Liuzhou, an Underrated Food City

Before going to Liuzhou, my impression of it was limited to the nationally famous Liuzhou river snail rice noodles and Wuling Motors. When I actually arrived in Liuzhou and explored this modest-sized city, I discovered that while rice noodles are indispensable, there is so much more to it. This is a delicious little town, so good that it's worth a special trip, and your whole journey will be filled with praise and joy.

Today's post will certainly mention the well-known snail noodles and various other noodles, but I'm even more excited to share Liuzhou's other snacks and delicacies. They may not look like much (maybe it's because I didn't take good photos), but they're incredibly tasty! Most snacks are grouped by area, making it easy for you to follow the map. I hope you eat happily.

Conquer the world with a bowl of noodles

"Slurping a bowl of authentic snail noodles" was, of course, the primary goal of this trip. After eating snail noodles for a few days, we found out: real Liuzhou snail noodles actually don't stink, and the pickled bamboo shoots aren't overpowering.

Right next to our hotel was the Fengzhang Snail Noodle Main Store. This old shop, born in '97, used to be tucked away in an alley next to a school – how many people's memories must be tied to it! A bowl costs just over ten yuan, which isn't expensive. At the counter, a row of stainless steel basins holds over a dozen braised side dishes; some you won't even know the name of, but everything looks tempting.

The three of us ended up ordering dry-mixed, snail meat, and three-delicacy snail noodles, plus plenty of extras. At Fengzhang, you ladle your own soup base. A big barrel of soulful broth, simmered with snail meat and various seasonings, sits right at the counter. It's entirely up to you whether to skim off the top layer of chili oil and how much broth to add.

Slurping noodles is truly a joyful thing – springy and bouncy. Every bowl of snail noodles comes loaded with ingredients: green vegetables, wood ear mushrooms, peanuts, fried tofu skin, pickled bamboo shoots, pickled green beans, and more. The peanuts are to die for, so crispy and fragrant! At the entrance, they also have boxes of snail rice noodles ready to be shipped home.

My companions all ordered the snail duck feet, which also soak in the essence of the snail broth. First fried then simmered, the skin is fragrant and the meat tender; we simply couldn't stop eating. But this snack is much spicier than snail noodles, so be careful if you're afraid of heat!

Address: No. 30 Yuejin Road, Liubei District

Besides snail noodles, Liuzhou has a wide variety of other noodles. Walking straight down the main street from Fengzhang towards Bubugao Plaza, you'll find a Rongshui Hometown Filtered Rice Noodle shop.

According to rough statistics, Guangxi has 14 types of rice noodles, among which "filtered noodles" are a specialty of Rong'an County and Rongshui Miao Autonomous County. Soaked rice is first ground into a slurry; the thickness of the slurry determines whether you can make perfect filtered noodles. It's then poured through a special funnel, and under gravity, strands of noodle fall into boiling water, ready to serve after cooking.

The toppings for filtered noodles differ a bit from snail noodles. You can choose from minced meat, char siu, sausage, "shuang kou", and "shao zhe". The first three are self-explanatory. "Shuang kou" is like the crispy fried pork you get in hot pot restaurants, coated with breadcrumbs. "Shao zhe" is similar to red-braised lion's head meatballs, containing minced pork, chopped scallions, shiitake mushrooms, water chestnuts, and other ingredients, shaped into balls, skewered with toothpicks, and deep-fried to golden perfection.

At this filtered noodle shop, you can choose a single topping or, for 4 yuan, get a bit of everything. As outsiders, we naturally went for the latter, plus a shao zhe, and the result looked quite luxurious. The noodles taste refreshing, and the broth doesn't leave you thirsty. Worth a try.

Rongshui Hometown Filtered Rice Noodle Shop

Address: East District of Staff Residential Complex, Yuejin Road

The original site of Fengzhang Main Store is in an alley. Walk further in and you'll reach No. 5 Middle School. Across from the school, we tried our third noodle shop – Beizhan Bula Rice Roll Noodles.

During our days in Liuzhou, we discovered that the local cuisine shares a long history with Guangdong. For example, rice roll noodles are a snack from Xiguan area in Guangdong, similar to the unfilled pig intestine rice noodle rolls. The preparation resembles making jianbing: first spread the rice slurry thin, steam it for about 30 seconds until cooked, then crack an egg and spread our chosen black rice mixture. Before fully rolling up, brush on a layer of minced meat, and it's ready to go.

