This is a famous franchise chain of street food which you can see in tourist spots in Xiamen. I went to the one at Zhongshang Lu since I wanted to visit there to check out this famous walking street of Xiamen. 宫廷 means ‘Palace’ in Chinese, makes me wonder sometimes if this snack was an official imperial dish that was served to the royalties.
Road signAnother signageWas there around 2pm and surprisingly, the street was empty.Selfie!The little stallFriendly staff who serve girls better than same gender.Prawn Cakes – It’s prawn cake as it is. Nothing special. It taste good just like anything that is served hot.
Rating: 4/5.
Taste: 4/5. Everything is made to order. Hence it’s served hot all the time. They have the BBQ squid and another prawn cutlet which I didn’t try. Too full!
Portion: 4/5.
Service: Girls gets better service.
Ambience: N/A. Stand by the side and eat!
Price: RMB$15. Can check out for online discount groupons for RMB$10 per piece.
I realized I left out some good eating places in Xiamen when I was there last year. This one is particularly pretty tasty and good thing about this place is the scenery while you’re having your yum cha (chinese version of hi-tea). I’ll let the pics tell my story. 🙂
View from outsideLift LobbySignageMy view while having my dim sum… the discoloration is caused the sun protection film on the window.Crowded from dinner onwards.Watercress Soup – Nice but a little salty… what’s with Xiamen and their salt?Choy sum fried with garlicMixed Braised Meats – It’s actually a mix of braised goose (traditional teochew dish) and spare parts. Quite nice ‘cos it’s a HK teochew restaurant, hence it’s a must order.Smoked Chicken – This one is nice but very salty. Can give it a miss if salt is not your friend.Siew Mai – Nice and juicy with a shrimp on the top as per standard cantonese siew mais. The best thing is, they don’t use minced pork, but juicy chunky ones. See next pic.Yums!Cheong Fun – Nice and silky flour skin.五香 Ngoh Hiang – Suppose to be the delicacy in Xiamen, I find it soso only and it’s full of lard.I asked for all the chilli sauces they have to try the local sauces. One word, SALTY.
Rating: 4.5/5.
Taste: 4.5/5. Taste really good and one of the few restaurants in Xiamen that promotes no preservatives and MSG in their foods. However some dishes are a little salty, typical of Guangdong dishes. Nevertheless the food is good and great ambience to wind up your day.
Portion: 4/5.
Service: 4/5.
Ambience: 5/5.
Price: For 2-3 pax, total bill came up to around RMB 180. Not expensive.
RTE: Yes definitely!
Location: 思明区鹭江道33号3楼 Tel: 2112388 Opening Hours: 8am to 2.30am.
Tip: After 2200hrs all dim sum half price! Be prepared to queue though.
First time in Xiamen and totally excited over all the hype I got from my friends and documentaries about the food there. Fact is, because of it’s close proximity to Taiwan, you’ll find many similar food types to Taiwan over here. I was a little skeptical because I’ve been to Taipei and the food there is a little bland to my palate. Maybe also because I’m from Singapore, working in the APAC region for years, I have developed a stronger preference to my taste buds. However that said, I have been on a diet and have been taking lotsa bland foods for this year alone. So how does a foodie go on a diet when he/she loves food so much? The tricks are:
Foodie Friends – Go with people who can eat and love food like you do. Don’t go with friends or girlfriends who can’t eat, seriously they will spoil your food trip!
Small Portions – Order the smallest portion and share! If you’re the only one or with your partner, order small portion still, but skip the carbo! Maybe have a scoop of rice or noodles, but if you wanna go the long mile, discard the rest. Why can’t you tell the food vendor to give lesser rice or noodles in the first place? If you ask that question, you’re obviously NOT a foodie. Reason is, your pictures that you post on your blog must reflect what you paid for. That way, others will flock to that place to try too!
Walk It Out – If you’re on a hunt, walk to the places where you are going to try. Walking aids digestion and will make you ready for the next destination. 🙂 Besides, you may discover more eating places if you walk around! 🙂
The above are some strategies I use when I’m on a food venture. Just for Xiamen alone I walked more than 20km for my 4 days there! Hence it’s great is you can book your hotel near the target areas. See my review on the hotel I stayed here http://wp.me/2BhOI. So after checking in this hotel, I headed with my friends to the famous Taiwan Food Street in Xiamen… by foot of course! Check out the pics below:
The entry to food haven!Lots of stalls土笋冻, direct translation is tu sun dong… nah I’m joking… It’s cold earth bamboo … totally not what you think it is… The ‘Earth Bamboo’… are actually sea worms dug from the muddy beach when the tides are low… EEEWWWW… no, never try… ;PMy first stop for something refreshingMango dunno what with ice cream on top thing… DAMN AWESOME! For only RMB20 (S$4+)Very famous chain of baked potato with cheese and your choice of toppings… Didn’t try ‘cos takes up stomach space…Alishan traditional stone grilled Taiwan Sausages RMB10 for 3. Pretty awesome.Red bean and cream pancakes RMB10 for 4pcs… Loads of filling but not nice.Probably the only stall selling beef steaks. Very affordable but didn’t try ‘cos I don’t go Xiamen just to eat beef steaks!Prata… Cheap and many people crowding around to see an Indian doing his Indian Flying Biscuit… I reckon they think it’s more convincing with an Indian selling that haha快餐 in direct translation is Fast Food. To the mainlanders, this is fast food. For Singaporeans, this is Chye Peng.Many lobster stalls like this, just have to choose the one with the most people to ensure fresher seafoodLobsters going from RMB20 – RMB150.Scallops 4 for RMB10Oysters 6 for RMB10My lobster of RMB60… the flesh not a lot and the garlic so much like its freeThis is quite nice, pizza in a cone. They have a machine like a conveyor belt that bakes the cones… interesting conceptThe road beside this Taiwan Food StreetSo I decided to walk furtherRealize that their 卤面 is light broth as compared to Singapore/Malaysia’s versions.Paranomic shot of the intersection of Da Tong Lu and Hengzhu LuOn DA Tong Lu I found this lady super nice ask me to try her fried oyster cake.Full of ingredients inside. Oysters are really cheap in Xiamen.The Fried Oyster Cake…. Not bad but a little oily for me ‘cos on diet. 🙂Night wet market on Hengzhu Lu and Kaihe Lu… Be prepared for wet roads and splashing fish water when they are closing around 9pm+Fruits stallFishDa Zha Xie, crabs with no meat and loads of roe…I can imagine how big this stingray was…More fishSo many variety of fish from the sea… I was based in Suzhou, only get fresh water ones and full of bones!
Rating: 4/5. A great outing with friends or eye-candy!!!
Taste: Food taste a lot less bland than those in Taiwan. I reckon it’s because Guangdong Province people like saltier and heavier tasting stuff.
Service: Vendors are very friendly and will not tout you to eat their stuffs.
Ambience: Hot.
Portion: Average.
Price: Very affordable.
RTE: I would if I can find foodie friends to go with!
Location: Renhe Road (福建省厦门思明区人和路）
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