The City of Rams – Pun Tong and Panxi Restaurant

Pun Tong (Pan Tang) is an area in Liwan that breathes history amidst a carefully manicured landscape.

Pun Tong – A Waterfront Area

The morning was still a little gloomy from the frequent thunderstorms. But it was my last morning in Guangzhou and I must seize the opportunity to do sightseeing. The Liwan Lake Park is very close to the guesthouse, and so I headed out early in the morning.

In the very ancient days, the Pun Tong area used to be a part of the sea. Then the silt and the sediments of Pearl River accumulated and a land mass was formed in the lowlands since the Tang Dynasty. The early villagers planted many, many Lychee and Longan trees. Liwan, with its first character meaning Lychee, thus acquired its name, to mean “the Bay of Lychee.” This area had many ponds as well. These ponds were hand-dug by the villagers, and for a long time they kept fish and lotus pads there.

The Pun Tong Cultural District

The villages of Pun Tong have been in existence for nine hundred years. During the Qing Dynasty, the Pun Tong villages were the richest in the province.  Lychee and lotus root farming were major sources of income for the villagers.

Like the other revitalized areas that I have visited in China, such as the Yongqing Fang, Enning Lu, and the Gankeng Ancient Hakka Townlet in Shenzhen, Pun Tong also underwent a process of creating a mixed heritage-business, and in some cases including residential, model. Although the whole area on which the current Pun Tong Cultural District now stands used to be populated villages, much of the residential area was cleared to make way for a revitalized district in 2007.

The most famous of the villages is the “Fifth Yeuk of Pun Tong.” A “yeuk” is a village organization. It is usually a reference to a given village. There were five “yeuks” in Pun Tong, and I only saw the Fifth Yeuk and the Fourth Yeuk there.  After the revitalization, the Fifth Yeuk of Pun Tong remained as a mere showcase of a snapshot of old Pun Tong life.

The Fifth Yeuk was indeed photogenic. I noticed a number of interesting heritage and business establishments. There were coffee shops, sculptors, a magic theater, and a youth hostel that looked incredibly hip. None of these were opened in those morning hours, but I enjoyed myself as I walked down the neighborhood without having to stop for other tourists.

The Five Treasures of Pun Tong

The mushy, low lying fresh water ponds of Pun Tong have enabled the abundance of the “five treasures of Pun Tong.” They are aquatic plants and food crops. The five treasures are lotus roots, arrowhead, water chestnuts, water bamboo, and buffalo nuts.

Panxi Restaurant

Like Tong Kee Chicken Congee and Noodles, Panxi Restaurant is also a Michelin Guide restaurant with a long history. In 1947, it began as a village eatery serving dim sums and dishes made from the five treasures of Pun Tong.

In 1958, the government invested in the construction of the restaurant’s current site. The landscaping, which really is quite amazing on the shore of Liwan Lake, was the work of architect Bozhi Mo. During the Cultural Revolution, the restaurant bore the typical name of Friendship Restaurant. In 1972, the prime minister of Nepal came to China for a visit, and he requested to visit Panxi. The restaurant then changed its name back to its original in order to greet the VIP guest. At the time, most other restaurants could not use their former names.

I passed by Panxi Restaurant before it officially opened for business at 7:30. The restaurant is on the way to the Pun Tong Cultural District.  Surely, there was a crowd waiting for morning dim sum there, and they were mostly older diners. I first toured the Pun Tong Cultural District, then stopped at Panxi for the last proper meal I would have in Guangzhou.

Although I was eating alone, I ordered generously because I wanted to try out different dim sums. The restaurant has clearly positioned itself as a high-end establishment, as you can tell from the grand décor inside.

What amazed me however was the manicured garden space that one must pass through before entering the dining hall. It really was very beautiful.

As to the food, I have a feeling that what earned the restaurant a spot in the Michelin Guide was rather its supper menu and not the dim sum. The ha gow (steamed shrimp dumplings) were incredibly satisfying. Each morsel took me three bites to finish. All the other dim sums were also fair in terms of taste and generous in terms of portion. But it would not really be a Michelin grade in my opinion.

Time was running out, and I had in mind two more sightseeing spots. The Liwan Museum was next.

Sources

Descriptions on site.

The Wikipedia on Pun Tong (Chin).

The Wikipedia on Panxi Restaurant (Chin).