Join us as we take a delicious journey through Guangzhou's best restaurant, showcasing mouthwatering authentic Cantonese cuisine. Get ready for an amazing food experience in the heart of China's vibrant city. #china #travel #food
Hi Alan. As a Cantonese, in the past, tableware was cleaned by restaurant workers. As there was no standard, the cleaned utensils might still retain detergent residues, and over time, they could accumulate dust on the surface. Therefore, we used hot water to rinse off bacteria and residues from the tableware to ensure cleanliness. While modern washing techniques and hygiene standards have improved, and the most of tableware is now cleaned, disinfected, and plastic sealed by machines. Many individuals still adhere to the traditional practice of rinsing tableware with tea, habitually preserve and pass on this tradition, forming a distinctive dining table culture.
Not accurate. It actually started in mid 90s when there was a time that Hepatitis A was major issue for public restaurants, which was initially spreaded out from Shanghai. Then the specialized cleaning company stepped in and took over. Then it became the detergent residue story.
I've been here for many years and still cannot get used to meat still on the bones, same with fish. This is how it is, especially in Guangdong province.
In fact, if chicken is treated like the West (removing bones), it will be considered a cheap piece of meat in China, which means it is just a cheap chicken rib and not fresh. Chinese people have a high pursuit of freshness. In ancient times, the food of wealthy people, such as a fish caught and slaughtered by the river, was then put into the pot and just cooked when it arrived at the dining table. In addition, the current practice of Westerners not wearing bones is not a European tradition. It is a behavior of capital for profit, which divides an animal into different parts and increases its price.The current Western practice of bone removal, segmentation, and sales should be a deliberate habit that has emerged in the past 100 years.
Not always. Kung Pao chicken has no bones, but Chinese people definitely love it, and it's not cheap (usually CNY 50-60 for a plate of sichuan-style Kung Pao chicken in restaurants in Beijing). The same goes for some other 鸡丁 dishes.
The bones in the chicken give it more flavor and the chef is showing to you that you received a while cooked fresh chicken. With western boneless chicken, how many separate chickens and different chicken parts did they glue together to manufacture that piece for you?
The best meats in China are usually cooked and/or served on the bone like whole steamed fish, whole chicken, pork ribs and all shellfish like prawns, lobsters, scallops and clams etc are always attached to their shells. The bones and shells give an extra layer of flavour to the meat and it's also a demonstration of the freshness of the food. For example, if you order a steamed fish, what will normally happen is that the chef takes a live fish out of the tank, scales and guts the fish, puts it in the steamer, and 8 mins later, it is served on your table in the form of a whole fish on the bone with some soy sauce dressing. In the old days (like 20yrs ago) some local restaurants would even have live chicken in the backyard and they slaughtered the chicken onsite after you placed an order
Recently had a family dinner in China with a whole leg of lamb, bones and all, that was brought to the table and hand carved as it continued to cook over coals. Meat doesn't get any better....
@@Alan_and_Shannon n btw in Asia we not disconnected with animals, sry once it killed, we dont waste, head to tail to inside, n u can eat up to u with hand to debone or debone in mouth, we r not cultural fanatic, While in West thy try to name other thing pig to pork, cow to beef, n mostly steak or fillet, but forgot where is d source of meat without bone.
@@Alan_and_ShannonDunno why they afraid to eat chicken with hand, its just like wings But while dumplings supposed to be with chopstick but they do some surgery by breaking d dough skin n inside shrimp n use hand, funny :(
@@Alan_and_Shannon n yes we can find meat in head or cheek too, we don't blend d "ugly" part to sausage with intestine or nuggets.. 😳🤗 btw breast part n leg/drumstick not scary? They all parts of animals ^-^ in Indonesia we do it also, n all d meats r d same.
When in China I often (unashamedly) ask for a plastic glove when I see meat on a bone arriving....almost every restaurant has them. So much easier to just use the glove to hygienically eat some on the bone delicacies rather than do the "mouth shuffle" or chop stick jab.... pro tip : )
6:50 We call the “charred taste” 鑊氣, or “wok hay”. It’s a quintessential sign of having the perfect stir fry. It’s achieved by having extremely high heat (think actual fire in the wok) and frequent stirring/tossing. It’s what Cantonese food usually strive for. Also you guys left the chicken with the big pieces of bone 🥲🥲🥲. Those are the most delicious dark meat haha. But like other comments said once you’re more experienced with chopsticks you won’t need your hands. But it would totally be okay if you used your hands when you need to like eating chicken wings at a pub. It’s not disrespectful haha. Cantonese people just tend to go to the next level with hygiene (like with the tea washing) so people might think eating with hands is not clean but it’s totally okay with using hands, no one will be offended 😊.
