Guilin's central location in Ling Nan has given it a cuisine that is influenced by the food of Canton, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian. The local snack foods are enjoyed by tourists from around the world. Local Food Local Food Restaurant Western Food Restaurant

Guilin Rice Noodles:
The noodles of Guilin are famous throughout China and can be found in places such as Shanghai and Hong Kong. Of course for the most authentic Guilin Rice Noodles, visitors must eat them in their home town, Guilin.

The rice noodles are made from oil and rice flower. The noodles are cooked in broth and served in a bowl of soup made from pork, beef, garlic, peanuts, peppers, and radishes. The peppers are added by the diner, so visitors who do not like spicy food can simply not add it.

It is a staple of Guilin people's diet and is a wonderful and cheap dish. During meal times the many small rice noodle restaurants are always packed with diners.

Stewed Duck with Gingko:

The main ingredients are duck meat (cubed), Gingko and slices of ham, which are steamed together. The finished dish is a light soup with tender duck meat complementing the gingko.

Yangshuo Beer Fish:

Yangshuo Beer Fish is Yangshuo's most famous dish. It is made from fresh caught Li River carp. The fresh fish is fried in a wok along with beer, hot and green peppers, garlic, onions, celery, tomatoes, soy, and sugar. Visitors are amazed at how delicious the fish's skin is and how fresh and tender the meat is. Eating Yangshuo's beer fish will be an unforgettable culinary experience.

Yangshuo's famous West Street has many restaurants serving this delicious dish. The Tao's Authentic Beer Fish and The Older Sister of Peng's Beer Fish come highly recommended.

Griddle Cooked Beef Steak:
Girdle Cooked Beef Steak (Niupai ganguo) is one of Guilin's most well known local dishes. This kind of beef steak is cooked with different seasonings, such as chili, cassia bark, and fennel. It is similar to eating hot pot, except no broth is used in the wok. Diners can control the heat to cook the meat to their specifications.

The griddle cooked beef steak tastes spicy, and its flavor is unique. It is very different from that of a Western steak. If desired, diners can add some beer to the wok to make the steak even tastier. After the steak is finished, vegetables, bean curd, pickled cabbage, noodles and a bowl of broth can be added to the wok and cooked in the steak's juices.

This delicious dish can be found at most hot pot restaurants in Guilin and Yangshuo.

Luohanguo:

Fructus momordicae, called Luohanguo in Chinese, is primarily grown in southern China's Guangxi Province, with the majority coming from the mountains of Guilin. In China, traditional Chinese doctors have used Luohanguo as an expectorant, to fight heat stroke, acute or chronic throat inflammation, aphonia, and chronic cough for centuries.

The sweet compounds from Luohanguo is about 250 times sweeter than cane sugar and is extremely low in calories, so that it is a good natural sweetener for patients who suffer from diseases that forbidden ingesting sugar, such as diabetes, adiposity, high blood pressure, and cardiopathy.

It has been reported that the residents who live near in Yongfu and Lingui Counties (of Guilin), are recognized as having an unusually high number of residents living to an age 100 years or more. Some people attribute this to the consumption of Luohanguo.

The dried fruit may be bought in almost all the Guilin markets. The outer surface of the dried fruit is round and smooth, dusty yellow-brown or dusty green-brown. It is covered with fine, soft hair. The fruit is covered by a hard but thin skin. The entire fruit, including the seeds, have a nice sweet flavor. Luohanguo is best steeped in tea.

Lipu Taro Looped Meat:

Lipu Taro Looped Meat is a famous traditional dish served in the traditional Guilin banquets. It is always found during festivals or important events. This dish is made of taro from Lipu County (104 km south of Guilin) combined with streaky pork, red pepper, garlic spread, Guilin fermented bean curd, wine, honey and many other seasonings.

Before the streaky pork and taro are steamed in bamboo steamers, they must be deep-fried in vegetable oil. The finished dish is golden in color and aromatic. The taro's flavor and the pork's freshness blend perfectly to create a wonderful dish.