Restaurant in Guangzhou, China
Michelin-recognised Chaozhou at mid-range prices.
Dai Yong Town holds a 2025 Michelin Bib Gourmand and serves focused Chaozhou cooking at the ¥¥ price level — one of Guangzhou's better value cases for regional Chinese food. Staff and owner all come from the Chaoshan area, and the kitchen sources seafood directly from the homeland. Book for dinner to access the full range of the menu, including the cited marinated raw crab.
At the ¥¥ price point, Dai Yong Town delivers something that costs considerably more at most Guangzhou addresses with comparable credentials: a focused, authentic Chaozhou meal backed by a 2025 Michelin Bib Gourmand. For a special occasion dinner where you want genuine regional cooking rather than a generic Cantonese spread, this is one of the stronger value cases in the city. If you need formal dining room theatre or an extensive wine list, look elsewhere — but if the food itself is the event, Dai Yong Town warrants the booking.
Dai Yong Town occupies the third floor of the Xianjian Business Building on Yanjiang Middle Road in Yuexiu District, a location that puts it close to the Pearl River waterfront without the tourist-facing pricing that sometimes comes with that proximity. The interior works a rustic register: a wall map of the Chaoshan region and backlit illustrations give the room a sense of place without tipping into kitsch. It is the kind of dining room where the decor signals intent rather than investment, which tends to be a reliable indicator that the kitchen is where the attention goes.
The owner and staff all come from the Chaoshan area, and that provenance matters here more than it does at a venue serving a generic regional brief. Chaozhou cuisine is one of China's most technically demanding regional styles, built on precise marinating, slow braising, and a philosophy of restraint that lets quality ingredients speak without heavy seasoning. The kitchen sources ingredients and seafood primarily from the Chaoshan homeland, which is not a marketing line so much as a logistical commitment that shapes what you eat. For diners unfamiliar with the cuisine, this is an accessible entry point: the Bib Gourmand recognition confirms quality without the formality , or the price , of a full Michelin star experience.
Chaozhou restaurants in this tier generally deliver stronger value at dinner, when the kitchen is operating at full range and the more labour-intensive preparations, the slow braises, the marinated raw dishes, the cold platter work, are all available. Lunch at venues like Dai Yong Town typically skews toward faster, lighter plates and may not feature the full menu. If you are visiting for a special occasion or want to experience the cooking at its most considered, an evening booking is the right call. That said, a lunch visit works well if your priority is the room atmosphere over a quieter service, or if you want a lower-commitment first visit before committing to a full dinner. The price-to-quality ratio holds at both sessions at the ¥¥ level, but dinner is where the kitchen's full range comes into view.
The Michelin citation specifically calls out the marinated raw crab, served on dry ice fog with gelatinous roe loaded with umami, and accompanied by hot ginger tea to balance the crab's cooling properties according to Chaozhou culinary tradition. This is the dish to anchor your order around. Raw marinated crab, known as zui xie or its Teochew equivalents, is a test of sourcing quality and marinating precision; the roe condition and the salinity balance are the markers. The ginger tea pairing is not a novelty , it is a traditional counterbalance that reflects the kitchen's grounding in Chaoshan food culture. Order it. If it reads as adventurous, it is worth the stretch.
Booking difficulty at Dai Yong Town is rated Easy, which is one of the practical advantages of a Bib Gourmand venue versus a starred one. You are unlikely to need weeks of advance planning, though calling ahead for a weekend dinner or a group booking remains advisable given the recognition the restaurant has received. The address is Xianjian Business Building, 3F, 259 Yanjiang Middle Road, Yuexiu District. No website or phone number is listed in public directories, so booking through a hotel concierge or a local reservation platform is the most reliable route. For broader context on dining in the city, see our full Guangzhou restaurants guide.
If you are specifically interested in Chaozhou cooking in Guangzhou, the direct comparison is Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine, which operates at the ¥¥¥ tier with a more formal room and a broader menu. Dai Yong Town at ¥¥ gives you the regional authenticity and Michelin validation at a lower spend, which makes it the sharper choice for most diners unless you specifically need the Imperial Treasure polish for a corporate or formal occasion. For Chaozhou cooking elsewhere in China, Chao Shang Chao in Beijing and Fleurs Et Festin in Xiamen offer useful points of comparison across price tiers. Guangzhou diners looking for other strong regional Chinese options should also consider Hai Men Yu Zi Dian on Yanling Road and Hui Cheng on Dunhe Road for seafood-focused alternatives at similar price levels.
For those building a wider Guangzhou itinerary, Suyab Courtyard / Pickmoon Gourmet and Stay Here round out a strong multi-dinner programme. If you are travelling through other Chinese cities, the Chaozhou and Teochew tradition shows up at Xin Rong Ji in Beijing, Xin Rong Ji in Chengdu, 102 House in Shanghai, Ru Yuan in Hangzhou, Chef Tam's Seasons in Macau, and Dai Yuet Heen in Nanjing , useful references if you want to benchmark the style across cities. For the full picture of what Guangzhou offers beyond restaurants, see our Guangzhou hotels guide, our bars guide, our wineries guide, and our experiences guide.
