Food and Restaurants

Local cuisine is delightfully varied and delicious. The rivers are well stocked with tench, a type of fish that tastes great when deep-fried and cooked with beer, green peppers and tomatoes – it's slightly spicy. Pomelos abound in Yangshuo, and are best eaten in October when they're ripe and pomelos stuffed with pork is a Yangshuo specialty. Horse chestnuts, an October delicacy, are often found stuffed into a juicy duck's breast. Yangshuo's snails are famed for their succulence, but be sure they have been thoroughly scrubbed. They're great stir-fried with pickled bamboo shoots, chilies, ginger and peppermint. Spicy Guilin rice noodles can be found just about anywhere.

Anywhere along West Street is a good place to start looking for lip-smacking grub: Minnie Mao's, Planet Yangshuo, Under the Moon, Nonance, Green Lotus and Lisa's Café are recommended. Menus are in both Chinese and English and the food is as authentic as it can get in China with very reasonable prices. The nearby Front Street is another well-known foreigner's hangout with the same kinds of offerings as West Street.