Dim Sum in Guang Zhou

Dim Sum!!!!
Finally got the chance to try the local delicacy! yeah!! Luckily we were on our adventurous streak and didn't opt for the breakfast provided by the hotel (which by the way, cost 50RMB each. It doesn't sound much but let me tell you... we ate at a local Dim Sum restaurant and it costs us only 69RMB for all 3 of us!! heh heh. Motto of the story: Be adventurous!)

Anyway, this is the first Dim Sum place we went for on our first morning in Guang Zhou. :)

Unlike Dim Sum served in SG, the Chinese tea are always served with a pot of hot water and full sets of tea cups.



Braised Chicken Feet



Siew Mai!! The prawns are served as a whole and not mashed up as some paste.



Ha Gau. Am really loving a whole prawn concept :)





Introducing, Egg Tarts, Char Siew Sou and Egg Custard steamed buns.









Custard Egg bun



This come in a shock actually. We ordered Chee Cheong Fun but apparently, their Chee Cheong Fun means something else. BUT... the gravy is really really good and it's served with braised pork. What more can you ask for?

Eating in Guangzhou

Guang Zhou isn't a place to eat western food but i was just looking for something different. Something for a change so i ordered a western set and surprisingly, it turns out pretty good!





And not to mention the usual Cantonese-styled food...

It comprises of5 different types of braised meat, (Can't remember what they were though but there's sausage, roasted pork among them) and a salted egg (common in Cantonese food), all served with rice.

真功夫 in Guang Zhou

真功夫 - One of the local fast food restaurants which sells healthy (that's what they publicized as..) Chinese food. And when i said Chinese food, i meant rice, soup, veggies and meat. Interesting isn't it?

On a weird note, it's spokesperson is the legendary Bruce Lee .. which explains the logo.



Rice with braised pork.



Cantonese styled soup



My set lunch. It's really alot. Trust me. Though i won't say it's really healthy since you can literally see the layer of oil on the soup, veggies and steamed meat with mushrooms.

Road Trip from Xiamen to Guangzhou

Travelling from Xiamen to Guangzhou (and back after that) was an adventure itself. Thankfully for my experienced travel mate, we didn't face any major hiccups along the way. Overnight coach tickets were bought at Xiamen University. There are numerous daily night coaches from Xiamen to Guangzhou so it's quite a 100% guarantee that you'll get a ticket even though sale of these tickets start only 3 days before the departure.

The condition of the coach is unfortunately, up to one's luck. You can't determine the condition simply by the price of the coach ticket, nor can you select your own seat number. A cheaper ticket may bring you a newer and more comfortable coach in any case. And changing your seat depends if the coach assistant is friendly enough. One tip though, if possible, always negotiate an upper seat. But fret not! It's NOT anything that's very bad! My coach to Guangzhou was apparently a lower grade one but i didn't experience any discomfort.

My ticket (Xiamen-Guangzhou) which costs RMB188 (approximately SG$37.60)



View of the upper beds on my coach back from Guangzhou to Xiamen. All seats come with a blanket and bottle of water. There is also an in-built toilet in the coach itself. There's a mini compartment at the end of each seat for you to put your bag or shoes (you are supposed to remove your shoe the moment you step onto the bus. Complimentary plastic bags are provided to keep your footwear)



Me... on my first experience of such overnight coach



View of upper and lower coach 'seats' (or beds rather)

Korean Food in Xiamen

Who would have thought that Xiamen sells pretty good Korean dishes?

The appetizers: Kimchi



Appetizers: Japanese seaweed



Fried spicy chicken



Hot Stone Pot rice. I LOVE THIS!! And it's really cheap at RMB14 (less than SG$3! Can you imagine that?) And the raw egg's perfect!!!

Chilling out in Xiamen

Chilling in Xiamen in a cosy and relaxing place... SPR coffee!!!







Mocha latte (left) and Banana Oreo freeze (right)

Street food in Xiamen

饺子

Freshly made 饺子, dumplings are readily available in here... And it's just RMB6 for 20 饺子!! Isn't THAT cheap? Ordered the 韭菜 filling ones (as featured below) and it was such a soothing snack in winter...



肉夹膜

Freshly diced braised pork (with braised sauce) stuffed in chinese-style 'hamburger'. It's really juicy cos the braised pork was obviously cooked in sauce for many hours and the taste is so rich you can't find anything less enticing. Cost RMB5.



Po pia

My repeated favourite snack inXiamen! Found the old lady in the same old corner at Zhongshan Road. Filled with white radish, malt sugar, peanut bits, coriander leaves and finally topped with a tinge of chilli sauce. Sounds weird? No no... the chemistry of all the ingredients is just aaawwww......



胖子小吃

Remember this pic? Took it last Dec (2006) And yup... we went back for dinner-cum-supper!!!



地瓜粉

Doesn't look very appetizing but it's really nice! Translated to be pumpkin noodles, it's QQ to each bite!




And of course.. the rest of our orders which are served literally on a metal tray... hur hur. Topped with their own spicy sichuan-like sauce, am missing it...



烤玉米

Didn't manage to take a picture of the barbecued maize but look! I caught the food vendor cooking it in a run-down corridor right behind their make-shift store. haha! Cost RMB2 for a barbecued maize topped with sesame and spicy sauce.



韩国烧烤

Don't know why it's called Korean barbecue. I mean what's really the link to Korea anyway? But well.. They are apparently quite popular with the locals cos they are really plentiful on the streets... Featured in the picture : Sausage, squid and chicken bits topped with pepper, chilli and cinnamon powder.