Nanciful’s Blog

I always say Guangzhou brings out the worst in people. The air quality, the humid climate in the warmer months, the pick pockets,  the traffic, the craziness of the city just gets to  me every time I’m there. Even the most civilized person will feel compelled to push and shove their way through crowds and not wait in line. Even the most divine being will uncontrollably utter or even scream obscenities while pushing and shoving their way through said crowds. On the bright side, there is an abundance of good and cheap eats in this godforsaken city.

My traveling companions and I decided to venture beyond our hotel and walked into one of the city’s many city centers. After looking at a few suspicious rice and noodle shops, we found a nice sit down restaurant on top of a McDonalds. The restaurant had a special priced menu that offered fares that ranged from US$1 to US$ 3. The lotus root cakes where one of the items that were on this special priced menu and for some reason I thought it would be sweet. However, the dish was savory and delicious. It was made with chunks of lotus root and ground pork and looked like thin slices of pork chops. This dish was RMB 8 which is around US$ 1.17.

Another dish off the cheapo menu was the steamed pumpkin with lotus flower petals. Again, I thought this would be a sweet dish but the pumpkin was steamed in a soy sauce base, kind of like the sauce off of the roast duck at Sam Woo’s. The sweetness of the pumpkin was a nice contrast to the oily and salty flavor of the sauce. This cost a whopping RMB 12 (US$ 1.75).

Next up, THE ROASTED GOOSE, which came highly recommended by our waitress as it is their house specialty.I can never tell the difference between duck and goose when they are roasted because the consistency is the same, a little gamey a little fatty. Eithery way, it was one of the best goose/duck meat I’ve had in my life. It was meaty in all the right places.

However, what I loved most about the goose was that it was hiding a pile of Schzewan style pickled turnips and carrots underneath. The tangy and sour crunch of the turnips was a nice refreshing surprise after digging through all the salty goodness of the goose meat.  This dish was the most expensive of the entire meal,  a whopping RMB 26 (US$ 3.85)!!!

I had to order something that I knew would be SWEET for sure so I decided on some sort of a green tea roll with crushed peanuts. It was crushed peanuts and crystallized sugar wrapped inside green tea (or green food coloring) infused rice cake.  This dessert definitely hit the chewy,  sweet and crispy spot that I was looking for to end a nice meal.

After this cheap and delicious meal, Guangzhou almost redeems itself to me, almost.