Yes, clearly. A Michelin Bib Gourmand at the ¥¥ price tier is one of Guangzhou's better value propositions for regional Chinese cooking. You are getting Michelin-recognised quality without the ¥¥¥ or ¥¥¥¥ spend that most comparable-credential venues require. The trade-off is a less formal room and a tighter menu than somewhere like Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine, but for most diners that is not a trade-off at all.
Yes, with the right expectations. It works well for a birthday dinner, a celebratory meal with family, or a date where genuine regional cooking matters more than white-tablecloth formality. The rustic interior has character, the staff provenance from Chaoshan adds authenticity, and the Michelin recognition provides a credible anchor for the occasion. For a formal business dinner where room polish is the priority, Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine at ¥¥¥ is the better fit.
The marinated raw crab is the dish Michelin specifically cited: gelatinous roe, strong umami, served on dry ice fog with hot ginger tea on the side. Start there. Beyond that, lean into the cold platters and braised preparations that define Chaozhou cooking , the kitchen sources seafood directly from the Chaoshan region, so the seafood dishes are the strongest ground. Ask staff for guidance; the team all come from the Chaoshan area and know the menu well.
Chaozhou cuisine is subtler and more seafood-forward than Cantonese cooking , expect precise seasoning, cold marinated preparations, and less of the wok-forward intensity of a typical Guangzhou restaurant. The room is on the third floor of a commercial building, so do not expect a street-level presence. Booking ahead is advisable even though availability is rated Easy. No website is publicly listed, so use a hotel concierge or local reservation platform to confirm. For broader context on the neighbourhood and the city, see our full Guangzhou restaurants guide.
There is no confirmed bar seating at Dai Yong Town based on available data. The venue is a restaurant rather than a bar-dining hybrid, and the format of Chaozhou cooking, built around shared plates and multi-course progression, suits table dining. If bar seating is important to you, this is not the venue to prioritise. For Guangzhou's bar scene more broadly, see our bars guide.
For Chaozhou cooking at a higher spend with more formal service, Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine at ¥¥¥ is the direct peer comparison. For seafood-focused regional cooking at similar price levels, Hai Men Yu Zi Dian on Yanling Road and Hui Cheng on Dunhe Road are worth considering. If you want to go further upmarket, Suyab Courtyard / Pickmoon Gourmet and Stay Here offer strong alternatives in different register. See the full Guangzhou restaurants guide for a wider set of options.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dai Yong Town | Chao Zhou | Michelin Bib Gourmand (2025); A wall map and backlit illustrations lend the rustic interior an artistic flair. The owner and the staff, who all hail from the Chaoshan area, pay homage to the kaleidoscopic food culture of this region using mainly ingredients and seafood from their homelands. ‘Floating’ on dry ice fog, marinated raw crab boasts gelatinous roe loaded with umami and winey aromas. It even comes with hot ginger tea to balance the crab’s ‘coldness’. | Easy | — |
| Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine | Cantonese | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Taian Table | Modern European, European Contemporary | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Chōwa | Innovative | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine | Chao Zhou | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Rêver | French Contemporary | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
The closest direct comparison for Chaozhou cooking is Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine, which operates at a higher price point with a more formal setting — better for corporate meals, but noticeably more expensive for the same regional cuisine. Dai Yong Town at ¥¥ is the stronger call if value matters and you want a more neighbourhood-rooted experience backed by the same 2025 Michelin Bib Gourmand credential.
Yes, with caveats. The 2025 Michelin Bib Gourmand gives it genuine occasion weight, and the marinated raw crab served on dry ice fog reads as a centrepiece dish. That said, this is a mid-range (¥¥) venue in a third-floor commercial building — the setting is artistic but not grand. For a celebratory dinner where atmosphere carries the moment, it works; for a high-formality event, Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine is the more appropriate choice.
The marinated raw crab is the dish the Michelin inspectors specifically cited: gelatinous roe with umami intensity, served on dry ice fog, and paired with hot ginger tea to counter the crab's cooling properties. Beyond that, the kitchen's focus is on ingredients and seafood sourced from the Chaoshan region, so the menu skews toward Chaozhou seafood preparations. Order around what the kitchen is sourcing rather than trying to map a fixed menu.
The restaurant is on the third floor of the Xianjian Business Building at 259 Yanjiang Middle Road in Yuexiu District — not a street-level spot, so look for the building entrance. The team, including the owner, all come from the Chaoshan area, and the menu reflects that regional identity directly. Booking difficulty is rated Easy, so you are not facing the advance-planning pressure of a starred venue, but calling ahead is still sensible.
No bar seating is documented for Dai Yong Town. The venue is a Chaozhou restaurant in a commercial building with a rustic, illustrated interior, and the format is table dining. If bar-style or counter dining is important to you, this is not the right format.
At ¥¥, it is one of the stronger value propositions among Michelin-recognised venues in Guangzhou. The 2025 Bib Gourmand confirms quality without the price tag of a starred restaurant, and the Chaozhou cooking draws on ingredients sourced directly from the Chaoshan region. If you are paying starred-restaurant prices elsewhere in the city for comparable regional cuisine, Dai Yong Town is the more efficient choice.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
