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| Tourist
Guides for China |
Foshan Tourist Guide (March
2010)
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Restaurants |
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This page introduces all
types of food available in Foshan. What was intended
to be a simple page listing all eateries soon grew out
of control, so we have divided content into the following
categories:
Related Pages:
• Restaurants - Introduction - This Page
• Western
Restaurants
• Chinese
Restaurants
• Vegetarian
Restaurants
• Fast
Food
• Late
Night Eats and Drinks
• Trendy
Cafes, beer gardens and juice bars
For those seeking quick information, we will list some
of the most notable restaurants below as short extracts
from our fuller listings and descriptions on the related
pages.
You will find MacDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and Star Buck's
near virtually all major supermarkets and shopping malls
- especially the new ones.
Western Restaurants
John's Bar
Located in the Golden City hotel, on the traffic roundabout
near the Foshan Hotel. Meeting place for many foreigners
and offers full international cuisine and real draught
beer. Notable for delicious burgers, fries and British
chips, and has a good range of mexican dishes. There
is also a John's Cafe in China Ceramic City.
Martino's
Located on Fu Hua Lu near Dong Jian Century Plaza, Martino's
offers full international cuisine based on Canadian
cooking. They again offer draught beer, and burgers,
hot dogs and I recommend the Poutine Quebecoise, which
are British chips with cheese and gravy. Their pizza
is excellent, as is their Shepherd's Pie.
Little India
This is the only dedicated restaurant serving genuine
Indian curry. It is very popular with the foreign community
and serves halal meat. It is also a good place for vegetarians.
It is run by two personable Indian guys, and is located
diagonally across the roundabout from John's Bar and
2-minutes walk from the Foshan Hotel.
Vegetarian Restaurants
Foshan has only two that have stood the test of time,
and others come and go frequently.
Folk Arts Buddhist Restaurant
This is located opposite the Carrianne Hotel on Zumiao
Road, and is part of the Renshou Buddhist Pagoda Temple
complex. It is found to the far end and can be accessed
from the street via a small door that leads you inside.
Bear left and you will finds the restaurant
Food is excellent and all is vegetarian. You may need
help from a Chinese speaker to order what you prefer.
The Place Up The Alleyway
This is actually a very good restaurant, and is located
just off Dai Fu't Lo (Lingnan Dong Lu) so get yourself
to Foshan TV tower and on that side of the main road.
You need to go North on this road, ie - the tower is
on your right and you are headed away from it as it
recedes behind you. You will come quite quickly in a
cab to a set of traffic lights where all the traffic
either goes left or right. Your taxi driver will want
to do likewise. Be forceful and make him go straight
ahead! The road narrows considerably, and you need to
stop at the first sideroad on your right - about 80
yards down this road. Go down the sideroad about 30
yards and there will be a row of shops set back on your
right with the entrance to the vegetarian restaurant
is the last doorway.
The food is excellent and pukka vegetarian, and the
bill is small. Again Uncle Sam has been advising them
on culinary arts, and they are developing a wider range
of dishes, as evidenced each time I have been there.
You will need a Chinese friend to help you order, however,
there are some photo's of dishes, and the main vegetables
are on show outside the kitchen, so pointing and mining
will work also.
4 other Foshan vegetarian restaurants have opened and
closed within the last couple of years, although our
information is that there is still one survivor located
in Nanhai 'Gui Cheung' = near Jusco.
Chinese Restaurants
The Artist's Place
This establishment is probably the most picturesque
of all Foshan's many eateries and a must visit!
The unusual foyer houses an arts museum to your right
and above, whilst a second doorway leads out to a secluded
courtyard set with tables, Chinese lanterns, and BBQ
stall. Indoor eating halls and rustic private rooms,
many with patio's overlooking ponds and streams cater
for all tastes.
In keeping with the ambience, the food is excellent.
There is a picture menu to help foreigners order, although
many staff speak good English. I have written about
one of our visits in my missive '7-days
Before Christmas 2009' Page 6.
To get there follow Foshan Avenue (Foshan Daido) towards
Guangzhou until you reach the very major road intersection.
Head immediately right (Guangzhou) and passing Osram
factory, take the first exit, which is Wen Hua Bei Lu.
After 300 yards turn right, and the restaurant is just
passed the first minor intersection on your left.
The Little Sheep
This is a most excellent restaurant foreigners should
get the hang of pretty quickly. It is actually part
of a National chain, with branches also in Hong Kong.
It features Inner Mongolia cooking at it's very best,
and is a version of cook in the pot. The tables all
feature a central gas hob, onto which is placed a large
cooking vessel with a central divider. One side is herbs,
spices and coconut milk - and the other is chilli hot!
