Top 10 bars and restaurants in Guangzhou and Chengdu

When it comes to dining, Chengdu and Guangzhou are vastly varied. In Chengdu, you’d be hard-pressed to pass an alley or a street without hearing either the shuffling of Mahjong tiles or raucous chatter emanating from hotpot restaurants.

The Guangzhou skyline

People’s love for food is almost revered with religious fervour. In 2000, Chengdu became the first city in Asia to be designated by UNESCO as a ‘City of Gastronomy’, ahead of Hong Kong and Tokyo. The city epitomizes the spicy Sichuanese dishes characterised by the numbing Sichuanese peppercorns and a plethora of spices, while Guangzhou, the epicenter of Cantonese food, pays homage to fresh ingredients with minimal flavourings and lots of attention to details.

From street stalls to highbrow restaurants in five-star hotels, food in these two cities have become what defines its people: buoyant and quick-tongued locals from hotpot-slurping Chengdu, and humble, scrupulous ‘Guangdongers’.

Here, we round up the best eateries and bars from the two cities.

Five restaurants: Lao Mao Tou Hotpot

An institution in Chengdu, this hotpot restaurant, whose name is literately translated as ‘old harbour’, is never short of visitors and locals alike. Even before 6pm, a 20m-long queue of hungry visitors can be seen sitting on plastic stools, munching on sunflower seeds, waiting patiently for a table, a scene perhaps one can only see in hotpot strongholds in Chonqing and Chengdu.

It’s worth the wait because of the authentic, seething and fragrant hotpot where diners dip raw ingredients into the boiling spicy broth.

A wide range of selections are available, from conventional vegetables, meat to more bizarre ingredients, such as duck intestines and pig brains. A no-spice version is also available for customers with more delicate palates.

Beer is a staple with hotpot, so don’t expect to find an extensive wine list here.

Yulin Middle Road 27, Wuhou District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province

Tivano

Arguably one of the best Italian restaurants in Chengdu, the sumptuous Tivano restaurant features an open kitchen with a wood-fired pizza oven and an extensive Italian wine-heavy wine list to match with its savory dishes. The head chef, Paolo Collavini, has more than 30 years of experience.

The restaurant’s interior design is swanky, with comfortable leather chairs, a high ceiling and an open bar.

The restaurant also has two private dining rooms that can accommodate up to 20 people for parties and family events. This is the place to go if you are looking for hearty pastas and oven-hot pizzas.

No. 81 Bitieshi Street, Jinjiang District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province

Chen Mapo Tofu

Credited as the creator of this quintessential Sichuanese dish known as Mapo Tofu, this old and rustic restaurant traces its roots to 1862 in China’s Qing Dynasty when the owner’s wife, a pockmarked woman invented this fiery dish, made with soft tofu, minced beef, black bean paste, and the mind-numbing Shichuan peppercorn.

Most of today’s Mapo Tofu variations have swapped minced beef with ground pork because of cost, but the flavours of this rich, dense, searing-hot dish remained consistent. Waiting for a table is almost obligatory, but we guarantee that it’s worth it.

No. 197 West Yulong Street, Luo Ma Shi, Qing Yang District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province

Panxi Restaurant

Billed as the biggest garden-style Cantonese restaurant, Panxi spans more than 12,000 sq m on the bank of the Gaungzhou’s tranquil Liwan Lake (left).

This mega-restaurant is then subdivided into teahouse rooms and gardens, interconnected with bridges, ponds and Chinese wooden pathways, reminiscent of an ancient Chinese calligraphy painting.

Signature dishes include turnip cakes, shrimp dumplings and suckling pig to name a few, but the highlight is the traditional and meticulous executed Chinese dim sum coming in visually intriguing shapes such as rabbits and hedgehogs. It’s truly a feast for your eyes and for your stomach.

No. 151 Longin West Road, Liwan, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

Summer Palace

The Guangzhou Cantonese restaurant is the counterpart of the famed two-Michelin-starred Hong Kong restaurant bearing the same name. Helmed by chef Jacky Kwok Hung, the restaurant offers classic Cantonese dishes with a touch of innovation.