As a Cantonese whole chicken on the bone is way tastier than the deboned segmented meats in the western supermarkets. Chicken is also super important in Cantonese culture.
Pan Xi restaurant, without any branch in Guangzhou. Detailed address: 151 Long Jin Xi Lu, Guangzhou China Tips: arrive there no later than 8pm if you want to have Dim Sum for which this restaurant famous.
Nice one guys, the Soy Chicken (in asia it's very common to have the meat on the bone same as fish, the meat is better on the bone) In western countries we are used to fillet, chicken breast and thigh pieces cut off the bone. Just different cultural way of cooking. Enjoy, the beef hor fun noodles delicious
Wash those cups and chopsticks are normal in Cantonese restaurant in Guangzhou and HongKong, because sometimes dinning ware are too oily or it seems doesn't clean. It usually did it yourself maybe they serve you because you're foreigner. Each ppl has 2 pair of chopsticks, one for picking up the food and the other for you to eat, it aware chopsticks touch your mouth and the food at the same time, unlike some western dish, because we usually share dishes together. Cantonese usually not put the food on the plate directly, they put the bowl on the plate and use the bowl to eat, the mainly use of the plate is use for put the bones or waste on it. That's the reason they didn't washed these plates for you 2.😅
Using hot tea to wash, that was for sanitizing, only happens in Cantonese Area, Guangdong province, it's their habit, more like a eating culture, no particular reason, just to make sure it's cleaned and sanitized well before eating. : ) when you eat in Guangdong province in a restaurant, you must do it, and everyone else also do it. and I actually I like it, cuz you don't know wether the dishes were cleaned well or not thoroughly
Have fun there, I really like guangdong dessert, you should also try, my fav is "Shuang Pi Nai" or "Jiang Zhi Zhuang Nai" (ginger milk yogurt) in Guangdong province, that was so good, google some good Cantonese dessert place while you are there! @@Alan_and_Shannon
That habit of washing the dishes & cutlery at the table before eating is brought by Chinese migrants to some southeast Asian countries too like Malaysia, Singapore & Thailand. Go to a Chinese restaurants in these countries you'll see this being practiced😁.
For the Soy Sauce Chicken, you would normally stick a part of the chicken in your mouth with the bone and nibble off the meat while sucking on the bone. It's very delicious!
In China, the chopsticks skill shows how educated you are. Well educated people can use chopsticks to eat anything elegantly. It's similar to the table manors in the west. Since you are foreigners, eating with hands are acceptable 😂
For eating the chicken on the bone the two instruments you use are the chopsticks and your mouth. Lift it with the chopsticks to your mouth, and nibble the meat off the bone like a meat popsicle. BTW most professional chefs would likely say that meat tastes best on the bone 😊
Traditionally, to show you the head of the chicken is to reflect that the chicken is freshly killed and there is another sign which is "have head and have tail" and in Cantonese which bears the meaning of completeness.
It's kinda strange for me to see eating dumplings with hands. Usually one would pick up with a chopstick, put on the small plate given, split it with a spoon and chopstick if it's big of a mouthful for you, then dip it in some light soy sauce (in SE Asia they also provide chilli paste) and ready to eat. Same for the chicken with bone. Can put the whole piece of chicken inside the mouth use your teeth and tongue to detach the meat from the bone, spit out the bone once finished. Or again use chopstick and spoon to scrape the meat off the bone, without the need to use the hands. I had thought usually they provide ginget slices with light soy in a saucer for dipping.
1. The thick noodles are rice noddles called ‘河粉 hé fěn’ aka ‘ 粿条 guǒ tiáo’ originated in South China. Many Southeast Asian foods including Pho and Pad Thai are deeply influenced by this noodle. 2. Chinese dumplings can be cooked in many ways, such as steamed ; boiled; pan fried or deep fried. Japanese called pan fried dumplings Gyoza and Dim Sum is usually steamed dumpling.-
Chopstick alone not easy to handle the rice noodles , you should use both spoon and chopstick together to handle it , that would be efficient and able to eat gracefully
In Chinese dining culture, it is considered impolite to dip food (e.g., dumplings and steamed stuffed buns) into a dish with sauces (because of its unhygienicity), and if you want the sauce, you should take it yourself or be provided by the restaurant. The sauce is served in a small dish for dipping.
For Chinese people, this tender chicken can be easily eaten with chopsticks. However, for those unfamiliar with chopsticks, eating this type of food elegantly can indeed be a challenge 😁.