You will need a local person to help you order, and
do experiment.
This place is humming by 6pm, so either: rock-up earlier,
book in advance, or go after 9pm (10% off and open until
midnight). However, the best staff also leave around
9pm, so this really isn't a blessing.
Location: If you are in a taxi, then simply say "Siu
Fai Yeurm, Gui wah mmm lo". It is located between
Fung Dong Zhong Lo (Feng Jiang Central Road) where it
becomes Gung Gong Nam Lo (Feng Jiang South Road) and
Fo'san Dai Doh (Foshan Avenue).
The Turtle Place
This is very easy to find, and comprises a main area
of 4 restaurants surrounding a massive car park, with
a second tier just around the corner. This whole area
is also a good spot for outdoor food and drinks late
at night. All four restaurants are very good, and I
have been to them all. However we will focus on the
most interesting one for first timers.
Location: Go to where Jia Hua 5 Road becomes Jia Hua
4 Road - and this is where it crosses Foshan Avenue
(Daido). Turn into Jia Hua 4 Road and it is 50 yards
on your right. During the daytime you can park here,
but late at night the car park becomes a sea of outdoor
tables.
The Turtle Restaurant is immediately on your left as
you enter this enclave, and if entering from the car
park the seating area is too your right with toilets
and private rooms behind. To your left, or via the front
entrance are numerous tanks containing all manner of
life. The emphasis is on fish and shellfish, but also
shown are the vegetables of the day accompanied by a
very large notice board with colour photographs or replications
of all the main dishes on the menu = excellent for foreigners.
You may not want to look into all of the containers
in this area, as some contain: Alligators, snakes, toads,
and turtles - the reason we have named this restaurant
so.
This restaurant is probably one of the best for first-time
visitors to Foshan, as the total range of food on offer
is quite astounding, and the cooking is extremely good
+ ordering what you want is extremely easy.
The Chicken Restaurant
The best British style spare ribs are sold at 'The Chicken
Restaurant', which is located on the Western aspect
of Dong Jian Century Plaza and 100 yards up the road
that passes KFC to your left, and virtually opposite
The Bank of China.
This restaurant actually specialises in steamed chicken,
a version of Toisan
Chicken. However, Expat's will be well aware that
Chinese take perfectly great spare ribs, and chop them
into one billion pieces = not good. This place sells
the only spare ribs I would recognise from UK = 6-inches
long + sauce. Eat with your fingers time, but they supply
plastic gloves. Their Toisan Chicken is the star dish;
and rates as 'good'', but from a different planet regards
Mama's home cooked version. Compensating: there are
pictures of the dishes on the walls, so simply point
at one and you are immediately understood. I have also
been teaching them that British people like to have
a few beers before eating a main meal - something that
seems to have crossed the culture divide; even if it
leaves me prey to teaching their son 'Ingerwishy' upon
occasions.
Xi'an Restaurant 1
This is next door to the 'Chicken Restaurant' is a pukka
Xi'an restaurant - you know it because it has life-sized
Xi'an warriors just inside the door. To order a Xi'an
'Ham-bo-Bah', simply make a 6-inch round with your index
finger in the air. Simple. It will come served with
complimentary Gutierrez chillies inside = awesome!
This is actually an excellent restaurant, but you will
need to go there with a partner who is not Cantonese
to get the best out of the menu. Notable dishes include:
small hotpot of any specified meat or fish, served on
top of a candle-powered stove; hand-made noodles; meatballs;
and several other dishes that are too complex to explain
concisely.
Tour Mall
I am referring to a traditionally Chinese fronted modern
mall situated opposite Jusco supermarket in Nanhai,
and quite near the main Foshan bus station. This mall
is 4-storeys high, and occupied entirely by restaurants.
There must be several hundred of them! It would take
many months to visit all of these, so here are some
highlights:
Vietnamese Restaurant
On the third floor facing Jusco is a Vietnamese
restaurant operated by Vietnamese people. The food is
good, slightly unusual as you would perhaps expect,
and very tasty. Chilli dishes are delicious without
being overpowering, and Vietnamese specialties predominate.
Hunan Restaurant
There are several eateries offering Hunan Cuisine here,
and I most enjoyed the one located on the 3rd floor.
This has its entrance facing away from Jusco, and is
towards the road junction end of the building. Just
inside the doorway is a massive fish tank which you
have to navigate past.
I chose this restaurant specifically because for Chinese
New Year 2007 I was invited to join an extended Hunan
family for their celebrations. My thinking is that if
they chose this restaurant for a very special celebration,
then it must be the best and most authentic one in town.
