GUANGZHOU.
adventure + discovery pass.
Guangzhou has been China's busiest trading centre for centuries. Despite breakneck redevelopment up to and after the 2010 Asian Games, much of the metropolis still hums along at a pleasantly sedate pace, where narrow, leafy streets conceal temples and mosques, pockets of colonial-era heritage, and traditional dim-sum eateries.
_local language.
cantonese.
_best time to visit
Best time to visit is in Spring (March to mid-May) and autumn (October to September). In spring, it is flower season in the city, you can see a variety of flowers in parks or surrounding villages. Autumn is the best time to do shopping, as many shops offer large discount for consumers. And the weather is fine with cool temperature and less rain.
_local weather.
The dry season (Oct–Dec avg. 26°c) is popular with visitors. Rainy season (Apr–Aug avg. 31°c) is warm and humid. Typhoon season is Jul–Sep (avg. 34°c).
_know before you go.
The city’s biggest event is also the best time not to come. The Canton Fair is an international trade event which attracts thousands of sellers and buyers to Guangzhou in April and May. It also means the hotels are packed and the price of everything from a flight into the city to a taxi jumps a number of notches in price.
eat here
Dim Dou Dak // $$
Dim Dou Dak is one of Guangzhou’s few restaurants that serves dim sum all day. You can come here for dinner! They have excellent dim sum of all types, but are famous for their hongchangfen, a rice noodle roll with a crispy pastry and shrimp stuffed inside, they are definitely worth a try!
Pànxī Restaurant // $$$
Set amid ornamental gardens interlinked with pools, courtyards and corridors, Pànxī is typical of Guǎngzhōu‘s garden-restaurants, designed to give the effect of 'every step, a vista'. Choose from several separate dining rooms, some huge and brightly lit, others more intimate, serving classic dim sum alongside refined Canto fare.
hang out here
Guangzhou Opera House
The most striking piece of architecture in town is the Guangzhou Opera House. Designed by the late Zaha Hadid, futuristic glass panels have been woven together to form subtle curves, creating a visual effect that has been described as pebbles on the bed of the Pearl River.
A favourite dish of a 19th century Qing Dynasty governor of Sichuan, Ding Baozhen, this quick stir-fry is wonderfully succulent when made with chicken thighs.
1 tablespoon black rice vinegar (Chinkiang vinegar)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 or more whole dried red chillis
2 tablespoons ginger, julienned
800 grams boneless and skinless chicken thighs
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing (Chinese cooking wine)
1 tablespoon cornflour
½ teaspoon sea salt
sauce
2 teaspoons cornflour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 cup roasted cashew or peanuts
preparation
cut the chicken into 2cm chunks.
combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl, add the chicken and toss to coat.
set aside if cooking immediately or cover and refrigerate for 24hours
sauce
combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth
time to cook
heat oil in a wok, add the chicken in batches and stir-fry until the chicken separates
and cooked through. Transfer to a place as it’s cooked and add a little more oil to the
hot pan between batches as needed.
Add the chills, ginger and garlic and fry for a few seconds until fragrant. Don’t let
them catch and burn.
Return all your chicken to the wok, give the sauce a stir and tip into the pan, tossing
and stirring until the sauce is thick and glossy and everything is will coated.
Add half the spring onions and nuts and mix through!
