28 March 2012

China Tour ~ Guangzhou & Zhuhai



Guangzhou is the home of Cantonese cuisine. After a hell bus trip we eat what we can and muse about the possibilities left behind.






Like strange sleeping beauties we wake up from our overnight bus recovery slumber and stumble out to see Guangzhuo.



We spy a very liveable residence from our hotel window, Alison is ready to move in and can just picture the soirĂ©es on the roof. You're all invited of course.



We've landed close to the Overseas Chinese Village, a more monied area of Guangzhou near the financial district. Very unlike our last digs.



The streets are green and quiet, and full of very private residences and flashy cars.



There's still street food to be found, but we're craving something more substantial.



Close by we find a version of comfort food, a Hong Kong style cafe called Uncle serving noodle soup and roast meats.



Uncle has all your Hong Kong favourites and was a buzzing place on a cold night.



We warm up with San Miguels.



One of our favourites, a classic fish ball soup.



With goose on the menu, we couldn't resist trying a goose noodle soup.



Stewed argus snakehead fish with watercress and kidney soup - we gotta order something with such a wild name. It tasted like fish and veggie soup, funny that.



Goose and rice combo. Goose was much fattier and had darker meat than duck and a stronger flavour as well.



A perfect little fatty crispy skinned morsel, it almost looks like beef.



We couldn't resist toast with condensed milk and loads of butter.



Or french toast. Who says it just has to be for breakfast?



Uncle staff manning the chopping station. Love the huge chopping blocks and scary horror movie cleavers.



We could have tried the 7 Eleven feast, noodles with your own tasty morsel selection.



We took some time to wander through the streets. There were a lot of quiet little neighbourhood areas tucked away behind big major roads.



Almost tempted by cake for breakfast.



This joint looks perfect for brekky.



Turns out to be a Cantonese joint - we think!



Preserved egg and pork congee. Yay for breakfast congee.



We can't remember what we thought we were ordering but it wasn't a deep fried pork chop with sweet and sour sauce. It was delicious anyway, a naughty breakfast.



Everybody was eating these so we had to try one: hua hui rice roll. Steamed rice roll. This was insanely good, filled with beef and veggies from memory.



The rice rolls are cooked on this contraption: rice paste is scooped onto a flat tray then put into a steamer.





Random restaurant.



Random restaurant.



Folks sit down and have a tea and a gas bag like we'd do with a beer.



Random sidewalk takeway restaurant.



Market street. Wandering around the alleys is a pleasant way to spend a day.



Kel the butcher and his commemorative wedding sausages.



Steamed buns.



These were filled with some kind of paste or even pork floss, they were quite plain and looked better than they tasted.



Bread and soy milk shop.



Sidewalk chef.



He's got a lot of fresh ingredients, must be expecting a good day.



Mr Puss E. Cat of Gaungzhou.



Roast guy.



Pick'n'mix dishes ready to go.



Sidewalk fruitshop.



Random restaurant.



Fruit, veges and laundry.



Lunchtime on the streets.



The muffin maker in the main streets of town. We missed trying this in Xiamen so were happy to give it a try here.



Guangzhou egg mc'muffin, mcfreakin delicious. A few of these a day will give you a muffin top.



Pancake snacks same as Shanghai. Love the little red sausage sticks, like Chinese devon.



Fresh OJ lady.



Sugar cane stall on the move.



Miss Piggy - come and get some durian! It's so yummy! [Alison pretends to like durian but we reckon she's just trying to be tough.]



Quail egg lady.



Donkey's favourite - waffles!



Roadside Stewed stuff on sticks stall.



It's kind of like oiden.



Random restaurant.



Check out the size of those dried fish.



Many varieties and grades of rice.



Hot nuts.



A walk through the wholesale clothing area is mind boggling. There's thousands and thousands of people carting around bales of clothes, taking them off to their shops we assume.



Bales and bales of clothes everywhere, it's quite a spectacle. Next time you wonder where your clothes come from think of this.



Random restaurant.



Random restaurant.



Random restaurant, possibly a bit on the nose.



Sidewalk honeycombe seller. We're kicking ourselves now for not trying some.



Looks like a lunch takeaway joint.



Wherever we go in the world there's Footy Franks.



This dog would jump through hoops to get a bite of your lunch.



Random restaurant. Looks like some guava at the end.



Stuff on sticks shop.



Bakery.



An open air bridal expo... The catalogs are filled with bizarre wedding outfits...



Random wedding outfit....



Looks like an octopus shop.



Oyster guy.



Pussycat puddings.



This mystery sandwich is too hard to resist.



The 'sandwich' turns out to be pineapple cream cake and utterly, utterly delicious.




