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