5 Best Restaurants in Pearl River Delta, China

The classy decor and warm ambience are good reasons to dine at 1881, but the delicious food is what makes this one of the most popular restaurants in Shenzhen. Located inside the Grand Hyatt Shenzhen, 1881 specializes in classic Sichuan and Northern Chinese cuisines, and it's particularly well known for its wood-fired Peking duck. Also on the menu are a slew of Chinese wines and teas.

The restaurant shuts down for a few hours between lunch and dinner, so be sure to call ahead.

As the name suggests, the decor here is in various shades of blue—walls, ceilings, and even the mellow lighting. The restaurant is especially well known for its expertly prepared fish dishes. If you're really in the mood for decadence, try the dessert tray: chocolates, pastries, and several different types of mousse.

Famous for its massive buffet, this super kitschy colorful place offers an over-the-top culinary and cultural experience best (and perhaps only) appreciated by kids. It can be easy to get lost among the hundreds of food stations with varying themes, such as a sushi station shaped like treasure ship. There's no need to reserve ahead, as there are more than 1,000 tables up for grabs.

Housed in a faux colonial-style mansion on an island in Liuhuahu Park, this restaurant's location alone beats out most others in Guangzhou. The cuisine is pure old-school Cantonese, with expensive dishes like abalone and shark's fin soup served alongside more rational staples like crispy fried pigeon, roasted mackerel, and stuffed garlic prawns. Naturally, there's plenty of dim sum, and the "Cantonese combo plate" features a variety of roasted meats. Although the food at Tang Yuan is excellent, most people come here for the opulent dining room. A golf cart waits at the park's entrance on Liuhua Road to whisk diners to the restaurant's palatial front door.

With its arched columns, gilded capitals, gold-framed mirrors, lustrous drapes, and immaculate table settings, this top-notch restaurant feels like Regency-era France. The menu has become decidedly more European as of late, with some Irish dishes making an appearance. The menu changes every six months or so.