Bodega

> Location : Guangzhou, Guangdong, Mainland China
> Cuisine : Xinjiang (Sinkiang)
> Website : N/A

When speaking of Chinese cuisine, we generally think of Guangdong, Shanghai, Szechwan and Beijing cuisines. Mostly being eastern China provinces. Yet, there are provinces to the west that features some fine dining as well. I am unfamiliar with this province (which I will unfold) and its cuisine until writing this review. Excited because it is something new to me, I did some research and would like to share with you the food and some facts about Xinjiang (Sinkiang) Province!

Xinjiang is located in the northwestern portion of Mainland China. It is the biggest province of China taking up 1/6 of the nation's land mass. The province is surrounded by countries such as Mongolia, Russia, and India. The highest populated nationality of Xinjiang are the Uyghur, originated from a Turkic-speaking tribe that use to reside in the original Mongolia. The Uyghur also reside in other countries also such as Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and others. Mostly, they reside in the Xinjiang province of China. Due to the high density of the Uyghur's along with the surrounding countries, their presence has a great influence on Xinjiang cuisine.

So without a restaurant that features Xinjiang cuisine, I won't be able to write this! In the heart of Guangzhou, I found a multi-floor building which hosts a few Xinjiang related restaurants. On the second floor is our review site: Bodega! Bodega in Mongolian means "god." It is actually a peak located in Xinjiang, where throughout the year, ice and snow covers it. The place is fairly big with some private rooms to the sides of the restaurant. During certain parts of the day, there are performances by ethnic Xinjiangnese, with dancing and music. I was part of one of the performances and it definitely adds a spirited mood to your eating experience. What's up with the food? According to the waitress', a lot of the core ingredients of their dishes are shipped directly from Xinjiang. Xinjiang cuisine is dedicated to its mutton dishes and also famous for its kebabs which are skewered mutton, roasted and seasoned over charcoal.

Anyhow, the first course is Mutton soup with glacier water. Using glacier water (technically from Xinjiang) for the soup and also mutton from Xinjiang, a sheep heavy tasting soup is made. The soup contained, onions, carrots, cilantro, turnips, flower pepper, and some minor chinese cuisine ingredients. A heavy pepper sensation fills every spoon full, containing a slightly salty taste but mostly detecting the sweet mutton flavor. The soup is boiled for a long time as evident by the ingredients melting in my mouth such as the turnips and carrots. Overall, a simple and great delicacy.
Their Kebabs, naming it as mutton roasted branches on the menu, is served on metal skewers. Each skewer is flavorful with various spices. The taste reminded me somewhat of the lamb served in Greek Gyros. The saltiness was just right and the meat was tender. The mutton had a little fat in some of the skewer but the taste was just amazing! It is one of those dishes hard to describe. The spices used to roast this was unique indeed because of its untypical flavor. This is a great order and I think it'll take a few of these to be satisfied! Thumbs up indeed.

A side dish is the Sinkiang flavor pancake. Note: Sinkiang basically is the cantonese pronouciation of Xinjiang. Anyhow, Xinjiang pancake (nang) is like steamed buns to the northern Chinese and rice to the southern Chinese. In some sense, it is similar to India's naan, made with desired flour along with sesame seeds, onions, eggs, oil, butter, milk, salt and sugar. The pancake here at Bogeda was cooked in a pizza like shape, along with sesame. I didn't see any onions but the taste was slightly salty. It's a nice touch eating it along with other dishes.

Next we have slices of mutton in what seemingly like lo shui sauce. On top, shredded red, green bell pepper along with shredded turnip. with garnish on the side, the mutton is tender for the most part just a slight sensation of being overcooked from perfection. It's not bad overall but i definitely enjoy the other dishes more.

In the end, it isn't just lamb, it is mutton. Goat, sheep, lamb, black sheep, and so on all carry different distinct taste and texture. As the word mutton defines, even matured or non-matured sheep has its distinct differences. I won't further discuss but that is for you to explore if you get a chance =) I enjoy the soup, the kebabs very much. All the mutton that is used carry a extremely strong sheep taste. Not just in taste, also in its aroma. To conclude this, it is a very new experience to me and until further experiences, I can't make any strong comments. Overall, Bodega was enjoyable for the most part! Note: The last photo is a crispy mixed ingredient bun which I decided not to discuss.

