Fish Skin Salad & Congee @Chan Tim Kee 陳添記食家, Guangzhou

Location: BaoHua Road (长寿路站 ChangShou Road subway station)

This post will be more favourable for those who can read Chinese because the map and address are all in Chinese. I spent sometime to search online the famous foods in Guangzhou, listed the most popular ones. 陳添記 Chan Tim Kee is one of it. Based on the Google map, it is not that hard to locate. In actuality, when you walk on 宝华街 BaoHua Road it could be problematic to search the streets because the road is so busy and crowded with people and vehicles.

I accidentally found 陳添記 Chan Tim Kee in the alley when my mother and I stopped for a while to take picture. Immediately we walked in to have our brunch, the weather was extremely hot that time.




The menus are all in Chinese. But fret not, most eating places in China provide pictures in menu now. You can just point which you want to order. But you would not able to know the ingredients because no translation.




The take-away counter is here. Enter and get a table if you want to dine in. I didn't know the procedure to order, I placed order and paid at the counter first.




This is the signature dish of 陳添記 Chan Tim Kee, Fish Skin Salad 爽鱼皮 'shuang yu pi' (RMB 22). The fish skin was swift boiled and subcooled in water, making the texture more crunchy when chew. Tossed with seasonings, peanuts, spring onions, celery leaves, ginger, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. It is worth to try, the taste not fishy at all. But it was overly salty for us, perhaps the seasonings was overdosed. By looking at the fish skin closely, don't you think it looks quite similar to snake skin too?




In Guangzhou, there is one dish you must not be missed: Congee 艇仔粥. I like their congee too, but there's another shop selling better congee than this around this area. I failed to locate the shop though, vaguely remember it's on the road side, opposite a mall and they mainly sell congees.




The soybean milk was tasty too, not diluted.




The map, 宝华路 ＝ BaoHua Road, 长寿路地铁站 ＝ ChangShou Road Subway Station. The logos indicated herein the locations of Chan Tim Kee 陳添記食家. They have two outlets here.




The business hour starts at 9am, ends at 10:30pm.




Chan Tim Kee 陳添記食家 is near to Shangxiajiu Commercial Pedestrian Street 上下九步行街.




Most of the good foods in Guangzhou are concentrated in this area, LianXiangLou 莲香楼, BaoHua Noodles 宝华面店, ShunJi Icehouse 顺记冰室, Nanxin Milk Desserts Expert 南信牛奶甜品专家, MeiMei Fried Food 美美炸物, XinLian Rice Noodle Rolls 新联肠粉店, Kin Kee Noodles 坚记面店, YinJi Rice Noodle Rolls 银记肠粉店, etc.

We only managed to visit LianXiangLou 莲香楼, BaoHua Noodles 宝华面店, and ShunJi Icehouse 顺记冰室.  Couldn't stuck in any more food and it was only last day in Guangzhou. Next time I'll spare two days here to hunt all the foods here.

Guangzhou Attractions, 28 May - 02 June 2016

I have been travelled to Guangzhou for 2 times but never really been to the sightseeing places before. Last year bought the "cheap" tickets for two, decided to bring my mother along as she never been there too. Though AirAsia had the free seats promotion, I got the KL - GZ return tickets below RM600 for two (not inclusive of baggage allowance). The connecting flights were expensive, decided to wait. Wait till the near date, the price got higher and higher. At no choice, I had to get it confirmed. Flying my mother from Bintulu to Kuching, then flying together to KL. At last I got all secured. Added up the total airfare spent, it's not much different to get it on the normal days too. Suddenly a week before the day, AirAsia sent me message to inform on the retimed schedule. I was so frustrated as the revised arrival time showed that we only got one hour connecting our GZ flight. One hour transit time is apparently not sufficient for international flight. After the live chat, waiting to be called by the responsible department, nothing happened, live chat again, finally the staff called and got it solved 5 days before the departure time. Caused me to spend extra for hotel room at Tune Hotel since we have to stay overnight.

As our stay in Guangzhou was quite short, done some study and shortlisted a few sightseeing places to visit and also the famous food to try.


Chen Clan Ancestral Hall 陈家祠（陈氏书院） 
This building is under maintenance. Built between 1888 - 1894. It was used as an accommodation for Chen clan juniors who come to town for imperial examinations. At the same time, it was also a place to worship ancestors.




This is the entrance, also the exit. The amazing wood carving on the screen doors and beams.




The wood carving is so marvellous. Each panel entails different stories. You can find the art works every way here. Now it has turned into a museum.




The corridor to gathering hall and back hall.




