If you're worried about what you might be served, there are any number of Western fast-food outlets - including KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonald's - throughout the city, and all the big tourist hotels have restaurants offering everything from dim sum through to Western meals and full-blown Chinese banquets. Hotels are also worth checking for special sittings: afternoon tea at the China (4-6pm; ¥50 per person), or bottomless coffee/buffet breakfasts at the White Swan before 11am (¥20/¥85) for instance, the latter featuring the best riverside views in Guangzhou. But it's better to eat out and many of the big restaurants have English menus if you ask for them. The cooking is more adventurous and not necessarily loaded with exotic ingredients, and there's nothing to match the experience of tucking into a Cantonese spread - most Chinese restaurants here are Cantonese - while being surrounded by an enthusiastic horde of local diners.

You'll find the highest concentration of restaurants spread through the waterfront district either side of the southern end of Renmin Lu, with plenty of others in the downtown area. Unfortunately, the sociable Cantonese fashion of entertaining (and impressing) family or wealthy clients with food has caused restaurant prices to soar as the population demands ever more lavish preparations. After a ten percent service charge is added, expect to pay at least ¥60 a person for a good three-course meal; ¥100 each would allow you to try some house specialities.

You can, of course, eat for a fraction of this cost day or night at the city's numerous food stalls . Those in the southwestern corner around Liuersan Lu and the Cultural Park are particularly good, with a choice of dishes including meat and chicken dumplings, prawn balls, egg and rice snacks and battered chicken legs. Small cafés serve good meat and vegetable dishes for a couple of yuan each, and evening markets deal in frogs, turtles and snails, quickly cooked to your order. Be sure and try a selection of cakes and the fresh tropical fruits sold from stalls along Yangjiang Lu; local lychees are so good that the emperors once had them shipped direct to Beijing.

Some canteens open as early as 5am and dim sum is usually served 7-10am, later on Sundays or if the restuarant has a particularly good reputation. Lunch is on offer 11am-2pm, and dinner 5-10pm, though most people eat early rather than late.