The soul of the rice rolls is the sauce. The owner cuts the rolls into pieces with scissors and lets us drizzle on a rich tomato-based sauce and crushed peanuts. You can clearly taste that the tomatoes in the sauce have been sautéed, not sour but slightly sweet. Add more crushed peanuts, and it's incredibly fragrant!

Beizhan Bula Rice Roll Noodles

Address: Opposite Liuzhou No. 5 Middle School

Liuzhou's deliciousness goes beyond a bowl of noodles

We stayed on Yuejin Road, opposite Liuzhou North Station. At night, the nearby alley transforms into a battleground for street food vendors. A short hundred-meter path is packed with barbecue, rice noodles, stinky tofu, beef offal, and other snacks, even herbal tea. Here are two must-eats:

After spicy snail noodles, a bowl of cool tofu pudding is perfect. With a sweet tooth, I came here almost every day during my stay. Yao's shop is small, no frills, just a few tables and chairs at the door.

The menu has only three options: tofu pudding, corn sugar water, and black-and-white liangfen. The prices are touching: 3.5 yuan per bowl, 4 yuan for a small to-go cup, 6 yuan for a large cup, and you can also get a combo.

The three of us each ordered a different one to try them all. Nu especially loved the tofu pudding, with its rich soybean flavor; the brown sugar water was turned into ice flecks and mixed in. I, on the other hand, really liked the corn sugar water. The corn was cooked until soft and sticky yet still intact, pleasantly chewy, somewhat like coix seed. Black-and-white liangfen is a mix of turtle jelly and coix seeds, just sweet enough and very refreshing, great for cutting the heat.

This is a common street snack in Liuzhou: a pot brimming with beef innards, commonly known as "beef offal." The pot contains beef heart, beef lung, beef blood, tripe, etc., paired with assorted vegetables, all on skewers and simmered for a long time. Just use long chopsticks to pick what you like.

After you've chosen your items, the vendor cuts them into bite-sized pieces with scissors. Then, after drizzling with sour broth, you can dig in! The offal is cleaned thoroughly; it's sour and spicy, very appetizing. I’d recommend beef brisket, omasum, radish, and potato – I think they're quite tasty.

Tip: There's also a Jiaohang Rice Noodle shop on this street, but I couldn't figure out its opening times after days of trying. Feel free to try it and report back!

Another place worth recommending is Qingyun Market. This market is like Kunming's Zhuanxin or Xiamen's Eighth Market – bustling with vibrant local life. Here you can buy fresh ingredients and enjoy all sorts of delicious snacks. They're scattered among the residential buildings; just wander around, and soon you'll be very satisfied.

At the entrance to the market, there's a sugarcane juice stall, 5 yuan a cup. Fresh and sweet, I suggest grabbing one. On the roadside, there's Pan's Bean Flour Buns, a protected intangible cultural heritage craft of Liuzhou. Soybeans, peanuts, sesame seeds, and glutinous rice are all fried and ground into powder, then wrapped in round, sticky rice dough. One bite is both sticky and chewy, with a sweet but not cloying filling.

Fu Laosan Dew Soup Rice Balls

This shop, open for over thirty years, is a must-try in my opinion, very special. The broth is simmered with pork bones, flavored with shiitake stems and monk fruit, so it tastes umami-rich without being drying.

There are two types of rice balls: glutinous rice and non-glutinous rice. The glutinous ones are like the rice balls we usually eat; the non-glutinous ones use corn as the wrapper ingredient. Each one is oversized, with a savory filling containing minced meat, shiitake mushrooms, Malabar spinach, and preserved turnip root – complex flavors and rich mouthfeel. Oh, and you must go early; they close when sold out. We had to come twice before we got to try them!

Qingyun Old Brand Pan Sister Snacks

This stall mainly sells traditional rice-based snacks. The inside is where the pastries are made, and the steamer baskets outside serve as the sales counter. The menu isn't long, with simple, common items. But what makes this place so precious is that the owner grinds the glutinous rice flour herself. It's rare to find a shop still sticking to traditional methods. I recommend their water cake and sticky rice.

Next to Pan Sister Snacks, there's also a stall selling Xinjiang naan and baked buns, which is pretty good.

Leaving Qingyun Market, on a side path at the other end, there's Guo Sister Snacks. It's not easy to find, but trust your instincts and keep going; the right path is ahead.

