Take Out Guangzhou Style

Late lunch feast of fish, chicken, tofu, vegetables and rice. All the food groups

These last few days in Guangzhou we've been eating a lot of take-out food. It's not the fast-food variety but somewhat nutritious and definitely Chinese.

My colleague loves ordering take-out whenever he's in Guangdong because it's much cheaper and more varieties than in Hong Kong.

On Wednesday night we finished our work late so we ordered take out as soon as we arrived back at the hotel.

I had fish and pork congee with some choi sum in soy sauce and that came to around 22 yuan. The congee was very good, lots of flavour and almost creamy in texture.

Late dinner of mixed vegetables with rice noodles in soup

The next day we had a late lunch and again ordered several dishes, including Hakka ones, like salt-baked chicken and braised tofu stuffed with minced pork. There was also delicious fish slices in a spicy preserved vegetable broth, braised pig trotters, wood ear fungus with chillis (very spicy!), string beans with eggplant, and soup and rice. For four people it was less than 300 yuan.

We also had a late dinner, and mine consisted of noodles with vegetables like mushrooms, tomato, cabbage and even a quail egg. The noodles were packaged separate from the broth to avoid over cooking them, and the soup didn't have MSG. Only 29 yuan.

Fantastic choices if you have the app and can read Chinese... and have mobile payment! Will be making sure my China assignments are with this foodie...

Hakka Cuisine Taiwanese Style

The heart-stopping Hakka dish of braised pork belly with pickled mustard greens

Taiwan has many Hakka (客家) or kejia, literally "guest families". They are Han Chinese who speak Hakka language and were said to migrate from northern and central China to the south.

Marinated fresh bamboo shoots

Some famous Hakka are Dr Sun Yat-sen, Soong Ching-ling, Deng Xiaoping, Lee Kuan Yew and Chow Yun-fat.

In Taiwan 15-20 percent of the population is Hakka, making them the second-largest ethnic group on the island.

As a result Taiwan has some great Hakka restaurants like the one we tried in Chungli in Taoyuan County. It's an unassuming place, the staff are relatively friendly and if the restaurant's not busy, the kitchen will churn out dishes faster than you can eat them!

Curried soft-shell crab with small cubes of potato underneath

For starters we had bamboo shoots, fresh and large, lightly marinated and crunchy, followed by half a goose and half a chicken served cold.

Fantastic braised eggplant cooked Thai style

Next came the highlight of slices of dongpo rou or braised pork belly with pickled mustard greens that were placed in steamed flat buns. It was very greasy and not good for cholesterol levels, but very tender combined with the sweetness of the meat and savoury from the pickled greens.

There was also curried soft-shell crab that was slightly spicy, the flavours delicious and the sauce was also soaked up by small potato cubes. Intriguingly the dish was served with Western-style soft slices of bread but they went well together.

An array of mushrooms in a soup with a flavourful broth

One of the vegetable dishes featured a green one whose texture was similar to a soft celery, stir-fried with mushrooms, and braised eggplant was fabulous Thai style with a bit of chilli.

My favourite was the soup that was made using various kinds of mushrooms, including button, shiitake, and ones that looked like the eroded rock sculptures at Yehliu. They were cooked in a simple yet tasty broth I had to have seconds.

Our final course was like a Chinese-style pasta dish, with short noodles about an inch in length, stir-fried with julienne carrots, spring onions and minced pork.

I have the name card but it's all in Chinese... will have to get a translation!

Stir-fried short noodles with carrots, spring onions and pork