After being crossly unimpressed by the Guangxi street food scene I was impressed to be impressed by the street food Nanning scene. And why was this? Because it really was classic street food.
What do I mean by that? Well actual street food stalls ran independently and without the plastic feel of a mall.
Table of Contents
What the Nanning?
Nanning sits next to the tourists meccas of Yangshuo and Xingling, while being even closer to Guilin. Largely unassuming there is little for tourists here.
It is though a business centre, as well as being close to Vietnam. Culturally it has a lot in common with Hanoi. It is quit the Tripp going overland from Saigon to Hanoi and then crossing into China.
Other Guangxi greats in reach of here are Beihai, as well as Liuzhou where Uncle Ho once lived.
Street Food Guangxi
I will do an article on the cuisine of Guangxi at some point, but it is largely dominated by rice dishes, as well as classics like beer fish. Being around many rivers there are a lot of river fish too.
In the big cities you will also find the cuisines of other places like Xian and of course the standard HaiDiLao. Overall I am not a huge fan of Guangxi cuisine particularly compared to Guangdong fare.
Street food wise Yangshuo and Xingping are not what they used to be, while the bigger domiciles of Nanning and Guilin lack many street food options, with a few exceptions.
Nanning cuisine though seems to exist a bit in its own microcosm with all the decent parts of the rest of Guangxi, but also seemingly with some good influences from neighboring Vietnam. Heck I even got a cocktail on the street (more on that later).
Where the Street Food Nanning?
There are is actually street food everywhere in Nanning (aside from the malls), but the stand out area that I found was near the Hilton Hotel and Nanning East Station – the most easy to reach from Shenzhen.
This is on the south part Fenglin Road, although other stations also have a street food scene.
What the Street Food Nanning?
So why is this the best street food area of Nanning? Well there are many reasons for this, but principally it was the utmost authenticity of it, the layout, variety, as well them even getting me a Long Islands Tea.
Fenglin Lu/Road stretches for about 400 meters, with street food stalls even pushing into the side roads. The street is almost pedestrianized by Chinese standards with cars barely bothering you.
The chief foods being sold are street BBQ, or Kou Rou a true stable of China, with people eating and drinking on the stalls and small tables provided from behind.
This is not to say that things stop here with there being squid – imported and spicy as well as rice, noodle, frankly just weird, as well as numerous sweet dishes. These included ice-cream, but also the flavored ice Chinese variation of halo-halo.
There were tow distinct things that I really liked though, with me first starting with the food part. In many parts of China I truly struggle to get a friend noodle, with Xi’an even presenting me with Bian Bian Mien when I asked for it.
Guangxi though know how to do this right with the lines being testament to how good they are.
And street drinks Nanning?
OK, so this is gotten in many places in the world, but China is not many places. Here there was street food truck that ONLY dealt in drinks. And he had a heap of cocktails, as well as even draft beer on offer.
I ordered a Long Iced Tea, he asked “do you want it string” I replied “Hell YES”. He did, it was string, and everything was right with the world.