We hit Hua Hui rice roll for breakfast on our last day.



Hua Hui Rice Roll menu.





Hua Hui Rice Roll menu. This was a not too fancy joint that had older folk dawdling over breakfast and others rushing through on their way to work. Reflected the suburb demographic nicely.



How we love a congee for breakfast - pork'n'preserved egg.



Hua hui rice roll - man these are good - stodgy yet fresh.



Congee with peanut, squid, bread stick, ginger, fish, bbq pork & kitchen sink.



We really wish we had time to visit Michelle and Elmer in the hotel bar. Look at that keytar! What a dude.



Guangzhuo train station - China's new infrastructure is mind blowing.



The lovely industrial landscape between Guangzhou and Zuhai.



Zhuhai borders Macau so it's quite a buzzy place to hang out. There's some fun places to eat and drink in the pedestrian mall.





This soup turns out to be like a Taiwanese take on a Japanese ramen, it's surprisingly good. We're getting more and more interested in Taiwanese versions of Japanese dishes.



Tomato and egg soup - very simple and plain.



Deep fried tofu with chili dipping sauce.



Our last shot of China at the border crossing. It was quite sad leaving China, our health and batteries were down so we didn't make the most of Guangzhou. But that's the perfect excuse to come back again.

Thanks for the great trip China. We love you.

15 comments:

  1. Thats not durian, its jackfruit! my parents used to grow them in their yard. its a tropical fruit from southeast asia.

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  2. Thanks for the correction - I thought that it might be so but I just had to tease Miss Piggy...

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  3. Glad you had a good time in Guangzhou, it's renowned for great canto cuisine. The waffles that you saw, it's called gay dan jai in GZ and HK and bascially means mini eggs :)

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  4. Thanks for the cat photo! I love you guys :)

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  5. Yummmmmmmmm. Roast goose!! I want that! Wow so many yummilicious photos.

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  6. This blog is amazing!!! I can't stop reading and watching! It feels like I'm traveling to the places too :D
    Thanks for sharing these incredible wonderful trips ♥♥♥

    Have a great time!

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  7. Hi there!
    I love your blog; interesting and efficient cheap eats reviews! After reading this one, I really feel the urge to go try China's street food. Thanks for sharing! :))

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    1. Right back at ya - love your Indo food posts Irene :-)

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  8. Hi! I read your blog from a local forum(http://www.ltaaa.com/wtfy/4320.html). I am from Guangzhou was born and am always in Guangzhou. Glad to see that you enjoyed your time in Guangzhou. However, as a local, I have to tell you that most of the food you tried weren't really the best ones, or I can say some of them are not even "Cantonese food". The real Cantonese food can be found in lanes and old districts. For example, you can find much better rice rolls elsewhere, Hua Hui's stuff aren't good for locals. Also, those things by the side walk(muffins, snacks, OJ and stuff) weren't Cantonese food. The owners of those booths are usually from outside Guangdong. I don't really eat those not because they are not delicious or not Cantonese, but the hygienic problem.

    If there's a chance, I hope that you can try something better, meaning authentic and delicious. :-) Such as Won Tun noodles, better rice rolls(We call them Chueng Fun), Cantonese morning tea(the focus is not on tea actually, but eating Dim Sum). Cantonese food is like the Cantonese. With good quality but not bragging. Therefore, we need to go into small lanes and streets to find them out. It feels like treasure hunt. :-)

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    1. Thanks for your input, we really appreciate it as this is all about learning for us.

      You are right, we had a lot of difficulties finding Cantonese food in Canton, like any big city there is cuisine from all over the country, so for an outsider finding local cuisines can be difficult.

      Guangzhou is a wonderful city, the tree lined streets and little alleys everywhere make it an absolute pleasure to walk around and get lost on purpose. I was unwell in this part of the trip so we didn't get to see and eat as much as we had hoped, but that's a great excuse to go back, we plan to start our next China trip here and find that great big, super busy Cantonese restaurant we were dreaming of.

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  9. Cat puddings made me laugh....^O^

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  10. Hi, I read your blog from the site (http://www.ltaaa.com/wtfy/4320.html).
    I'm from Guangzhou and I'm in Australia now.
    Missing the food there XD.
    It seems you had a great time! Good to see it and looking forward to see your next trip in China in the future XD

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  11. LOL You guys are brave.
    I noticed you've only been to South China
    Next time go to the north and try those foods, especiall MEAT and NOODLES
    Places like Xinjiang got AWESOME meat

    Next time ask some Chinese friends to help you guys ^^
    Good luck!

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  12. You guys are great!
    Thanks so much for presenting such an interesting food adventure to us!

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Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).