I arrived in smoggy, humid Guangzhou at 9:30 p.m., having endured the better part (read: 9 hours) of a cloudy day on one of the only-in-China sleeper buses that zip around this vast country. I was bus-naseous but immediately hungry for a snack.
Luckily, my traveling partner had arrived ahead of me and had already scoped out snack options near our hostel. We ambled over to a giant shopping plaza, the pedestrian walkways of which were dotted with kiosks selling skewers of delectable items. Wise-cracking youngsters in orange baseball caps and shirts staffed the kiosks, speaking Cantonese which I hadn't heard in months.
SKEWERS! If you haven't noticed by now, I love street food, and most things on sticks.
In addition to offering bubble tea, which I hadn't seen in most parts of China, the kiosk offered various kinds of meatballs and fish balls, whole fried fish on a stick, corn on the cob, and sausages. I went for a usual favorite (squid), a more recent favorite (lamb), a classic (chicken drumstick) and an enticing offering off to the side (Japanese octopus balls).
My friend sampled the octopus balls and declared them "not as good" as New York City Japanese restaurant offerings, but I scarfed them anyway. The squid tasted fresh, as one would expect from coastal Guangdong province.
The next day we went for a mid-morning meal and opted for noodles. This soup looked very familiar to me: roast pork, bok choy and eggy noodles.
Simple, comforting, and tasty.
When walking around that afternoon, my friend swooped down on a vendor selling egg cakes from a small table on a street corner.
These were sweet and floury -- a bit bland for my taste -- but my friend was in heaven as she reminisced about a NYC Chinatown vendor who used to sell these little babies.
Every corner of Guangzhou seems to boast a street vendor. It certainly
takes away the virtue from an afternoon of walking.
Posted by Astrid at March 14, 2005 07:26 AM