Dining & Nightlife

[Jamasian]

I just moved to Guangzhou and I find it huge and spread out. Where are people eating out and if you're into dancing, where do you go?

 

I don't need to stay near where I live. Access to buses and the subway are convenient enough.

[eion_padraig]

Hey Jamasian,

A lot of it depends on what you're looking for for eating out. I'm not really into the night club scene. I've been to two different places ever in GZ. One was located Yanjiang Rd 沿江路. I don't remember if it was West or Center road, but it's on the North side of the Pearl river. There were 2 or 3 located around the same area. It's definitely to the east of Shamian Island (沙面岛). This place had lots of Chinese people dicing, a fair number of youngish (late teens to twenty somethings) foreigners who were dancing or drinking. Impossible to talk really, but it seems like there are regulars that get to know each other. The night I was there one of the dance bits a male and a female dancer do a burlesque number that had some partial nudity. It wasn't something I expected to see in China.

 

Then there is the Party Pier area that is on the south side of the Pearl river a bit east of Canton Tower. Those are more bar/nightclub places rather that just night clubs. There are also some restaurants that will have bars and dancing. Similar crowd to the other place, but you're more likely to have visiting business people who find their way to the Party Pier.  It's at Yue Jiang Xi Lu (阅江西路).

 

There's also a big bar/restaurant street at Xin Sheng Lu near Liede subway stop. It's expensive with a mix of wealthy Chinese and expats with overpriced drinks and food. Lots of the places have not personality. Hooley's is the only place there that I know with dancing though. They have live music several nights of the week and dj music late. It's crowded and smokey on the 2nd and 3rd floor, but I occasionally go there to watch live music. It's also a challenging place to meet folks.

 

The last big bar/restaurant area is up in Taojin area not far from the Garden Hotel. I don't know of any dancing places up there. Sometimes the Brew location there has live music, but it's not really a dancing location. This is one of the areas where you're also likely to get business travelers going out.

 

It's Guangzhou so people eat out all over the city. That's what people care about here. It depends entirely on what you're looking for. Those places I mentioned are areas where you're more likely to find foreign restaurants. You'll also find some places just west of the US consulate and just east of Guangzhou Avenue in Zhujiang New Town. Social and Co, The Brew, The Tavern, and MacCauley's.

The biggest problem I've found is actually meeting people when I'm out. Maybe it's me, but there are only a few places where I consistently can meet Chinese and/or foreigners and strike up conversations. Most people  seem to go out with their friends and don't look to meet other folks.

 

Anyway, I hope that helps a bit.

Elon

[Jamasian]

Thanks Elon! That helps a lot. I was starting to think I'd need to carry on solo for months. There's not much to see in Baiyun and the mall gets boring unless you're a shopper.

[eion_padraig]

I do hear there's an area of Baiyun with a lot of Koreans that has great Korean cuisine. But otherwise it's rather far from where you might find other foreigns hanging out.

My two favorite places for meeting people are The Strand on Chunfeng Lu (春风路) just west of Guangzhou Dadao and connected to Ming Yue Yi Lu （明月一路). It's a short walk from Wuyang Cun subway stop. It's tucked in a corner. Mostly it's craft beer made by the American owner and then imported beer on draft and bottles. Not much to drink there besides beer. It's small and I almost always find someone to talk with. Sometimes it's locals and sometimes it's foreigners. I speak Chinese there a lot.

The other places is a burrito place called Tristan's. That's in the urban village connected to Tiyu Xi Lu subway stop. You go out exit B. Head straight out to the first row of shops and turn left. When you hit the next small street, take a right. Then take another left at the bike parking area. It's to your right. It's owned by another American fellow. That place tends to be a lot more foreigners and more English teachers than other groups, but you'll meet other people too. It's small, so it's also an easy place to meet folks. There's talk that he may relocate from there, but so far that's just in the planning stages.

[Jamasian]

I'm going to try both. Where do the Koreans go? lol I like to drink socially. They drink all the time.

 

I don't really need to speak English as my Chinese is pretty good. ^^ I'll try The Strand but I guess I better hit up the burrito place first. I've gone back into the dilemma of not wanting to eat Chinese cuisine but not having much choice.

 

Thanks!

[eion_padraig]

By the way, Tristan's got closed down due to issues with an old man upstairs and their landlady who wanted to use the space for something else. They're going to try re-opening in the next few months.

Not really sure where the Koreans go. I hear there's an area up in Baiyun where there is a bit of a Korea town. Some of the students at my school live up that way. A colleague of mine goes up there to get good Korean food and stuff that's hard to find here. However, I don't really know the area. There are Korean families living around my area of town (Tianhe District - Tianhe Bei/Long Kou Xi), but there are not many bars here. I suspect the men go off somewhere else to get their drinking done.