Guangzhou: Food Heaven of China
February 12th, 2007 -- Posted in travel | 5 Comments »
Here are some of the pics we took during our trip to Guangzhou/Macau/Hong Kong last December. I know it’s been 2 months since the trip and I haven’t shared any of these… I apologize, but there’s just too many photos taken and I’m still not sure how to share them.
With the city population of 6 million and a metropolitan population of 12.6 million, it is third most populous metro area in China. Being the capital of the Guangdong province and frequently referred as 廣東省城 (“the Canton Province Capital City”) or simply 省城 (“the Province City”) by Cantonese people, it is the very birthplace of the romanized name of the dialect Cantonese.
Now before the food, let’s take a look at some pics of the city…
We stayed at 天河区 (“Tianhe District”), which is about half and hour drive from the inner city area. We were heading to 中山四路 (“Zhongshan Rd No. 4“) for lunch. The sign shows the entry into the series of Zhongshan roads.
This was the scene of China I remember from my childhood trip to Beijing and Shanghai when I was 12.
Lots of historical buildings and monuments.
... and this is the modern side of the city, which is today MOST parts of the city.
An interesting old movie billboard featuring the first ghost movie made in China. I’m not sure if it’s the billboard content or the age of the billboard that scares me…
Reminiscence of the past along the modern street.
And now, on the FOOD.
FOOD STOP #1: The famous 陶陶居 （pronounced “Taotao Ju”)
When we first stepped into the restaurant, we got the options of “restaurant” or “timsum”. I didn’t understand at first but Dad explained they meant to ask if we wanted the ‘restaurant’ table, where we can have the full menu other than just timsum, while ‘timsum’ table only served… well… timsum.
The restaurant is 4 or 5 story high and on the floor we were brought to, we had a nice open top small garden just outside there room where our table was.
The door way to the room was simply… WOW! So cultural and well maintained (I heard the restaurant itself was a few hundreds years old).
Mind you… the place is popular amongst locals as well as tourists. It takes a while before the food comes.
“Let’s take some pics while waiting for the food~”
A semi-traditional dad savoring the traditional tea
Then came the food… FINALLY!
First, the herbal soup (Sorry for the small pic… I haven’t resized this one)
Then the rest… just look. I will not try to name them 
When I can’t describe how good the food is, I can at least mention how CHEAP the meal was. Just about S$10 per person. I almost cried…
DINNER : Village of the Fish Porridge
Not the usual fish porridge we commonly know in most chinese cuisine. This restaurant does not serve congee with sliced fish or fish head. Rather, the main idea of the restaurant is on hotpots, with porridge soup instead of the regular bean stock.
Fresh sliced fish… Better than sushi around here
They don’t waste the fish! The rest are nicely fried for side dish
Impaled prawns… They’re still moving!!!
Oysters… someone gonna be working tonite
So that’s that for a day’s meal. More will come in the next post… Zuhai: Gate to Macau