@@Alan_and_Shannon You should hold the chicken firmly with your chopsticks, and bite a piece off from the bone. If you put the whole trunk into your mouth, of course you'll be choked by the bones. For the beef noodles, usually Chinese will mix them and eat together. Not eat beef first then eat noodles separately. Shrimp dumplings and the shrimp spinach dumplings, they are dumplings, not buns. People use chopsticks to get dumplings. And usually you mix some vinegar and maybe soy sauce, dip the whole dumpling and eat it. No one would take apart the dumpling and use the filling to dip the sauce....😂
Chinese people like chicken with bones,chicken needs to have bones, which has more flavor. You can buy these dumplings in Chinese supermarkets in Scotland ,uk
You don't need to use hands on any of these dishes, chopsticks are extensions to our hands, but yeah we Chinese have so much more experience on chopsticks, which is incomparable to the experience of just a bunch of times usage😜
in Asia we not disconnected with animals, sry once it killed, we dont waste, head to tail to inside, n u can eat up to u, we r not cultural police. While in West thy try to name other thing pig to pork, cow to beef, n mostly steak or fillet, but forgot where is d source of meat without bone..
Eating that soy chicken with white rice is great also, the soy sauce gets mixed with the rice makes the chicken less "salty" and the rice more flavourfull .
That suppose the way in southen China , hence for 2 sharing , they should order a bigger portion of noodles to share , the as side dishes of chicken and dim sum
The reason why they did what they did when serving tea is because it heats up the cup and bowl, so that when you’re served the food, the heat isn’t absorbed by the plate which reduces the temperature. It’s more of a traditional way to serve it.
It's so good to see you tried Cantonese food. I’m Cantonese but in Scotland now, and I really miss the food in Guangzhou😭. Thanks for sharing this video!
Most Chinese would prefer the meat on the bone as the bone will release the full flavour of the meat during the cooking process. The head is a presentation thing which has no intention for consuming.
It made me laugh when she wash the bowls and cups for you. It's so cantonees Welcome to my hometown GuangZhou and welcome to ShenZhen too when you got time.
When people learn to use chopsticks, they learn to pick up food with bones and separate everything using their lip and mouth . That is part of the chopstick skills.
I like Scottish accent. Very unique. My neighbour is Scottish but when he speaks Chinese, he sounds exactly like someone from Beijing. In his younger, he has lived in the Chinese capital for 30 years before, during and after WW2. 😊 PS: Do you guys speak Gaelic ?
the reason why the beef is so good is because of the marinade.... soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, pepper, wine, pinch of soda, corn starch and water... massage the beef slices until they soak up all the marinade then pour some oil to seal in the flavours....
Wow, how well Shannon scrubbed up?! Alan is one hell of a lucky guy! 1) The rinsing of the chopsticks and cups was an old practice - to kill germs. It's just a convention nowadays. 2) The locals would have ordered what you ate, but they aren't really for foreigners, apart from the pork dish. 3) The beef dish is everyone's favourite in southern China including Hong Kong. It's called Stir-fried Ho-Fun with Beef or Stir-fried Broad Rice Noodles with Beef. It's always very oily because the noodles will otherwise stick to the wok. 3) Eating with your hands is a no-no in terms of restaurant etiquette. If the food is meant to be eaten with your hands, the waitress would have given you a finger-bowl, or more likely these days a pair of gloves. Alternatively, you could have asked for a knife and a fork. 4) The chicken was served whole, typically during festive season, to signify unity and to bring you good fortune. Great video as always; thanks for posting.👍
About the chicken, if you have good chopstick skills you won't have to touch the chicken and get your hands dirty. But I understand it may be a bit difficult for ppl who didn't grow up using chopsticks.
There are many people in China who like meat with bones, first to show that the meat is very fresh, and second, the bones themselves are fragrant, such as spareribs. Of course, chicken bones are an exception, its fragrance is not very obvious, with the bones to eat is really very troublesome.
You can see shannon was missing when Alan was recording on his own she probably saw the restaurant was fancy and felt out of place with her street clothes she was probably changing to her fine dining outfit
Eating on the bone with meat like chicken, duck, ribs etc is the proper traditional way in China and most of Asia. That's how u get complete, full flavour of the meat. U eat by sucking and biting the meat out of the bone to get at all the flavour and nutrients. That's y the chicken is served whole with the head etc. When u r raised eating with meat on the bone u know how to eat it without having to think. It's very easy. It's only westerns who eat meat in big chunks with knives and forks that don't know what to do. Just a cultural thing.