This meal was quite massive in the quantity of food
served, but I remember a gigantic whole leg of roast
lamb as being particularly enjoyable. A large fish was
also present, as were numerous smaller dishes. Most
were cooked with hot fresh chilli's of the 'evil red,
long gnarly' kind. Every kind of meat was represented,
along with numerous vegetables and some very unusual
dishes.
I have been to several other restaurants within this
complex, but do not remember anything notable about
any of the food. By this I do not mean it wasn't any
good, I simply mean that it was comparable to what was
on offer locally near my home. However, there are numerous
restaurants I haven't tried, so do go there and take
'Pot luck' - you will not be disappointed I am sure.
Other Restaurants
Thai and Malaysian Cuisine
Opposite Dong Jian Century Plaza, but on the opposite
side from KFC, are two neighbouring restaurants purporting
to be Thai. They are actually Chinese Malaysian in origin
and do offer alternative menu's from the norm. You can
easily find them because they have Thai script and menu's
in the window (Thai script looks a very little like
Arabic, but definitely isn't). Whilst my then Siamese
girlfriend (Yupa) found both of these establishments
to be genuine, but they are hampered by the fact that
essential ingredients such as Lemongrass are unheard
of and unavailable in China. Whilst they do use equivalent
chilli's in cooking, they use too few, meaning the dishes
served are far milder than Yupa would serve at home.
However, both are definitely worth a visit, if only
to taste something totally different.
Japanese Restaurants
Foshan has several Japanese restaurants, mainly located
inside major hotels such as the Foshan Hotel. There
is one at Tour Mall also, and one planned to open in
Bai Hua. The one located in the Foshan Hotel (Crowne
Plaza) has been established for many years and has an
excellent reputation.
Korean Restaurants
Foshan people do enjoy food from South Korea, and there
are several outlets. The one in Tour Mall was closed
last time I was there - but I think this was for refurbishment
and not a change of ownership or cuisine.
There is another on Ji Hua 6 Road, and travelling East
out of town, you will find this on your left about half
a mile after exiting the underpass. This serves very
good food and the staff speak good English, are helpful
and courteous.
This area used to be home to several hundred restaurants
before the main road was widened and upgraded in 2007.
Now only a few dozen remain, but the area is starting
to pick up again and new outlets are moving in.
Guangzhou
In order to find other food from different countries,
you will need to travel to Guangzhou. Whilst Foshan
professes to have some of these, they would not remotely
serve what you as a foreign native would expect to encounter
by way of native cuisine. I will only mention two of
them, but both are totally excellent and worth the trip.
The French Restaurant
This is located very centrally at the end of Beijing
Road, where it joins the river promenade. This restaurant
is expensive, and serves high-quality French dishes
in a suitable environment. Everybody I know who has
been there tells us this restaurant is superb!
Luiggi's
This is of course an Italian restaurant, and located
very near Guangzhou East Railway Station. Location:
if you consider the exit of this station where the bus
station is located to be your starting point - then
you basically need to be in about the same position
on the other side of the block. We walked it in about
10 minutes, heading right to the end of the block, right,
and right again. Luiggi's is about 600 yards down this
road on your immediate right.
The menu is very Italian, but I actually went for the
fillet steak - which was mouth-wateringly superb! I
was there at lunchtime, and what you do is order your
main course, then help yourself to sundries from the
salad and meat serveries set to one side. They also
had proper bread that did not contain honey or extra
sugar; and I later learnt they make this themselves.
I highly recommend this restaurant for anyone in dire
need of a fix of proper Western food. Top class!
I did sample and also see other Italian dishes, and
my impression was that they know exactly what they are
cooking. The chef is Italian; and no, they do not serve
pizza. In Italy only pizzerias sell pizza, restaurants
do not. Next time I am ordering the lasagne, which after
tasting a small mouthful, was totally genuine and delicious.
Summary
Foshan does offer a plethora of extremely good cuisine
and there are thousands of restaurants not highlighted
above. One of them is where I held my Wedding Reception
in Summer 2008. Our intention is to offer advice that
is easy for visiting foreigners staying for a week or
so. Some of the exceptionally good or unique restaurants
are a little out of the way, and even locals have difficulty
finding them. However, we are happy to guide you to
other locations should you send us an email telling
us what you are looking for. It is our pleasure!
Please see our section pages for further information
concerning the above restaurants, and many others for
each category |
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This information is as supplied by China Expat's and
our friends, as dated 10th July 2010, and/or other reliable
sources. Please check this information yourself as it
may alter without notice, and whilst we try our best
to ensure it is correct, please do not hold us responsible
for any errors - this is intended as a simple guide
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