Spring Songs in Xinhui — Dining Options in Xinhui
In this three-day, two-night trip, I tried three restaurants.
After the heaviest day of sightseeing on Day 2, I decided to treat myself at Daxia Tanbao Restaurant. It serves Malaysian cuisine and offers a few significant strengths in its dining experience.
Daxia Tanbao (Daxia Charcoal Hotpot)
First of all, I generally enjoy dining with a view. The Daxia Tanbao Restaurant is located right by the Tanjiang River, a section of which will eventually meet the Yamen Channel not very far south. The view at the restaurant was fantastic, right across from a kilometers-long row of densely grown bald cypress trees. At this time of the year, all the foliage remained red. This is the view that I was dining to.
The dining area is covered but semi-open in terms of ventilation. There was a big party that evening, but the dining hall was very spacious. The second great thing about Daxia Tanbao is the interesting menu. I opted for a one-person BBQ platter, to be cooked at the table by yourself over a charcoal lit stove with a piece of tile as the cooking “pan.”
The meat was quite good, in the platter there was marinated beef, Japanese grown pork, chicken, octopus sausage and two kinds of vegetables. It took me about 1.5 hours to finish my plate. Needless to say, I felt an incredible sense of satiation after eating all that food. I topped up with hot coffee and I paid about RMB 200 yuan for a fantastic time. If you do not want to do BBQ, there are also hotpot options, or otherwise just regular Southeast Asian dishes.
The address of Daxia Tanbao Restaurant is 50 Meters North of Tanjiang River, Jinguzhou Dahuabofuyu, Xinhui, Jiangmen, Guangdong.
On Day 1, I needed a quick and easy dinner after settling down at the hotel. I searched on the Gaode Map App and it pointed me to a few restaurants in the neighborhood. The first one that I looked at was too local for me. It was so local that I thought I went back in time to 1970s Guangzhou. Since there has been prevalent instances of food poisoning, I decided that cleanliness was key for dining in China.
Xianggang Cai Yeye Wonton Noodles and Claypot Rice
I finally decided that I would just eat at the clean, brightly-lit, tidy restaurant right by the 7 Day Premium Hotel. The restaurant’s name is Xianggang Cai Yeye, Fresh Shrimp Wonton Noodles.
Mak’s Noodle Reincarnated in Xinhui
As I entered the restaurant, I noticed that the owner was handling his noodles in the shop. I knew he was the owner because the signage of the shop shows his caricature. He was surely very friendly, and so were his staff. I do remember the claypot rice of Jiangmen rather fondly, so I ordered a fish claypot rice. I figured that something so hot as a claypot rice would kill all germs and prevent me from catching food poisoning.
After chatting with the owner and the staff for a while, we started speaking Cantonese because he has worked in Hong Kong as a chef at Mak’s Noodle, which is likely the most well-known wonton noodle in Hong Kong.
The claypot was certainly very good. I enjoyed it much and decided that I would come back to try their wonton noodles. The shop does make the representation that you will get Mak’s Noodle here, and of course, at the price level of a small county in China.
I thought the wonton tasted quite close to Mak’s Noodle, but the noodles at this shop certainly has not achieved the bounciness and smoothness of the noodles of Mak’s Noodle. The soup was fine. Given its good price, I really wasn’t complaining.
Xianggang Cai Yeye is located on Nanyu Lu, between Qixiang Nanyujie (7th Alley of Nanyu Street) and Jiuxiang Nanyujie (9th Alley of Nanyu Street).
Morning Dim Sum at Gongfuke
On Day 3, I must have some food early morning before heading out to the chenpi village. The dim sum restaurant in the neighborhood, which opens 24 hours a day, had to be my choice. Not too bad for a little something in the morning.
The address of Gongfuke is No. 83, Ground Floor, Huicheng Nanyu, Qixiang, Nanyujie, Xinhui, Jiangmen, Guangdong.
This trip to Xinhui is certainly not a foodie excursion, so I went easy on what I was going to eat. It turned out that I had a pretty good selection of satisfying meals.