China 2026: Eating Cantonese!!

Google_Gourmet · January 10, 2026, 3:42am

We’re back in Canton (Guangzhou) to explore and celebrate more great Cantonese food. I’ve been to Guangzhou about a dozen times, last 4 times with my wife. So much great food!!

Picking up where we left off, we headed to a Dim Sum restaurant we had enjoyed last year. This time at a sister location that has more seafood.

We came for the Dim Sum, but could not resist the Shatin Squab dinner set.

CHRYSANTHEMUM TEA

SHATIN PIGEON
Young tender Pigeon, deep fried to juicy crispy skin succulence. Made famous by the LUNG WAH HOTEL in Shatin.

TAISHAN BROCCOLI with LAP MEI in CLAYPOT
A huge pot of Lap Cheung and Lap Yuk. Nicely done, crispy and well seasoned. (Broccolini?)

GARLIC SWIMMING SHRIMP with RICE VERMICELLI
Very garlicky. I’ve usually had this treatment with scallops or mantis shrimp in HK.

STIR FRIED PORK NECK with TIGER SKIN PEPPERS
Wrinkles on the pepper allude to the skin of the big cat. A bit of nice heat. Pork neck a bit disappointing, didn’t have that neck meat snap. (More akin to pork belly)

MA LAI GOH
The classic yum cha Sponge Cake. Slightly sweet, springy and fluffy. So good, we both ate much more than we wanted or needed to.

Couple of dim sum add-ons.

HA GOW and SHRIMP EGG CHEONG FUN
Loaded with fresh shrimp in both. Will definitely be many more renditions in our near future.

Though stuffed to the gills, we still couldn’t help but drool and plan our potential future meal.

THECHARLES · January 10, 2026, 7:14am

A few of my Cantonese meals in Hong Kong also used ‘ Broccolini’ as veggie accompaniment!…..including Claypot rice just like yours!

klyeoh · January 10, 2026, 12:02pm

@Google_Gourmet Everything looked absolutely divine.

GretchenS · January 10, 2026, 12:43pm

Incredible meal! It makes me so happy when you post meals like this! Can’t wait to see what you eat next!!

Google_Gourmet · January 10, 2026, 10:09pm

CANTONESE BREAKFAST COMFORT FOOD

The first dish that comes to (my) mind is CONGEE followed closely by CHEONG FUN.

First day in town, Yum Cha in the morning. Of course.

But first, a quick cup of coffee in the club.

4 shots of Espresso and a mug of steamed milk for a DYI latte. Just a tiny bit of fruit and oatmeal for my daily fibre.

EGG and CONGEE Station. Ok, just a little taste, to test the kitchen.

Very tender tasty beef, baking powder? Warranted a 2nd helping.

After a bit more of This and That, we lost the urgency to rush over to our planned dim sum spot. Took a leisurely walk to a popular eating street to burn a few calories instead.

Beautiful morning to soak in the lovely local neighborhood.

Stacks of bamboo steamers always get my attention. XLB, Baos and more for +/- USD$1 per order!! Tempted!

Hanging poultry and pork products, fish paste bites in many shapes and sizes. Yum!

At around the 8,500 step mark, my Food-ar started going off.

CONGEE and CHEONG FUN ahead!!!

HOUSE SIGNATURE CHEONG FUN
PORK CHEONG FUN with CHA SIU supplement
Silky smooth. Ho Watt!!!

A warm comforting bowl of PORK CONGEE with added PORK LIVER. Pork liver was perfect, tasting as real fresh liver should.

Help yourself to complimentary fermented daikon and carrots.

Perfect pit stop before we hit the main eating street. Coming up.

turns out this shop has expanded globally, with a few stores in the SFBA. Our three dishes came to USD$8.17, all in. Prices in the USA likely to be a tad higher.

Google_Gourmet · January 10, 2026, 11:17pm

Folks here don’t need a honk’in F150 to get the job done!!

A lady hawking MEDICINAL HERB ELIXIR and CANE JUICE squeezed to order. Custom cough formula for my wife, 2 x sugar cane juice for me, please.

PUMPKIN SEED BUTTER ground fresh while you wait. Other nuts and seeds also available. Wanted to get some, but shelf life precludes bringing any back home.

No one working the BAMBOO NOODLE station. We’ll have to come back.

BLACK SESAME SEEDS fresh ground for your drinks and dessert.

Modern:

Old fashion:

QUAIL EGGS baked in SALT OVEN. Vender in Nanjing tried to charge us for snapping a pic. This lady was more accommodating.

BAIIJU (Chinese White Lightning)
Vender very friendly, freely offered samples.
Most ~ 50% abv. Reasonably prices at $4 ~ much higher per 500ml.

Couldn’t pass up this fruit seller with his gorgeous sugar cane.

In Japan, we had gotten hooked on their giant juicy grapes. Now we buy at every opportunity, when they don’t cost an arm and/or leg.

Picked up some cherries as well to add to our in room fruit basket.

The TIGER SKIN PEPPERS at dinner last night are called SCREW PEPPERS at this vender.

Getting late (almost Happy Hour). Scored a couple of PIGEONS and a 50/50 Bak Cheet Guy (poached) and Soy Sauce Chicken for late night snacking.

A good first day. Gonna be a great 3 weeks!!!

klyeoh · January 11, 2026, 12:12am

Can’t wait to see your updates! Enjoy.

ZivBnd · January 11, 2026, 12:43am

If I had 4 shots of espresso?
LETS GO!!!
WE HAVE PLACES TO GO AND FOOD TO EAT!!

I don’t know about you but I would be in overdrive for the next 3 or 4 hours.

Then I would be in nap mode. LOL!