The courtyard.




This is the gathering hall like what you have seen in HK and China dramas. It was once used as a place for meeting.




Memorial tables of ancestors in the back hall.




Shamian Island 沙面, this is one of the places that is worth to visit. There are many statues here which you can take picture with. The buildings were built during colonial period, so structure designs and pavements also very European feel. We didn't linger long here, too exhausted after the long walk.




Found a Starbucks Cafe on Shamian Island. Wanted to give it a try, but the cafe was quite packed.




Sacred Heart Cathedral 
This church is really worth to visit. You will have a feeling of yourself situated in Europe. I didn't enter the cathedral as the mass was on-going, and they controlled the number of visitors to enter. I was quite surprised there were so many Africans in Guangzhou.




The cathedral was completed in 1888 after 25 years of construction. If I go back to Guangzhou next visit, I'll go to this cathedral again and enter to see the stained glass.




Statue of the Five Goats at Yuexiu Park 五羊石像
If you are interested to know the legend of 5 goats, click here.




Canton Tower 广州塔
We didn't get the ticket to observatory floor, but we enjoyed our dinner at McDonald's there.




We stopped here for quite sometime to enjoy the Sunset.




The unique building across the Zhujiang River is Haixinsha Plaza.




Liede Bridge 猎德大桥




Will blog the food we had in Guangzhou next.

Kuching Festival Fair 2016, Kuching

Feel like I just blogged Kuching Festival Fair 2015 not long ago. In the blink of an eye, here comes Kuching Festival Fair 2016. This year the fried ice cream is no longer a fame. Fresh fruit popsicle and deep-fried squid gained the popularity. We have tried numerous food, some good and some not worth the price.



















My bro wanted to buy this Vietnamese chicken wing. The stall located quite far behind actually. I was quite disappointed as the chicken wings had turned cold. The guy prepared it quite early, thought it would be taste better if served hot.




The Vietnamese chicken wings, top is the BBQ version, bottom is fried version. Taste was good, has stronger aroma of lemongrass.




On the way to find the Vietnamese chicken wings, we passed by this stall selling popsicle. The decoration of the stall is not that attractive. But the queue in front triggered my curiosity. Since so many people queued up, might as well give it a try. Sort of like psychology of marketing. I have told by my friend that this stall sold out their product very fast, within 1-2 hours. I went there around 5 something. When it was my turn, they only left 4 pieces, one defective and only left kiwi flavour. Apparently they only produced small quantity.




A popsicle like this... cost RM6. Well.. I would say it's exaggerated. The ice texture was rather coarse. Perhaps you all can make it yourselves too at home.




Another thing that attracted us was this salted fish ice cream bun. SALTED FISH + ice cream. Can you imagine the taste of  this awkward combination? They also have the salted egg ice cream bun.





A bun like this.. guess how much it cost? RM9.90..  First bite was great. I had only one bite. My brother's girlfriend finished it all, and she said the taste got so awful after the first few bites.




This stall has the least decoration, even the banner also not so attractive. If not mistaken, 1 piece RM4, 4 pieces RM12. We bought 2 pieces, need to reserve some space for other food as well.




Surprisingly this cheesy bacon taste really good. This is one of the choices that satisfied us the most.




We were there around 5 something. The queue was quite long already. Other than the popsicle, this is another stall that needs to queue.




The deep-fried squid. The taste was good, the seasoning powder they used is very addictive.




This one is the most disappointed food.. It's called "福袋", the deep-fried dumplings stuck with assorted fillings like oyster, salmon, etc. Hard to chew, dry taste too.




Saw this stall selling creative food.




It looks quire real. Do you dare to get this cheesecake with poo alike on top?




This stall selling the fresh fruit popsicles too. Theirs look more attractive than the one we had. More valuable because their popsicle contains more than one type of fruits.




The menu. The fruits popsicle also priced at maximum RM6. But at least more valuable. The queue was not as long as the above mentioned.




Peanut ice cream. The ice cream made of coconut milk. Sprinkled with peanut powder and wrapped with popiah skin. I had it last year and came back for it again. Price is more reasonable, RM3 only. I think next year I'll want to have it again.




Haven't got chance to try this honeycomb ice cream.




And this nasi lemak ice cream. I thought it would be like the salty type of ice cream. Actually they make the ice cream presentation like nasi lemak. Quite impressed with their creativity.




Have to standby at least RM100 cash. We spent RM113.50 this time. Almost all food cost RM5 averagely. Oh yeah, for your information, Kuching Festival Fair starts around 5pm.