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Food Porn Friday

Food Porn Friday | Bing Sheng Seafood Restaurant | China

Guangzhou is known to have the best fine dining in all of China.
An arguable statement (I’m sure) having learned that Beijing locals will travel all the way down south for some good eats.

The History

Since most of the city has grown to be very industrial, I can understand this migration mainly for the fact that this is THE capital of business-centric, import/export, impress-your-new and potential clients-type of dinners. You know, the 4-story McMansion pagodas turned high-end restaurant where repeat customers are valued over tourists and expats. So much in fact that they even present local elites with hoity-toity “VIP” pass cards for discounted rates and an upgrade to upper level dining enjoyment (as opposed to the underground and lobby level variety, as if! lol). Way to check your status right at the door my loves. Did I mention that the Chinese (in China, ahem) are VERY partial to their businessmen? My Mandarin-speaking cohorts couldn’t even get any love!

 

 But luckily for us, knowing peeps who know peeps resulted in the following feast:

Bing Sheng Seafood Restaurant

(They have multiple locations throughout Guangzhou, visit their website HERE for more information)

 Their infamous bbq pork
The owner started his humble beginnings from a street food cart that only sold this sucker. With incredible success and much word-of-mouth, his name spread like wildfire and thus resulted in a rapid expansion to brick-and-mortar establishments. With the help of his British-educated children who sought to “Westernize” the concept, they are now the leading seafood restaurant in Guangzhou boasting high-profile Chinese celebrities, congress, and diplomats as loyal patrons. I love a good rags to riches story, don’t you?

Entry facade

The climb up to 3rd level dining

 

The Vibe

High ceilings, silk drapery, very elegant atmosphere.  A brief history recollected from our hosts for the evening.

Some peeps offer boiled peanuts, Bing Sheng provides cold steamed chicken feet for an amuse…

 

Hot beef and winter squash soup served on a chilly China night, nothing better than this!

 

Boiled bean curd topped with sauteed minced meat in a light soy sauce

More mild than it looks, perfect served alone since no one orders rice here!

 

Le pièce de résistance: White Fish “sashimi” served over a bed of cold ice with accoutrements

Don’t expect premium thick cuts of traditional Japanese sashimi, the Chinese thinly slice their filet and submerge them in an ice cold bath for 3 days before serving this specialty on their menu. This results in buoyant, chewy, crunchy, and refreshing slivers of top grade fish with a texture akin to jellyfish, but much heartier to the bite. One of the most memorable dishes on our entire trip! Incredible!

Served with a buffet of toppings: Sliced scallions, dried seaweed, pickled radishes, fresh ginger, sliced taro root, daikon, green chili peppers, slightly-salted boiled peanuts

Pick your poison or select them all! Finish with a hint of soy sauce, sesame oil, both white and black pepper and ENJOY! INSANE how enlightened this little bowl of heaven makes me feel. Ambrosia for the Chinese gods!

 

Paired with: Chinese rice wine and Tsingtao beer

The beer? Delish! The wine? Tastes like nail polish remover! Bleh!!!
(At least I imagine polish remover to taste like that…similar to absinthe, very licorice-y)

Boiled Fish Skin

They waste no part of this white fish y’all. After separating the meat from the skin and bones, skin is served chilled, unsalted with a generous helping of boiled peanuts and cilantro, while the head, tail, and bones are flash fried and pinched with sea salt. The Chinese culture believes that no part of an animal should be wasted in consumption, a reminder of widespread Chinese famine that killed some 40 million people in the late 50’s. Now you know why your Asian parents make you clean the plates lovies, it’s bad luck and there’s people dying of starvation in the world!

 

Spicy beef and bean thread soup

Spicy and just a bit sour, reminds me of Thai Tom Yum soup without the seafood. A very familiar flavor but nothing extraordinary.

 

Deep fried prawn heads

They say the heads are the sweetest part of the prawns with all the flavored chitlins built-in. When we asked our gracious host how to eat this (without stating the obvious) he replied: You just eat them! The Chinese are known to be very succinct, lol.

Why only the heads you ask?

Because THIS is what they do with the bodies my loves

Oh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah!All raw, butterflied, and ice cold, just the way I like my sweet shrimp amaebi!

 

A hearty chicken and melon dish sauteed in a light brown sauce

Begs to be eaten with rice, however there’d be NO room whatsoever for dessert so pass on the carbs and go IN for the kill y’all!

 

Sweet Pineapple buns

 

Coconut covered sweet soybean filled mochi!

HANDS DOWN the BEST and bombest Chinese pastry I have ever, EVER tasted!
Served piping hot and literally oozes sweet cream outta your mouth!~
Le bf caught a photo of that money shot but I thought it too NC-17 for this family friendly blog, lol…
But TRUST when I tell ya, complete ORALGASM y’all!

Moral of the story?  Always ALWAYS seek out locals to dine with!
Locals know the BEST eats in town and you NEVER can tell what you might get served without ‘em!

Bon Appétit mes amis!

 

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11 Comments

  4. Mira Reply

    Omg this is food porn at it's best Julie!! I wouldn't touch the chicken feet but everything else looks super-duper yummy. Btw desserts are my weakness too. I never had something like that. I want to try it badly. Have a wonderful weekend 😀

    xx Mira

    http://www.glamdevils.com

  5. Sharlynn Ng Reply

    Such gorgeous delicious food!! It's truly some of the best porn for me! The melon beef soup, the fried fish skin and prawn heads! Omg…it all looks sooo good and those pineapple tarts! Looks like you really indulged!

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