His signature dishes include crispy chicken, cooked with minimal seasonings and served on goose liver and jelly fish, and pan-fried beef and abalone with mushrooms. The steamed bun shaped like three piglets stuffed with salted egg yolk is a favourite dessert on the menu.

This is an ideal place for business-casual dining. It offers 18 private dining rooms for more formal occasions and family gatherings.

Level 2, 1 Hui Zhan Dong Road, Hai Zhu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

Five Bars: Vinoteca

This wine bar on Chengdu’s bustling downtown Taikoo Li is churning up a storm among Chengdu wine lovers, offering value-for-money bottles of 130 brands from 13 countries. Its founder, Chen Wei, has also enlisted a line-up of live jazz bands to dial up the romantic ambience in the bar.

On an airy night, its spacious terrace on the second floor of Taikoo Li is packed with revelers, glasses in hand, wining and dining to the smooth jazz tones. The wine bar has branched out and opened a few new places in Chengdu. It has become one of the glitziest hangout places among Chengdu’s affluent nouveau riche.

Shop 2316, Taikoo Li, No.8 Middle Shamao Street, Jinjiang District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province

Mooney’s Bar

Located on the first floor of Shangri-la Hotel, Mooney’s Bar is a fixture in the city’s nightlife scene, and is popular with a steady crowd of locals and expats. Decorated with dark wood furniture in a distinct Irish style, the bar also has a live band playing some laid-back jazz.

This bar has an extensive list of beers and whiskeys, Beamish Irish Stout, Guinness, Acme California Pale Ale and draught beer. The wine list has a heavy focus on Bordeaux, but also boasts a sizable selection of New World wines including bottles from Australia and New Zealand, and even a few Chinese wines, from Grace Vineyard, can also be found.

Shangri-La Hotel, 9 Binjiang Dong Lu, Chengdu, Sichuan Province

Wilber’s

Nestled in a lush neighbourhood in Yuexiu District, Wilber’s, housed in a colonial-style building, doles out some of the city’s best food and cocktails. Food choices are limited but everything on the list is on point. Dishes are simple but thoughtful.

Signatures include pan-fried scallops and spinach with parmesan risotto, duck ravioli with beetroot tomato sauce and baked miso cod. Matching up to its no-frill, honest cuisine is its drinks menu, populated with whiskies, bourbons, craft beer and a few house classics. In addition, the restaurant/bar offers its own brand of Wilber’s wines including a Prosecco, a Chardonnay and a Shiraz.

62 Zhusigang Er Ma Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

Mouton Cadet Wine Bar (now closed)

Dubbed as the world’s first Mouton Cadet wine bar, the place offers – as its name suggests – full ranges of Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s entry-level wine, Mouton Cadet. Located at No. 9 Garden Road in Guangzhou, the dimly lit bar features dark wood panelling and plush couches.

People wanting variety might be put off by the Bordeaux-only offering but one draw for visitors is a private room dedicated to the late Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, owner of some of Bordeaux’s top-cru classés châteaux, including Château d’Armailhac, Château Clerc Milon and the legendary first growth Château Mouton Rothschild. Label art is framed and displayed throughout the bar.

No.9 Garden Restaurant, No. 9 Jiansheliu Ma Lu, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

The Roof Bar

Perched on the 70th floor of Guangzhou’s luxurious Park Hyatt Hotel, The Roof Bar is the place to go for a stunning bird’s-eye view of Guangzhou during the night. Featuring floor-to-ceiling windows and an unscreened outdoor terrace, it has an unobstructed view of the southern metropolis with the famous Guangzhou tower.

Similar to Bangkok’s sky bars, this modern bar offers a varied selection of wines, cocktails and spirits, from Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s Escudo Rojoa to Suntory’s Yamazaki 12-Year-Old whisky.

16 Huaxia Road, Zhujiang New Town, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province