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >

Fisher Village

> Location : Guang Zhou, Guang Dong, Mainland China
> Cuisine : Chinese
> Tel. # : N/A
> Website : N/A

Greetings from the mainland china! well, where i am isn't too far off from hong kong. just about an hour and a half taking the ferry, in shun de, china. if a person doesn't have to worry about all the fancy colorful living they expect to be apart of everyday, just being concern of the simple life, having enough money, shelter, food and so on, any decent city in the mainland can provide such things perfectly. everything is cheaper in china, especially when it comes to food. even fast food is cheaper for example micky dees. for instance, small french fries is 4 dollars r.m.b. compared to 8 dollars rmb in the states. divide those numbers by 8 and you'll have u.s. dollar. that's half the cost! the ice cream cone is even more insane. it's about a bit less than 1/3 of the price of what american's pay. so it's like 20 so cents for a vanilla ice cream cone. here's another example, 4 people for chinese dim sum. everybody eats just about right, for about 20 r.m.b. how about a bit fuller? 25 r.m.b. that's 25 divided by 8 = 3 dollars and some change u.s. dollars. a good breakfast for 4 people for 3 bucks? a normal human being from the states would say, "WTF?" haha. it's incredible, living cost is so low yet the standard is at a decent level to pretty good. of course when it comes to food, everybody who comes to the mainland needs to go through a little workout with their stomach a few times. things aren't super clean in most restaurants in china and things tend to be a little dirty in the food sometimes. in a sense, it's kinda like a vacine. after a few trails, your stomach won't have these problems anymore because you're immune to it. yes, i am vacinated! haha.

i've been here for about 3, 4 days now. i realize that if i stay here any longer, i'm gonna start gaining weight again! seriously, the chances of eating good chinese food here is far greater than any place. then again, it is CHINA, so of course thats the case if you think about it. but i'll like to spare you people with my words like always from my food reviews and give you some clickable photos and simple comments of them instead. yet, before i do, i'll like to comment on how people usually call each other here in the mainland. when people call each other here (if they don't know each other), they tend to say handsome boy or pretty girl. fat, skinny, ugly, or actually pretty, this phrase is still used quite often. seriously, i had a hard time getting use to using it at first because it just seems so 'fake.' but this has become like a habit of this country so in time i got use to it. hey, it's nice being called handsome all the time you know? =)

soooo.... i'll like to finally share to you my experience with this huge ass restuarant i went to in guongzhou (near shun de). the place is called fisher village. it's a place with a lot of seating area, performance stage, a wet market like area where you can look and order your seafood, dim sum, soup, drinks, anything you can imagine! a very exciting, type of feeling when you go there. before i share the photos, i'll like to say, in the mainland, the phrase 'what's for dinner?' has a totally different meaning. why? 'cause you never know what u're really having if you don't really ask! note to all the new viewers: i'm warning you now! if you just ate, don't look at the photos below like my friend diana. she threw up her dinner because of it. seriously! ^_~

all photos described clockwise from top left :



1) the restuarant logo and name in chinese and english at the front desk.
2) the staging area with performances every weekend.
3) all sort of vegetable on display for you to choose.
4) that's right, aligator meat. haha. didn't have it this time but it's like beef but chewier.



1) a picture of the wet market area and some of the seating area.
2) food on display for easier ordering!
3) a closer look at some of the dishes available.
4) a lot of seafood selection. anything you can imagine from turtles to eels.



1) a lot of chefs working hard to prepare food. the place is huge so it requires so many.
2) soy sauce chicken, bbq pork and all sorts of goodies.
3) these pots are all preparing different types of soup.
4) some type of sea shell being prepared by the female chef. looks tasty!



1) they call them 'fleas/ticks.' pretty big to be ticks though. haha. yes, you eat them!
2) more shell meat being grilled by the chef.
3) wtf is that? yes, they are bees. you fry them and yes eat them. haha. stuff like this is what i meant when i emphasized on 'what's for dinner,' haha.
4) the chef preparing haaka tofu. firm tofu with meat in the center and sour fermented cabbage. the best thing ever at this place.



1) haaka tofu. same as what i said above.
2) portuguese custard tart! like my other review.
3) surrounding the staging area is water filled with kois and turtles.
4) bbq pork, duck, a type of sausage with salted egg yolk, fat and bbq pork.



1) broiled clams in a type of soup with tofu and other things. so busy taking photos everybody ate it all before i even had some, doh!
2) a type of chinese squash steamed with garlic. very good stuff.
3) yes, that tick stuff. lol. yes, seems nasty but it's cooked in this sauce so when you eat it, it doesn't taste nasty at all. this stuff supposedly is good for your bladder / urinal path.
4) baby yellow jacket bees. stir fried with pepper chili, green onion, garlic and such. yes, seems nasty again but seriously, high in protein and tastes very good.

so yeah, i certainly spared you with all the words right? haha. fisher village is a very entertaining place. the wet market, ordering area, the stage performance, the decorations and huge area for you to roam around is all a plus. the food quality is good overall with selective dishes being excellent such as the haaka tofu. some are just about a bit over average but nothing horrible. if you want an overall great experience with the food taste, there are a good amount of places out there that can satisfy that need. pricing wise, it's more pricey compared to a lot of places out there. but for all the entertainment you get, it's definitely worth it. so anyways, to close things up, i hope everybody is doing well with their lives. like always, take care and good luck ~

< 4 out of 5 >