Going to Liuzhou: After Eating Luosifen for Three Days and Nights... (A Bloody Exhaustive Guide to Luosifen)

This trip, my friends and I—four of us total—arrived in Liuzhou on Friday evening and headed back on Monday afternoon. Including the train tickets (we're all from Guangdong Province), it only came to about 1,000 RMB per person. Our goal in Liuzhou was crystal clear: to taste the legendary, super-popular authentic Liuzhou luosifen (snail rice noodles).

Before going, a local Liuzhou friend of mine gave me tons of recommendations from a local's perspective.

Now let's get right into the luosifen! I'll rank them in order of my personal preference.

1. Xi Huan Fei Zai Luosifen (West Ring Fatty Snail Rice Noodles)

Address | West Ring Intersection

Hours | 08:00 - 04:00 the next day

Recommendations | Original-style luosifen, Chinese sausage, duck feet

Cost | 83 RMB (for 4 people)

The first thing we did when we arrived Friday night was order luosifen! My friend recommended this place, and even the taxi driver said it was good. We ordered it before we even got to the hotel.

We got duck kidney, chicken feet, dry-mixed luosifen, original luosifen (one spicy, one not), and mung bean paste. Since it was our first night and we finally had luosifen, the flavor left a deep impression—all I could think was 'delicious! amazing!' It was completely different from what I'd had before! Naturally, it topped my list.

Normally, eating luosifen in a closed indoor space would get you ridiculed, but luckily we're all luosifen lovers. And Liuzhou's luosifen is way more fragrant than Guangzhou's—it doesn't stink at all! The pickled bamboo shoots weren't as strong, and they weren't as sour. The best part? The rice noodles were so thin! The texture was totally different! And you have to have water spinach—bright green water spinach! All of us exclaimed, 'What were we eating before?!'

2. Fei Luo Bao (Fat Snail Pot) – located next to Xi Huan Fei Zai

Address | 2 Taiping Middle Street

Hours | 11:00 - 02:00 the next day

Recommendations | Stir-fried luosifen, salt-and-pepper duck tongues, snail pot

Cost | 160 RMB (for 4 people)

We originally came for the snail pot, but we were amazed by the duck tongues and stir-fried luosifen. I'm someone who's scared of kissing ducks, but I ate duck tongue for the first time in my life here—and I've been craving it ever since returning to Guangzhou!

Friendly tip: Order the smallest size of the Fat Snail Pot; we couldn't even finish it. There's so much stuff, and the pot is really deep! Other than the stir-fried luosifen, you don't need any other staple food!!

The key to a good stir-fried noodle is the wok hei—you can imagine the chef tossing the wok with flames just from one bite. This chef definitely knows their stuff. Because of the nature of luosifen noodles, they tend to stick together a bit, but that doesn't take away from the flavor. Plus, the fiery chili peppers make it incredibly satisfying.

3. Da Hua Gan Lao Fen (Dahua Dry-Mixed Rice Noodles)

Address | Near the old and new musical instruments on Wenhui Road, close to Bubugao Shopping Plaza

Hours | 24 hours

Recommendations | Dry-mixed rice noodles

Cost | 9.5 RMB (one takeout portion)

This shop is open 24 hours, so you can eat anytime. Here, the noodles are more like Guilin rice noodles—a bit thicker. Although there weren't as many snails as at Xi Huan Fei Zai, the taste was better than their dry-mixed version.

Look how big the snails are!

And how efficient the proprietress is! No wonder she's a 24-hour non-stop woman!

4. Feng Zhang Luosifen

Address | Lane 1, East Yuejin Road, near No.5 Middle School

Hours | 24 hours

Recommendations | Luosifen, tofu pudding

Cost | 15 RMB

I forgot to try the tofu pudding—I heard the one across the street is famous too. I went early in the morning, but the shop opposite wasn't open yet.

This place felt very local—metal plates, and most of the customers were locals. The proprietress's Mandarin was a bit hard to understand. This was my second morning's luosifen, and my first time eating inside the shop—it felt great.

5. Ju Bao Luosifen

Address | Room 3-4, 1st Floor, Jinfu Building, No.47 Lixin Road

Hours | 08:30 - 01:30 the next day

Recommendations | Luosifen, duck feet, marinated egg, Chinese sausage

Cost | 20 RMB (delivery)

Before leaving, I couldn't accept not having one more meal. So at the restaurant where we were having lunch, I ordered this place's luosifen and took it to the train station to eat while waiting.

