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A taste of Guangzhou

Tao Tao Ju

陶陶居

A teahouse founded in 1880 in Liwan and the most photographed of the old yum cha houses, with its flagship on Dishifu Road. It is touristy and busy, but the old-fashioned morning-tea ritual is the point. The yum cha (早茶) runs from early morning: you sit, choose a tea, and pay a per-head tea charge (茶位费) on top of the food. Food is marked on a card or by staff as it arrives, and the card is tallied at the end. Some houses still push trolleys, while others use order sheets or QR codes.

¥100–150 per person≈ US$15Liwan, 20 Dishifu Road; Chinese-language sources point to Changshou Road station on Line 1.
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Tao Tao Ju (陶陶居), Guangzhou
Photo: MeiOLA 2290 WMENSZ · CC0

Why come here

A place worth making time for

Famous century-old teahouse (founded 1880). No award confirmed for 2026.

The house favourites

What to order

Point at the Chinese. Staff will understand it even where the menu has no English at all.

  • Shrimp dumplings (虾饺)
  • Steamed barbecued pork buns (叉烧包)
  • Steamed rice rolls (肠粉)
  • Egg tarts (蛋挞)

What it actually tastes like

Dim sum menus here include chicken feet (凤爪), tripe (牛百叶), steamed spare ribs with fermented black beans (豉汁排骨) and sometimes lotus-seed or red-bean sweets. Rolls and dumplings may contain pork lard.

Allergens in this kitchen

shellfishgluten/wheateggsoysesame

This is the kitchen, not one dish. Woks, fryers, blanching water and utensils are shared in almost every Chinese restaurant, so for a serious allergy treat the whole premises as the unit rather than ordering around it.

Get to know the menu

Local specialities to try here

Shrimp dumplings (har gow) 虾饺Sweet, clean prawn with a springy snap; the skin is slippery and faintly chewy.Barbecued pork buns (char siu bao) 叉烧包Sweet-savoury and sticky inside, cloud-soft and slightly sweet outside.Steamed rice noodle rolls (cheung fun) 肠粉Very soft, slippery and barely chewy, carried by the sweet-salty soy.