10 Guangzhou foods and resembles intestines (Chang), thus the name by Emperor Qianlong in Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 AD). Rice Rolls can be either sweet or salty. The salty Rice Rolls are mainly stuffed with pork, beef, shrimp and pork liver while the sweet ones are generally filled with sugar-coated vegetables and fruits and stir-fried sesame.
BBQ Pork or Char Siu is a special meat dish in Guangdong Province. It is a slightly sweet dish mostly red and made of lean meat. The preserved lean meat is hung on a special spit to roast in the oven. The good BBQ Pork is supposed to be tender, juicy, bright and fragrant. Other dishes made with BBQ Pork include: BBQ Pork Rice, BBQ Pork Bun and BBQ Pork Pastry. Honey-stewed BBQ Pork is a traditional dish. This kind of pork is salty inside and sweet outside, with slight honey taste. The lean meat is burnt and fragrant while the fat meat is very tender.
Roast Goose, a traditional roasted dish in Guangzhou, is actually inspired by Roast Duck. It looks bronze red and tastes delicious. Among the numerous roast goose shops in Guangzhou, Yue Kee Roast Goose Restaurant in Changdi and the Roast Goose in Changzhou Island, Huangpu District are the most famous.
Shrimp Dumplings, one of the most famous dim sums in Guangzhou, feature pliable flour wrappers and fillings mixed with shrimp, minced pork, tender bamboo shoots, and so on. With thin and semitransparent wrapper, Shrimp Dumpling is a bite-sized, tender, tasty and refreshing dim sum popular with local people.
Wonton Noodles are often called wonton in Central China. Most Cantonese show a special love for Wonton Noodles. The authentic Wonton Noodles have three features: 1. the dough is water-free, which means the flour is mixed with duck eggs rather than water, so that the noodles will be pliable but strong to chew; 2. the wonton fillings are made by mixing fresh shrimp balls with the pork in the lean-fat ratio of 7:3 for the chewy texture; 3. the soup is stewed with fish and shrimp without adding any aginomoto.
Claypot Rice (Bao Zai Fan) is a traditional food in Guangdong and it has over 20 kinds of flavors, such as Dried Duck, Chicken with Mushroom and Pork Chops with Bean Sauce. In fact, "Bao" means not only a container, but also a cooking method: put the cleaned rice into the pot with a proper amount of water, cover it, add ingredients when the rice is medium-well, and then stew over slow fire. Different from the casserole, the claypot is flexible in the heat control and the rice cooked with it is great.
Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf is a speciality of Guangzhou. Different from other glutinous rice, it is wrapped by fresh lotus leaf which gives off the fragrance when steamed. In addition, the dish contains chicken, BBQ pork and salted egg yolk, thus quite appetizing, and can be served either as a staple food or as a dish.
Water Chestnut Cake (Ma Ti Gao), a traditional dessert in Southern Fujian, is made by steaming water chestnut powder with sugar water. In Cantonese, water chestnut is also called horseshoe (Ma Ti), thus the name. In semitransparent dark yellow, Water Chestnut Cake is agreeably tough and tastes sweet, refreshing and so tender that it melts in your mouth. In the top 10 must-eat foods in Guangzhou, this one is children's favorite.
Tingzai Porridge or Sampan Congee was originally a food specially provided to customers at the water side and on board. The ingredients include sashimi, lean meat, deep-fried dough sticks, peanuts, scallion, egg, jellyfish, BBQ pork, Roast Duck and squid. Sampan Congee is made by adding those ingredients into the boiled porridge. With smooth texture and delicious taste, it gets more and more popular and now ranks in the top 10 foods in Guangzhou.