Is there street food in Shanwei? Well, after discovering this gem on my latest quest to explore obscure Chinese cities, I can confirm that not only is there street food, but there are other things here too. Although, not much, I might add.
How did I end up in Shanwei? Well, after heading to the Guangzhou Second Hand Electronics Market for some serious retail therapy, I decided it was time to explore. My preference had been to get out of Guangdong, but I had completely forgotten that it was Chinese New Year and thus nigh on impossible to travel—except to nearby towns where few people want to go.
What the Shanwei?
I will later give Shanwei its own article quite simply because when you Google the place, basically nothing at all in English comes up. I will, though, give a gentle summary here.
Basically, when China was first implementing its open-door policy, Shanwei, alongside places like Shenzhen and Zhuhai, was selected as a Special Economic Zone. This meant that Shanwei, with its great port, had all the opportunities that Shenzhen did. Alas, it failed like an unsuccessful little brother and now lives in the shadow of the former fishing towns.
Nowadays, it has a few million people, which makes it a village by Guangdong standards. It does, though, have beaches, mountains, and resorts, which means there is some scope for tourism. We personally saw Vietnamese and Chinese groups visiting the main tourist attraction, “Coffee Castle,” although I will get into that more later.
The overall street food in Shanwei scene
Food, drinks, and entertainment are largely dominated by the downtown area rather than the resorts, with most of this being down by the commercial docks. For the most part, street food in Shanwei is exactly like other parts of Guangdong, with BBQ shops sprawling out onto the street and being dominated by beer-drinking locals.
At this time of year, when it is legit cold (17 degrees), these are covered with plastic and heaters to keep people warm. If you somehow manage to struggle to find one of these, just look out for the big beer signs. These are usually local beers, but interestingly, I did see San Miguel represented here.
Aside from these kinds of places, there are also at least a couple of night markets that supplement the street food scene in Shanwei.
Shanwei Quay Train Block
Getting around Shanwei as a Lao Wai is no easy feat, as aside from what will soon be this article, there is quite literally nothing online about street food in Shanwei. DiDi, though—which is the Chinese Grab—is excellent. So, I merely put “night market” into the app and ended up at Shanwei Quay Train Block.
Now, if a train block sounds cool as fuck to you, then I am right with you, as theoretically it should be. Sadly, though, this seems to be a project either in its infancy or one that has not been fully utilized.
As the name suggests, this is an area with a bunch of old train carriages. These are racked in four parallel rows, as well as some being at the front and back. In the “square,” a few of the carriages have been repurposed into street food vendors, with each window representing one seller. Sadly, while there is one Thai restaurant at the front, pretty much three-quarters of the carriages are just not being used.
So, what about the ones that are being used, I hear you cry from the rafters? Well, they mostly sell really bad processed Chinese foods, such as the sausages and meatballs that you get everywhere from 7-11 to outside your office. Yes, there were a few selling juices and the like, but quite literally nothing that even vaguely tempted me to eat. I was certainly hopeful that there would be a little more to Shanwei street food, which, thankfully, there was.
Street food in Shanwei: Jixiang Road
Thankfully, on the long drive from the train station to the quay, we had spotted something that looked so good we nearly stopped the cab. This was Jixiang Road, which, thankfully, was only a 10–15-minute walk from the quay. This is a classic semi-pedestrianized street full of a decent array of street food vendors, as well as a high amount of fruit! It’s also where the fish market is, which looked like it was closing down for the holidays. This place not only looked epic but still had that fishy stench. Remember, there are only two things that smell of fish…
So, street food in Shanwei? Basically, while there were a lot of vendors, most fit into the same styles I’ve seen in much of Guangdong and beyond, such as at the airport. This meant lots of BBQ, Ma La Tang, and wraps. The two things it seemed to have more of than other places were stinky tofu and something I have rarely seen in China: essentially Chinese tempura. They also had other deep-fried treats, including really good fish cakes on a stick, as well as that cool circular potato “chip” they manage to wrap around a whole stick. Make no mistake, I was not doing keto today.
Jixiang Road, Shanwei, also appears to be one of the main fruit streets in the city, with lots of treats like mandarin oranges, real strawberries, as well as the nuclear-huge genetically engineered ones that are all over Guangdong right now.
Overall, though, there was almost enough to punch our hunger, at least.
Street food in Shanwei at Coffee Castle
The main tourist attraction in Shanwei is Coffee Castle, which I managed to find on Little Red Book, the new place for TikTok refugees. Sadly, there is no information about this place online, but it is essentially some old industrial buildings on the coastline of Shanwei that get hit by water.
They are, though, interesting enough for people to flock here, which includes tourist groups from Vietnam, it would appear. Whether they were bussed in for the day or were staying at the nearby Red Bay Resort, I do not know. But considering the cold weather, tourist numbers were impressive.
Within the attraction, there was at least one food cart, as well as a café serving truly overpriced goods. There was also a place called “Come on Me BBQ”—no sniggering, please. I’ve already made the joke in a video.
At the entrance to the site, though, there is actually a really good street dining area with about eight outside restaurants serving a broad range of dishes. We went for processed meatballs and some noodles. Overpriced and not exactly earth-shattering, but hey, it did the job.
Street food at Shanwei Railway Station
When it comes to street food in any world town, you know you can rely on a train station, and street food in Shanwei was no exception. In fact, the railway station has a bunch of hotels, as well as rented apartments for people to stay in, and is a bustling little area.
Restaurant and street food-wise, this meant a bunch of BBQ restaurants, many of them Muslim, serving up a storm. We particularly gravitated to one restaurant next to the Vienna Hotel, where some quality fried noodles and dumplings were had. I also got to do some #ColaQuest with some Sun Giant Cola. This was in the style of Bing Fun of Xian fame but sadly without quality. I will give this its own article, but 6 out of 10 at best.
There was also a mart at the station that had soju, although no original, sadly, with me having to get by with flavored, as well as Jin Jiu, a “medical” drink I used to consume back in the Xian days.
A conclusion to street food in Shanwei
This was a weird town to visit, although I will cover that in more detail when I write my guide to the place. It was, though, a nice place to touch down in for a night. In all honesty, I will likely never come back here, though, and I do not see it becoming a tourist mecca.
Street food-wise, Shanwei is no Guangzhou—heck, it’s not even a Yangshuo. But I did at least get my jollies without any online information. Hopefully, though, this article will help out the few foreigners that do end up venturing out into Shanwei…