8 Must-See Genuine Cantonese-Style Breakfast Teashop of Guangzhou

Tea is a characteristic catering in Guangzhou. According to their snacking customs, tea plays a major role. Guangzhou Restaurant is one of the most famous places among the numerous tea shops.Founded in the1930’s, it is a childhood memory for Guangzhou’s elderly people. Guangzhou Restaurant became famous not only for its history, but also for its delicious food and stable quality. The popularity degree of prawn dumplings, chicken paw, durian crunchies and other dishes is unfailing. Currently it has 11 branches in the Guangzhou area. In the vicinity of the scenic spot, there is Wenchang Store at Xiajiu Road. Furthermore, at a distance from here there is the "Binjiangxi Store". There is Dongshan Store on Dongshan Street, and near Guangzhou Museum there is "Linjiang Avenue Store".

Founded in 1880, Tao Taoju is the oldest restaurant in Guangzhou. It’s an outstanding breakfast tea store model, full of famous and prominent tea types. Every day, particularly in the early morning many Guangzhou elders queue here for tea. Following Lingnan’s architectural style, the interior design in Tao Taoju is elegant. The interior is elegant, the famous calligraphy works and paintings are hung, rhyming couplets and "Tao Taoju" are written there with Kang Youwei's own handwriting. The family’s Cantonese-style moon cakes are also worth mentioning. Its producing history is already a hundred years old. The most famous is "Tao Taoju mooncake".

Beiyuan Tavern: Hidden and quiet old restaurant "Beiyuan Tavern”and "Nanyuan Restaurant" are both equally famous old garden restaurants with good reputations. There are two floors in it and there is a courtyard inside. It follows Lingnan’s garden style: hidden and quiet, here you can find Guangzhou’s morning tea. It’s an outstanding selection of traditional culture. Morning tea snacks are plentiful here. Lemon juice and tasty shrimp rolls, as well as tofu rolls with shrimp inside are recommended here. Moreover, the tofu rolls are completely free of bean flavor. Besides this, it is worth to try the restaurant rice noodle roll.

Panxi Tavern: The most outstanding garden restaurant of this area Panxi Restaurant is a garden restaurant with a good reputation that is frequently visited by locals. It opened nearly 70 years ago and is very close to the beautiful Liwan Lake Park. Compared with the Guangzhou’s other two family-restaurant (Nanyuan and Beiyuan), the landscape of Panxi is more outstanding. Foreigners in Guangzhou prefer this restaurant. Because it has a long-established reputation, there are inevitably many old diners, so prepare yourself for a long queuing if you come to this restaurant for a breakfast tea. Actually queuing is not so good, and the afternoon tea is the same, you can come that time.

Lianxiang House: Besides of selling cakes, you can find here tasty breakfast teas as well. Lianxiang House, which is known as the “No. 1. Lianrong Restaurant”, is one of the two oldest tea houses in Guangzhou with a hundred years of history (the other is Tao Taoju). Besides making many different cakes, it also makes breakfast tea and night snacks. Most of the numerous kinds of breakfast teas are for locals, so it’s self-servicing. Finally you can pay the bill at the checkout counter. The most special things in Lianxiang House are the lotus seed dumplings, Lotus seed paste-filled cakes and mooncakes. Other Cantonese-style homemade dishes are delicate as well, like roasted pork crisps, Fenghuang dumplings, and salted Xiguan pancakes. There are many branches of Lianxiang House. Among them, the “Shop on the Tenth Road” is more convenient for tourists because it is close to Shangxiajiu. Besides of this there are branches on Liwan Road and Zhongshanwu Road.

Nanyuan Restaurant: 50 years old shop with an elegant environment. The Nanyuan Restaurant, which opened in 1963, is one of the four big garden restaurants in Guangzhou. Inside the restaurant we can find swirling bamboos, birdsongs and fragrant flowers; the characteristic features of Lingnan’s architecture: blue bricks and green roofs. The architectural features of Lingnan, such as the green brick and green tiles, small details such as horns, pavilions and kiosks and so on. Nanyuan Restaurant is famous for its Cantonese-style fried vegetable dishes. Because of it’s guarantee that the snacks are steamed on demand, Chaozhou dishes are relatively exquisite. The more popular dishes include Fotiaoqiang, Chaozhou Roasted Goose, Chaozhou Chicken with bean paste, Chaozhou Badachi and so on.

Diandoude: Teashop specialized in handmade desserts. Whenever you go to Diandoude Teashop, you can drink Cantonese-style breakfast tea. It is very famous in Guangzhou with many branches. They insist not only on traditional hand-made snacks, but even on steaming to guarantee the original taste of the ingredients. The decoration of the shop is very elegant, the windows are interesting and appealing and the walls are black brick: it rather has the atmosphere of Xiguan-style. It’s delicious, looks nice and there are unavoidably many people inside, especially on weekends, so if you come here you must queue.

Shuimu Lianqing: delicate tea-dishes in a classical atmosphere. Shuimu Liangqing's Breakfast Tea is different from other restaurants. Its variety of teas are widely-known. Its tea is not just a refreshment, but tea here means that the ingredients of the snacks contain tealeaves. Shuimu Liangqing handles tea soup, powdered tea, and so on, with many different kind of unique snacks. The decoration of Shuimu Lianqing is also worthy of praise. The doors and windows of the tables and chairs are all made of wood, and the furniture has antique-style as well. It’s not surprising that it’s called “The Soul of worldwide Chinese Breakfast Tea”, and that business is prosperous here.