Most Famous Dishes in Guilin
Guilin is a paradise for those who want to take advantage of meals, with hundreds of restaurants of all kinds located on most street corners and with entire streets of restaurants. However, it is usually not so easy to find the food you are looking for, even for locals like us.
Here is a guide to dining experiences not to be missed in Guilin and our recommended restaurants, which are some of the best of their kind according to our own dining experiences in Guilin.
Guilin food is different from food in other areas because of its natural, fresh and healthy ingredients. Many Guilin ingredients come from forests (e.g. gingko nuts), mountains (e.g. bamboo shoots), or even rice fields (e.g. water chestnuts, taro or lotus roots); and not from factories or greenhouses.
Chinese menus, as you may know, are often long and sometimes, even for locals, it is difficult to know exactly what many items on the menu mean. Many restaurants probably do not have English-speaking staff, so communication can be difficult. We have selected some of the dishes that are among our favorites.
Guilin Rice Noodles
- Ingredients: fresh rice noodles, topped with crispy fried pork, chopped green beans and fried peanuts or fried soybeans.
- Recommended restaurant:Dish:Chongshan Beef Rice Noodles 崇善米粉 (Address: 5 Yiren Street, next to the clock tower on Zhengyang Pedestrian Street 秀峰区依仁路5号，正阳步行街钟楼附近)
Old duck stewed in Gingko nut soup
- Ingredients: gingko nuts, water, Li River duck.
- Recommended restaurant:The Old House Restaurant 桂林板路 (Address: 8 South Zhongshan Street , near Nanxi Park, Xiangshan District, 象山区中山南路8号，南溪山公园附近)
Pork stew and taro slices
- Ingredients: streaky pork with meat, fat and skin, taro rootstreaky pork with meat, fat and skin, taro rootstreaky pork with fat and skin, taro root
- Recommended restaurant: Chongshan Rice Noodles 崇善米粉 (Address: 5 Yiren Street, next to the clock tower on Zhengyang Pedestrian Street 秀峰区依仁路5号，正阳步行街钟楼附近) | Forrest Gump Restaurant 阿甘酒家 (Pedestrian 11, Xicheng Street, Xiangshan District 象山区西城路步行街11号)
Fried frosted taro
- Ingredients: taro root, taro root, sugar
- Recommended restaurant: 'Chinese Toon Roast Goose' Restaurant 椿记烧鹅 (Address: 2 Middle Zhongshan Street, Xiufeng District 秀峰区中山中路2号 )
Steamed Li River fish
- Ingredients: Li river fish (often a long catfish with spotted barbels), ginger, green bell pepper and tomato, fried in local beer.
- Recommended restaurant:Yangshuo Cloud 9 Restaurant 阳朔聚福楼 (Address: intersection of West Street and Chengzhong Road, Yangshuo 阳朔西街城中路 )
Beer fish
- Ingredients: pork scratched, fat and skin
- Recommended Restaurant: The Old House Restaurant 桂林板路 (Address: 8 South Zhongshan Street , near Nanxi Park, Xiangshan District, 象山区中山南路8号，南溪山公园附近 )