Thursday 19 February 2015

China - Guangzhou : What to eat in Guangzhou?

Guangzhou - Oct 2014


What to eat in Guangzhou?


1) Wuzhan Ji 伍湛记


Wuzhan Ji Restaurant, a traditional restaurant since early 1900s, is famous for serving No. 1 scholar porridge - Jidi zhou (及第粥). This porridge contains pork, pork liver and pig powder. Why is this porridge so famous?

In short, an illiterate butcher went for imperial examinations and only wrote 7 chinese characters that all he learnt on the exam paper. Just so happened the quizmaster was the teacher who taught him how to write pork, pork liver and pig powder. The teacher was so glad that the butcher has made a marvelous article for him and gave him a pass. People who the exam and get a position in the court meant Jidi. 

From then on, people called that kind of porridge Jidi Porridge. Until today, people who are going to have an important exam will have a bowl of Jidi porridge as a symbol of good luck.


 Jidi zhou 招牌状元及第粥 RMB12

Surprisingly the porridge was very smooth and very tasty without adding soy sauce and pepper! 

Rice noodles roll 鲜虾拉肠 RMB11. Very oily~

Wuzhan Ji restaurant 伍湛记
Address: No 342/871, Longjin Zhong Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou
 Nearest station: Ximenkou station



2) Taotao Ju 陶陶居


Taotao Ju started even earlier than Wuzhan Ji restaurant. It has more than 100 years of history. It is famous for its unique architectural style, retired and quiet settings serving traditional Cantonese food.


It is along this shangxiajiu street and just a 5 minutes walk from my hotel. Bf and I decided to walk in for tea break as we had the time and did not want to waste another trip down. We stood at the lobby area for awhile but no one attended to us. 


Hence, we walked straight in the restaurant seeing there were lots of empty tables but without any table setting. After we settled down, bf approached a waitress asking for table setting however the waitress replied him in cantonese "Cant you see I'm busy? Please wait for awhile." actually with a impolite and impatient tone. 


It pretty much a DIY kind of restaurant where there is a dimsum counter customers have to go and take the dimsum baskets themselves. We finally knew how it works after umpteen times of calling the waitresses. 

I concluded that Taotao Ju is definitely for retired but noisy setting with terrible service. I have to admit that the dimsum was not bad except for the char siew bao (flour 90% meat 10%).


Taotao Ju 陶陶居
Address: No.20 Dishifu Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou, China
Nearest station: Changshou lu, Metro Line 1, Exit D2



3) Nanxin Double Skin Milk Dessert Shop 南信牛奶甜品专家


Just opposite Taotao Ju along shang xia jiu street, there is a dessert shop that specializes in traditional dessert - double skin milk.  



Their seating concept pretty much the same in Hong Kong where you see empty seats, you share table with strangers.

Double Skin Milk 双皮奶 RMB12

This dessert has a layer of milk skin on top of milk pudding. It is similar to our beancurd but a little more solid. As a sweet dessert, this is overly sweet for me. I am practically swallowing sweet syrup. Definitely a dessert for sweet tooth.

Coconut water chestnut 椰汁马蹄爽 RMB13

Rice Vermicelli Wrapped with Mushrooms and Beef 珍菌牛肉肠 RMB14

Well, you can see a layer of oil...

Shahe Rice Noodle Chinese: 沙河粉 RMB26


南信牛奶甜品专家 Nan Xin Double Skin Milk Dessert Shop
Address: No. 45, Dishifu Lu, Liwan District, Guangzhou
Nearest station: Changshou lu, Metro Line 1, Exit D2



4) Street food at Shangxiajiu pedestrian street 上下九步行街



Shangxiajiu is the first commercial pedestrian street in Guangzhou city. It operates daily and is restricted to pedestrians only from 1pm to 9pm. Having said that, there are still cars maneuvering into the crowd during that hours.


