Updated! I have added two new places at the end if you’ve seen this page before!

Eating out with my friends is one of my hobbies. There’s something wonderful about sharing food with people and enjoying long conversations over lunch. I’m not very good at finding good places—I don’t mind going back to the same places again and again, but I have friends who are adventurous, and I also enjoy trying new things.

One of my friends works near 东山口(Dongshankou), which is a really fun and beautiful area to walk around. The buildings are beautiful, and there are lots of fun little shops and restaurants. Wendy is really good at finding delicious restaurants, and here are some of the ones we have tried over the past few months.

1. Ilili bistro

Address: 庙前西街42号101房（1931斜对面橙色招牌）

I really enjoyed this restaurant. It was quite large with lots of seating, and during lunch it wasn’t super crowded. I like places that aren’t crowded because it’s nice for chatting. We both ordered a meal set that came with an avocado drink and a North African dish called Shakshuka (北非蛋, bei fei dan). The dish has eggs in a tomato-based sauce with lots of other spices. Toast was served on the side.

I’ve seen this dish at several other restaurants recently also, and I think it might be popular at the moment.

Ordering from 美团 (meituan) is a great way to get nice meal sets that aren’t too expensive. I spent less than 80 kuai (about $11 USD) on the meal.

2. Parking House Café

Address: 庙前西街30号金城宾馆内3号楼1楼

From our list, this is the only restaurant that we have been to twice, but it’s also probably not my favorite. Both times we were there, we were the only customers, and the service was quite slow. We waited almost an hour for our food. But the food was nice, and it was nice to have the place to ourselves. This was also the cheapest restaurant. I got a noodle with chicken dish and a juice (they let us change the drinks in the set for other juices for a small upcharge). Altogether, the meal was 37 kuai (about $5 USD).

The other downside of the restaurant was that they didn’t have several of the things on their menu. They also had a Taiwanese rice dish on the menu, but they didn’t have that the second time. The first time, they didn’t have the mushrooms for the noodles, but it was still pretty tasty. The second time was better though!

3. Wilber’s (东山口店, dongshan kou dian)

Address: 农林街道竹丝岗二马路62号(近农林下路)

This was my favorite restaurant from our adventures. The restaurant was more typical of the area and it was beautifully decorated. We got a table in a private side room that was lovely and had a nice view outside.

The food at Wilber’s was also really nice. For 84 kuai (about $12 USD), I got a salad, a soup, a lasagna (that was so nice!), and a drink (since I don’t drink coffee and I try to avoid caffeinated tea also—they let me switch the drink for a juice or flavored soda water). The food was excellent, and I felt really fancy since they brought all the dishes out in courses.

At this restaurant, I used 大众点评 (da zhong dian ping) to order the meal set. This app is also really good to look up restaurants and to order food. Sometimes, the waiters will tell you if they have a special deal. Many times they will give a free dessert if you write them a little review. They are also very willing to help me since I’m not sure where to go to write the review. They can show where to write the review—I think that’s often the hardest part of reviewing places.

Just talking about this restaurant again makes me want to return! For the meal set, they also had several other options besides just lasagna. They had other noodle dishes, a French style duck leg, or others.

4. Common Room

This place was nice. I almost missed the entrance because it wasn’t very large and it was nestled in between other shops, but the restaurant has three levels, so there’s quite a bit of seating. The restaurant was beautiful, and it was quiet, so it was a good environment for talking. They also had a nice big table on the second floor that would be good for groups or for playing a board game. I didn’t ask to see if they allow board game groups, but the table would be perfect, and most cafes don’t mind people playing board games as long as you order stuff.

The food here was good but not too special. We ordered a set meal from 大众点评 (da zhong dian ping) which was good, but they only had coffee and tea for the drink options. Since I try to avoid caffeine, I had to get the tea, but I just didn’t drink very much. I would have ordered a la carte, but the cheapest noodle dish was only available as part of this set. The other dishes were a bit more expensive and didn’t seem like the kinds of dishes I would really enjoy. If I remember right, there was quite a bit of seafood.

(From the window we also saw a Japanese Ramen place (Fuluku Ramen)–we went there the next time, and it was delicious, but I’ll have to put that in another post since Japanese Ramen isn’t western food.)

Address: 广州市 越秀区东华东路581号

5. Underbobo Bake & Brew

I loved this restaurant! Or maybe I just really wanted a hamburger. The environment was great–it was nicely decorated and spacious enough to feel like I could have a good conversation with my friend.

The best part about this restaurant was the price of the food and the quantity. For less than 60 kuai (less than $10), we got a hamburger–I chose the grilled pineapple one, and it was great. They also had a spicy Mexican one and several other choices. Then we could also order a drink. Wendy and I both ordered hot chocolate which was rich and delicious. It felt more like a dessert. We thought that we would have to choose one of the sides, but it turned out that we got all of the sides! We each got a small plate of French fries, a side salad, and an ice cream.

The servers brought out the ice cream before our hamburger, and while I agreed to drink the hot chocolate before the hamburger, I felt like eating ice cream first also might plunge me into a sugar overload. So we asked them to put it into the freezer until after our meal.

The food was all delicious, and I enjoyed the atmosphere. I got a little confused on my way there because I saw a sign in a mall that said the location was on the 5th floor, but I think that was the office. After I walked through the mall, into the parking lot, I saw the restaurant in the parking area.

Address: 广州市 越秀区东山印象一方东山文化创意园

Typing the English name of the restaurant into the maps app can also direct you to the right place!

I really enjoyed all of these restaurants and the chats that we had at each of them! I’m also very thankful to Wendy for helping me to find these places! Let me know if you have any other good food recommendations! I do love eating good food!