The tiny shop operates from an old house, with just two or three small tables outside providing all the seating. The auntie serves food while chatting with neighbors; it's said the shop has been here for decades.

The menu has plenty of choices, but the signature taro cake is a must-order. Their taro cake is made by blending a whole block of taro paste with rice flour batter, drizzled with a thick sweet-and-sour sauce and crushed peanuts, then paired with a unique chili paste. The texture is velvety and the taste novel. It's served piping hot!

I especially loved their cold water rice dumplings. These dumplings are just glutinous rice, no filling at all. Simply cooked, cooled thoroughly, then unwrapped to reveal a firm dumpling. Guo Sister's version is sliced thin, served with brown sugar syrup, and tastes cool and sweet.

Nighttime must-eats: Hotpot & Barbecue

Let me start with a hotpot we all can't stop thinking about: Xinshihui Beef Offal Hotpot. I can confidently say this is the best clear-broth beef hotpot I've had this year, hands down.

The hotpot restaurant is a street-side eatery under a plastic canopy. We arrived after 8 p.m. to a scene of boisterous crowds and lively atmosphere; we even had to wait a bit for a table.

Looking around, most of the diners were locals, gathered around pots, eating and drinking merrily. Roving singers with speakers went from table to table, selling songs – full of rustic charm.

The beef and offal are sold by weight, all fresh that day. At the counter, you can choose different cuts, and they sell until everything's gone. If you're trying this for the first time, have the server give you a little of everything.

Our group were all from Guangdong, so we tried the clear broth pot. The beef was incredibly flavorful, even with a hint of sweetness. The beef balls were no joke – springy and chewy. Their dipping sauces were also interesting: one sour-spicy chili paste and one savory-spicy. In my opinion, the savory one is more palatable; the sour-spicy one is a bit throat-scorching.

Xinshihui Beef Offal Hotpot

Address: No. 8-8-11, Baisha Road, Liuzhou

Another barbecue place is Park BBQ, which I learned about from the Bilibili show "A String of Life." The name Park BBQ comes from Liuhou Park across from its main branch. Having been open for over 30 years, it's a memory of many people's school days.

The shop isn't big; by 5 p.m., there's already a queue. The barbecue is prepared in a traditional way, repeatedly basting with three layers of sauce and slow-smoking until the flavors soak in. The skewers are sweet-salty, sprinkled with sesame seeds, a bit heavy on the palate and can get tiring if you eat too much. I recommend the grilled corn, grilled knee cartilage, and grilled tofu. A must-try drink is their dark sugar winter melon tea – refreshing and cuts the grease, with that nostalgic old-school taste.

Address: No. 131-1-2, Wenhui Road, Liuzhou

On the same street as Park BBQ is Wenhui Yang Sister Deep Alley Pickles. A tiny cart peeking out from a narrow alley is all there is to this establishment. People from Guangxi love sour things, and you can see pickle shops like this everywhere. I recommend this one because Yang Sister has even won awards – the certificate is plastered on the alley wall!

These pickles are quite tasty. I suggest the papaya, lotus root, and peach – sweet and sour, perfect for cutting the grease after barbecue. Be careful not to add too much chili, or it'll burn you.

Wenhui Yang Sister Deep Alley Pickles

Address: No. 63 Wenhui Road (look for the cart)

It's hard not to overeat in Liuzhou, so I suggest going for a walk in a park after meals. In the city center, Ma'anshan Park offers unbeatable night views. The mountain isn't tall; about an hour up and down is enough. The moment the city lights up as darkness falls, everyone couldn't help but gasp in awe.

Along the Liujiang River, there's a series of small parks. After dinner, you'll find people square dancing and others fishing on the banks. We strolled aimlessly along the river, a gentle breeze blowing – very pleasant.

Liuzhou is famous for heavy industry and is the second-largest city in Guangxi, but the pace of life here is unhurried, and the locals are content and relaxed. One day, as we passed an intersection in a taxi, we saw traffic police stopping scooter riders without helmets and making them stay in a small shelter to watch traffic safety cartoon videos. At that moment, I found Liuzhou kind of endearing.

Above are my memories of Liuzhou: a clean city, friendly people, and delicious food. The flight from Shanghai to Liuzhou takes just 3 hours. If you're in Guangdong or the southwest region, it's even more convenient. Visitors from other areas currently need a 48-hour nucleic acid test certificate to enter Liuzhou. After the pandemic, pick a weekend and add Liuzhou to your travel list!