THECHARLES · January 11, 2026, 1:09am

I too spent a month travelling the Orient end of last year!
As such, to augment your gorgeous photo spread, I would like to take the liberty in adding the following for info and comparison:

A typical roasted and marinated meat place in Taipei
A typical fruit market selling ‘perfect ‘ sugar custard apples also in Taipei
A typical Cantonese roasted meat specialist in Hong Kong
A special ‘ Chiu Chow Lo-Shui ‘ marinated meat specialist, also in Hong Kong
….and what Hong Kong visits can be without the mentioning of HK style E

gg waffles, fried pig’s intestine and stinky tofu?!

THECHARLES · January 11, 2026, 1:28am

I actually ordered this roasted ‘ Sha-Tin ‘ style pigeon in a Sha-Tin restaurant! Yours looked way, way more attractive and well executed!
In fact this expensive, sad looking, ‘ clone ‘ from the iconic ‘ Tai Ping Koon ‘ in Hong Kong was even worse and

a total disappointment!
At 1/5 the price of the above TPK bird, this Lo-Shui, herb mother soy-sauce marinated pigeon was way more enjoyable and delicious!!

sck · January 11, 2026, 5:01am

Are those the same types of grapes just like the one we get in the Bay Area from Korea?

Google_Gourmet · January 11, 2026, 5:27am

These grapes were larger but not as sweet as the ones we recently got from Hancook, which I presume are from Korea? The Hancook grapes were very good, even sweeter and snappier than some we’ve had in Japan.

Can’t discern the origin of the grapes we got yesterday. Will check with some fruit venders when we stroll out later.

Hungryhungryhippos · January 11, 2026, 6:50am

Can’t wait to see what you eat for the next 3 weeks! Are you staying solely guangzhou?

medgirl · January 11, 2026, 11:00am

They seem similar to these, which are Shine Muscat green grapes from Japan.

£75 a bunch at Harrods Food Hall

Peech · January 11, 2026, 2:33pm

Thanks to the decades-long arrogance of Japanese farmers, who never imagined that their produce could be copied by others and therefore never took steps to protect their cultivar, Shine muscat are now grown widely in Korea and China. Sold for a fraction of the price, and most consumers can’t tell the difference to the Japanese produce.

Google_Gourmet · January 11, 2026, 2:50pm

Have been more than a couple of years, when these huge grapes started popping up in Hk. A fruit monger at the HK Wholesale Fruit Market told us that sometime ago, someone had smuggled some seeds or cuttings from Japan, so these Muscat Grapes were now proliferating in China (and elsewhere).

Picked up an interesting and new to me fruit today from the supermarket.

Purplish Black, about the diameter of a U.S. nickel and looked somewhat Alien-ish. Not too sweet, almost like a tart tomato.

GOOGLE AI pegs this as a YUNNAN RED FRUIT GINSENG. Also called Spider Fruit. Interesting find.

Google_Gourmet · January 11, 2026, 3:16pm

We’ll be 4 nights each in Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhongshan and winding up the final 7 on Hong Kong Island.

Plan to day-trip from Jiangmen to Hoy Ping (Kaiping), to pay respects to my forebears and walk my ancestral home. We’ll be mostly in what is considered the Guongdong region, each distinct area definitely has her own tasty specialties that are just better at the point of origin

sck · January 11, 2026, 3:40pm

Even the Korean version of the grapes are still quite pricey, at least compared to the ‘regular’ grapes.

Hungryhungryhippos · January 12, 2026, 3:00am

Awesome happy eating!

Google_Gourmet · January 12, 2026, 10:59pm

Sun’s up, time to YUM CHA!!

Almost got waylaid en route to Dim Sum by this XLB Coach. Fresh kneaded skins, dumplings assembled and steamed to order!!!

Restaurant is in a decidedly working person’s ‘hood. No gaudy neon signage pointing the way. In fact, we couldn’t even find the entrance and ended up asking for guidance from a couple of helpful delivery guys lounging on their scoots nearby.

YUM CHA literally translates to Drink Tea. PU-ERH, the highly regarded fermented tea from Yunnan.

This restaurant (established 1933) claims to have created Guangzhou’s famous RED SKIN RICE ROLL.

Fresh succulent Shrimp and crispy crackling YouTiao, wrapped in the distinctive Red Fun.

We’ve enjoyed these in Foshan and other parts of Guangdong. Today’s version was the absolute BEST!! Just perfect and all components worked together seamlessly.

WATERCRESS DUMPLINGS, a seasonal special not to be missed.

Uber-fresh greens with the slight spicy watercress bite with the crunch of water chestnuts. Delightful!!

GNOW JAP & PHOENIX CLAWS (Beef Tripe & Chicken Feet)
Scratched that itch.

LEEK DUMPLINGS
My leek loving in-laws had kind of turned me off leeks after a two month visit years ago. I may have since recovered, I actually enjoyed these. Delicious!!

It ain’t Yum Cha without HA GOW & SIU MAI & MEATBALLS
We’re in Canton, of course these were done right!

TARO DUMPLINGS
Don’t know if these can still be labeled WU GOK, sans crispy flaky shell. Vaguely recall having this style before. Different, still good.

Love the tiny mound of deep fried Taro Shreds. Like ultra-fine shoestrings. Loved this with Shun Sashimi as well.

TOFU SKIN ROLL
Never had served on a burner before. A nice touch for a well executed classic.

Took us 2 days to finally get to Dim Sum. Well worth the wait and anticipation.

We got another 20 days in the region. The wife claims the Dim Sum is even better in Foshan, our next stop. I don’t disagree. We’ll just have to do some comprehensive research. Life is Tuff!!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/7WvpdBuF9oMby6c1A?g_st=ic