In Guangzhou, besides poached there are many other chicken preparations (roast, fried, etc), including salt baked. 醉贤居 is one of the most popular local places for salt baked chicken.
I was mind blown by my first taste of salt baked chicken as a child. The memory is still vivid in my mind, so I have a deep love of salt baked chicken.
醉贤居 is in 荔湾 Liwan District, a hyperlocal residential area of Guangzhou straddling the Pearl River, away from the tourist belt.
醉贤居 has two levels but the rooms are not large and are usually full house during meal times. Ideally come before meal time to avoid the crowd.
It's a good place to experience Cantonese cuisine and food culture at the gritty, down-to-earth level.
The signatures are salt baked local chicken and salt baked free range chicken from 湛江 Zhang Jiang (on the mainland just across from Hainan Island).
Besides salt baked chicken, 醉贤居 has many local favourites like salted vegetable stir fry with pork intestine, fish intestine & fish liver omelette, deep fried large pork intestine, choy sum stir fried with chicken intestine, and other hyperlocal comfort dishes. Yeah, they sound exotic to the uninitiated 🫢
The salt baked birds are hand torn into shreds, given sprinkles of salt and sesame oil, then hand tossed to mix everything thoroughly.
The boneless chicken meat and skin are served in a jumbled heap.
Customers can also opt to have the bird chopped instead of hand shredded.
扇鸡 free range bird from Zhang Jiang.
扇鸡 comes at an almost double price premium over locally raised birds.
扇鸡 meat is tenderly chewy moist but neither mushy soft and wet, nor dry and rough. The skin is smooth, springy tender chewy. Natural chicken sweetness is robust and balanced by equally assertive savouriness from baking in salt.
Local chicken costs less, a bit softer but still has chew to the bite, a bit less intense flavour but still flavoursome.
Additional saltiness from salt, peanut oil, sesame oil sauce (most people don't need it). The chicken is also served with the usual ginger scallion and oil sauce (the type used with poached chicken).
Whether it is Zhang Jiang or local chicken, most people's favourite is the skin which has the most interesting texture and the most dense flavours.
Another of 醉贤居's signatures is their sweet and sour pork or ku lou yok.
Pork fat wrapped in batter is deep fried to crisp outside while inside the fat becomes like juicy candied fat. Cantonese call the fat 冰肉 or "ice meat".
The sweet and sour sauce is served separately in a bowl and not doused over, drowning and softening the ku lou yok. This keeps the fried batter crisp. Eat by dipping the fried pork fat in the sweet and sour sauce.
Obviously not for everyone, but I love this 🫢
Restaurant name: Zuixianju 醉贤居饭店
Address: 12 Huagui Rd, Liwan District, Guangzhou, China 510140
Tel: +86 20 8172 3094
Hours: 01am - 10pm
Written by Tony Boey on 21 May 2026
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