Did you try morning tea yet? You should! It's called Morning tea but actually you can have morning tea at any time, usually it's like brunch(breakfast+lunch), ppl drink tea and have morning tea for one or two hours, chatting. Must have a try in this province！！！
Typical morning tea includes Rice Roll, Pork Sui Mai,Steamed Spareribs, Pan-Fried Turnip Cake and so on..My favorite one is chicken feet but you may be afraid to try that lol ,but it's actually a lot different from what you tried in Chengdu
Dunno why they afraid to eat chicken with hand, its just like wings But while dumplings supposed to be with chopstick but they do some surgery by breaking d dough skin n inside shrimp n use hand, funny :(
Tastes much better with the bone on, because the source is absorbed into the bone and one can suck the flavor from the bone while enjoying the meat. Once you are good with chopsticks, there should be no issues in removing the bone from your mouth instead of using your fingers.
It's true that people didn't trust the cleanliness of the tableware in most restaurants, especially from 10-20+ years ago. Back then you could literally see that they're not properly cleaned. But now people just do it habitually. You don't really see this done outside of Guangdong/Hong Kong these days.
the dumplings are wrapped with paper made by rice 🍚. Which is why they are clear. White dumplings are made with dough which make them non transparent. And opaque. 😂 Hope it clears up misconception s. .goodluck guys.
the chicken 🐔 is marinated over night and steam cooked and fri3d. Till the temperature is just right, the feel of the meat 🍗 , and never over cooked🍳. Not like western food orbfast food for example McDonald always dry meat patties. And over cooked by careless teenagers.
You just eat everything with chopsticks but you’ll probably need more practice lol. The bones in the chicken keeps the meat juicy and more flavorful! It’s definitely more of a western thing to debone and fillet.
Eating chicken (or duck) with their bones are seemingly more flavorful than just having the meat, because of the juices and gravy retained in these bones...
Some ppl eat the fish head. Chicken head duck head . however there's not much meat on it. Mostly skin and some parts, small amounts of head fat on them 🥩。 also birds head。 monkey head。 BBQ frog heads。 ETC ETC。。 however , that isn't the style or tradition with every person. Should of used chopsticks entire course od meal. Just hold the meat with chopsticks and switch the meat between your teeth and the chopsticks while you bite on it, and holding different on differ parts of the meat as you rip it off the bone. No fingers requir3d to touch the greasy meat.🍗 😂 😂
I’m not from the guangdong area but my parents also do the tea washing thing. Regardless of if the dishes and cups are clean or not(they probably are, or not any dirtier than any other place), it’s a show that you’re getting clean utensils and wares, on top of actually doing some sanitizing if needed and leaves you with a bonus of warm cups and plates
Nobody does it at home. China used to have poor hygiene in restaurants. So people in Guangdong (most of time with hot weather) does this tea washing thing in restaurants because hot water kills germs. It helps to make people feel safe...@@Alan_and_Shannon
They washed your cup and chopsticks for hygiene purposes as it’s a tradition in Canton. Don’t worry it’s a good service being done and very polite by servers. Customers normally do it themselves though.
Great videos. Love both your reactions and genuine enthusiasm. A good suggestion when noodles or rice dishes are ordered, it's ok to ask the restaurant for an empty individual bowl to scoop your noodles/rice into. It is difficult to pick up slippery noodles and rice from a flat plate unless you have a fork. It's also ok to "scoop" the rice directly from bowl into your mouth - lips touching rim of bowl. Also go for Dim Sum during breakfast before lunch. All the good stuff you missed should still be there :) Happy travels!
Usually in south east asia, the high class chinese restaurant would provide to each person with their small plate and small bowl to pick up the shared food larger plate , so each can hold the small bowl and ate elegantly
Going in blind is a hit-or-miss situation, especially to a good restaurant. Pity your Chinese friend was not able to join you. It would help to know something about Chinese food culture as China is very diverse as you know and likewise with its cuisine, to have a greater experience. Could have asked for a fork and knife, and paper napkins.
I'm also a fellow casual on dates guy my girlfriend gets all dressed up when we go on a fancy restaurant meanwhile I'm here wearing black joggers a white T shirt and white Nike airforces 😂
lol this meal was hilarious 15:40 gyoza's are just dumplings, its just the japanese way of saying it. ive never personally even thought the chicken bones to be inconvient. but i do stay way from fish bc its a pain to deal with its bones.
I was always taught that at a fancy restaurant it is insulting to the chef to mix entrees because it is not ad the plate is designed and you are implying that the entree is not good enough stand alone. Like adding catsup. I grew up with older parents so maybe that is no longer a thing even at fancy restaurants.
oh no, seems you guy don't have a local guy advice. Half of local guy don't go to PanXi restaurant, because we have another better and cheaper choice. And the way you eat the dish is........totally made local mad😂. You shouled go to XiHua road, LongJin road to explore local snacks and restaurant. And visit YongQinFang at night.
