ProvGov: Guangxi Provincial Government Restaurant

Guangxi: a very popular tourist destination with its magnificent peaks, but not the most popular of cuisines. Apart from Guilin rice noodles, coming up with more Guangxi dishes was a challenge. All the more reason to dig into the food at Guangxi Provincial Government Restaurant to see what this is all about.

To our relief, even at first sight, the restaurant looks like it might not be too bad. The restaurant is well decorated, clean, and looks like somewhere you’d want to take your parents or other important guests. The friendly and attentive staff is dressed in colorful traditional Guangxi costumes, adding to the atmosphere.

As for the food, the sliced duck with lemon (RMB 88) was a good started for warm summer months, the zingy sauce called out for more, and the duck was also flavored with pickled vegetables for extra bite. The only thing that could be held against this duck was the rather thick skin, whereas we’d rather had more meat than more skin, cartilage, bone, and fat.

The fish marinated in beer (RMB 68) was delicious, and the centerpiece of the meal. The soup really hit the spot, and we assume that the other beer dishes (duck in beer) are equally tasty, if you aren’t a big fan of fish.

Sides of simmered beans with crab seasoning (RMB 32), Nanning pickled radish (RMB 20), and laoyou fen, or braised vermicelli with flavored oil (RMB 12) provided a pleasant counterpoint to the protein. Wash it all down with luohan fruit tea, at RMB 5 with unlimited refills. The luohan is an acquired taste, bitter and slightly medicinal, but for RMB 5 you can’t really go wrong.

Throughout dinner heads were nodding: this restaurant is actually pretty good. Perhaps it is more like when your Chinese teacher used to say bucuo, secretly actually quite good.

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Photos: Margaux Schreurs