Even though I was starting to get a bit scared of luosifen, I could still taste how delicious this one was!

There's an older Ju Bao Luosifen that's supposedly even better, but I didn't get a chance to try it.

6. Xiao Qi Luosifen

Address | 1st Floor, 14 South Lane 1, Tianshan Road, Yufeng District

Hours | 09:00 - 03:00 the next day

Recommendations | Luosifen, duck feet, tofu skin, mung bean paste

Cost | 12.5 RMB (for 2 people)

My friend and I went out early for breakfast. First we ate at the Yao Ji Rice Roll shop across the street (also very tasty—more on that later!), then we shared one bowl of luosifen before going to Dahua to pack some dry-mixed noodles. These three shops are all near Five-Star Street, so you can follow our route and eat along the same street—share one portion for two people to try different flavors.

This place had generous toppings, but unfortunately the noodles weren't very flavorful—they didn't have that soup-noodle harmony like the previous shops.

Add, add, add—just add everything!

7. Sister's Luosifen (Jie Mei Luosifen)

I won't recommend this one—it really wasn't good—but I do recommend the soy milk shop next door!

8. Shuinan Zengjie Soy Milk Shop (Only one—no branches!!)

Address | 2-4, No.98 Shuinan Road

Hours | 16:00 - 02:00 the next day (note: note: only opens in the afternoon!)

Recommendations | Soy milk, fried dough sticks, fried dough cakes

Cost | 44 RMB (for 4 people)

A must-recommend from my Liuzhou friend. Known as...

Look at this line—at 10 PM! We had dinner, hung out by the river, and then came here...

I took a wide-angle shot, and the line stretched far behind.

I always thought soy milk and fried dough sticks were a breakfast thing—I hadn't checked the hours. The day before, I got up at 6:30 AM and came here...

There's such a thing as evening soy milk??

The kitchen looked like this.

The fried dough sticks are cut with scissors before eating.

It was packed with people.

There were also fried dough cakes with red bean paste—we had one of each.

The auntie was so skilled.

Nectar of the gods.

I swear on my life, this is the best soy milk I've ever had!

No residue at all, ice-cold, slightly sweet, smooth and gentle—finished in two or three gulps. You have to drink it from a bowl in big mouthfuls!

The first sip made my friend and I say in unison, 'Let's pack another portion to take back to the hotel!'

Again: There's a shop with the same name on Five-Star Street, but that's a fake. The proprietress only has this one shop—all others are imposters. If you don't mind queuing and love the lively atmosphere like me, you must come and try it!

9. Yao Ji Rice Rolls (Yao Ji Juan Fen)

Address | 13-1 Goldfish Lane

Hours | 10:30 - 22:30 (but I ate there at 9 AM, so it might open earlier)

Recommendations | Signature rice rolls

Cost | 13 RMB (for 2 people)

This place has air conditioning too, but the shop is a bit small. On the last day, after eating too much luosifen, I was about to collapse, so I found this rice roll shop.

Surprisingly delicious! There were lots of elementary school students eating there. It felt like Guangzhou's cheung fun (rice noodle roll), but with added crushed peanuts, mushrooms, fried white onions, pickled long beans, and other toppings, all topped with a ladle of soup.

Sour and spicy—very tasty. The proprietress was young and nice.

10. Shunshuiwan Beef Offal Hotpot (Shun Shui Wan Niu Za Huo Guo)

Address | 3 Jiahe Road

Hours | 11:00 - 21:00

Recommendations | Beef large intestine, fresh beef, cold mixed beef offal

Cost | 228 RMB (for 4 people)

Liuzhou people can't eat luosifen every day, right? There's other food too! So I followed my friend's recommendation and came to this beef offal hotpot!

One word: awesome!

I achieved two firsts in Liuzhou: first time eating duck tongue, and first time eating large intestine! So chewy and delicious!

We picked our ingredients at the front counter.

After choosing, the kitchen added spices and chopped everything up for us.

Okay, that's all the food recommendations!

What Liuzhou gave me was a feeling that the air everywhere is filled with the fragrance of luosifen, electric scooters buzz endlessly, and the people live freely and are content with their lot. They seem indifferent to the glitzy outside world, content to find joy for a lifetime in this small city with mountains and water.