The pedestrian street featuring its unique Lingnan architectural style, Xiguan folk customs, commercial and cultural ambience and is about 800 in length with 250 shops on both sides.

Singapore should have a pedestrian walking/shopping street like this!

This is my favourite store. It has at least 3 branches along this shangxiajiu street.

Bf's favourite snack!


1 box for RMB10



Steamed scallops - 5 for RMB10


The stall owner saw me taking picture with iphone 6 and asked me where was I from and how much was it. He seemed very interested in the phone as it has not released in China yet. Then we left. Bf finished all 5 scallops while I was buying dried shredded squid so I have to go back and buy again. The stall owner got very excited when I came back and told all his friends that I am the one who have iphone 6 and requested me to show them. I got a unknowingly feeling that I might not see the phone again if I ever agree to his request. I told him that the phone was with my bf (which is the truth) and quickly walked off with scallops. Still feeling very uneasy, we went back to our hotel (just 5 min walk) to keep our phones and came back to the shopping street.


Oh yes, this is my favorite drink in Guangzhou!! The herbal tea in town! It has a rival brand but I still think this is better. I squeezed a few bottles into my luggage hehe..


When I was exiting Changshou lu station, I was triggered and stopped by a fragrance egg smell! That was from this Uncle Fong 芳叔 that sells egglets and egg tarts. I am so glad that I managed to squeeze egg tart down my stomach right after my dinner! #noregret

Halloween theme~


last but not least, showing off my blue hair underneath.. 


Shangxiajiu pedestrian street 上下九步行街
Nearest station: Changshou lu, Metro Line 1, Exit D2








Wednesday 4 February 2015

Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur : Food trip to Kuala Lumpur (Part 2)

#FoodHoppingKL - May 2014 (Part 2)


Continue from #FoodHoppingKL Part 1...


Tours Les Jours @ WOLO Hotel


Tours Les Jours is just one street away from our hotel. It is quite hard to miss as it is almost a whole building for this bakery shop. It is actually a French inspired Korean bakery! There is totally has no korean feel in this bakery shop lah..




What I love the most is their high ceiling and the full length windows which allows ample sunlight creating a comfortable ambiance for customers to just sit down and enjoy their freshly made bread anytime of the day. 


Tables and tables full of bread varieties. 


Everything looks so yummy lah!


I am not a bread person but this big spread of pastries was tingling my appetite! 


At night time...

Tours Les Jours Malaysia
Address: 126, 126A-C, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur 
Tel : +603-4065 0088 
Opening Hours : 8am – 11pm (Daily)



K.T.Z Food 记得食


We took a cab from Bukit Bintang to SS2 which costed us about S$50. The cab was running as per meter so we were not sure if the driver took a longer route or we got chopped.

Anyway this restaurant goes a long way back from my first trip to KL with my bf's family. It was located near bukit bintang area but it was moved to SS2 where not very accessible without car. I love their honeydew loh and wasabi egg roll!


Watercress with honey. Very refreshing!

Chee cheong fun

Soft shell crab RM3.80. It looks like it is looking at you while you are eating it.

Wasabi egg roll. Misses!

Yeong chew fried rice RM7.80. Not bad~

Kiwi loh RM5.80

Honeydew loh RM5.80. My favorite dessert of the day!



They were just opened when we reached so there was not much crowd. The staffs there were very intrigued by me taking pictures of their food. Perhaps maybe I talked very loud too... lol


K.T.Z Food 记得食
#66 & 68, Jalan SS2/67, Petaling Jaya Selangor, Malaysia 47300


WA Cafe




This was our last stop before we board the coach back to Singapore. We were wandering around Pavilion and we saw this japanese-like cafe. Bf was browsing through the menu and he saw his favorite sesame cheesecake on the menu. Unresistabily, we found ourselves sitting down already.

Mocha and green tea latte RM11 each

Sesame cheesecake

Blueberry cheesecake

Herbal pudding with mango




This has concluded my food trip to KL. Till next time~