Nanxin Milk Desserts Expert Dishifu Lu 南信牛奶甜品專家 第十甫路 (Guangzhou, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

After Yongqing Fang (永慶坊), we took a slow stroll east along Enning Road (恩宁路) towards the other side of Liwan District (荔灣區). It was an area near Dishifu Lu (第十甫路) which was full of narrow alleyways and Tong Lau (唐樓) or Ke Lau (騎樓) architectures. 

There was the occasional street vendors selling street food that we don't see in metropolitan cities anymore (and I consider Guangzhou a metropolitan city).

Upon our arrival in Dishifu Lu, we decided to check out a number of iconic places here before moving onto Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street (上下九步行街), with Nanxin Milk Desserts Expert (南信牛奶甜品專家) very high on our list.

Founded in 1934, Nanxin Milk Desserts is one of the highest ranked dessert shops in all of Guangzhou (if not the highest) best known for their Double skin milk (or Shuang Pi Nai 雙皮奶). 

Black Sesame Soup (黑芝麻糊) – Very thick and nutty but not as grainy as the one I got from Heartwarming (暖心芝作) in Sham Shui Po. It was nice but I'm sure there are similar quality of black sesame soup available back in Hong Kong.

Double skin milk (雙皮奶) – This was what we came for in the first place, their Shuang Pi Nai. I thought it was really as good as advertised. Soft, milky and silky smooth. Other than the egg white and steamed milk, I simply couldn't taste much sugar (sweetness) in this, which was great. Let the egg white and milk shine!

Ginger milk pudding (姜汁撞奶) – This took a while to arrive and it remained piping hot even after a good 5-minute wait. The pudding I thought was ultra soft but the extra heat from ginger almost left a burning sensation on my tongue. Couldn't believe one could actually order extra ginger for this dessert.

Turns out Nanxin is more than a one-trick pony. Other than their famous desserts, they also have an impressed food menu that includes stuff like wonton noodle soup, noodles with beef brisket, and steamed rice rolls with prawns. Too bad we've already eaten lunch.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: ¥¥

Address: 47 Dishifu Lu, Liwan District, Guangzhou, China

广州市荔湾区第十甫路47号

Closest Metro Station: Huangsha (黃沙)

Tel: +86 (20) 81389904

Opening Hours: 10:30am - 10:30pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/5f/wOc 

Yan Ning Gelato Factory 恩宁雪糕行 (Guangzhou, CHINA) ★★★★☆

The rain finally slowed down a bit after lunch and we could head over to our second destination in Guangzhou without getting ourselves wet. Situated in the Liwan District (荔灣區), Yongqing Fang (永慶坊) is an old residential neighborhood which is now home to a number of trendy cafes, restaurants and bookstores following its revitalization. It has quietly become a popular check-in spot (打卡) in Guangzhou in recent years and good thing's that, it was just a comfortable 10-minute walk from our lunch spot.

Yan Ning Gelato Factory (恩宁雪糕行), an artisan gelato shop is our first stop inside touristy Yongqing Fang. 

Yan Ning's gelato is handmade daily in small quantities using the freshest ingredients. They boast some really interesting flavors including their signature flavor by the name of Mangong Cake (盲公餅, literally Blind man's biscuit), which is a specialty of Foshan city also in Guangdong province. It's a biscuit made with ground nuts and sesame seeds. Too bad, this flavor wasn't available to us this afternoon.

Two scoops of gelato are going for 23RMB here. Not a bad deal at all. We decided to go with the Tofu Fa (豆腐花) and pepper (椒花) flavors that turned out to be very satisfying. The Tofu fa gelato came with some extra heat of ginger which was pretty refreshing but I like the pepper one more thanks to the special numbing effects (which was rarely found in ice-cream).

Yeah, I'm much happier already. 

Right across the street from Yan Ning Gelato Factory is Kungfu Nata (功夫蛋撻), another popular shop in Yongqing Fang serving some funky flavors of egg tarts. Check them out when you happen to pay Yongqing Fang a visit!

Less than 150 metres away from Yang Ning Gelato Factory is another famous landmark in Yongqing Fang, Ancestral Home of Bruce Lee (李小龙祖居). It was built by his father and the family actually lived there for over ten years.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: ¥¥

Address: 69 Enning Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou, China

广州市荔湾区恩宁路69号

Closest Metro Station: Ruyifang (如意坊)

Tel: +86 (20) 13902255626

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 11:00pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/fa/nKic

Man Wah 文華廳 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

It’s been a year since I last caught up with my buddy St Paul. He’s back in town for a little less than a week, and I was eager to reserve his time for a meal before he returns to the City of Angels.

Last year around the same time, we met up for lunch at Hutong (胡同) and knowing that he’s into Chinese food, I decided to call Man Wah (文華廳) at MO to see if they have a table for us on Ching Ming Festival. To my pleasant surprise, they did on such short notice (everyone in China for the week again!?).

St Paul and I are both pretty adventurous when it comes to food so it didn’t really surprise me that we made very quick work on the dishes to order.

Shanghainese soup dumpling, minced pork, conpoy, dried shrimp roe (蝦籽瑤柱小籠包) – This came from the set lunch. The wrapper was ultra thin and the broth surprised me  bit with its sweetness.

Morel mushroom and bamboo pith dumpling (羊肚菌竹笙餃) – The sticky wrapper with the bamboo pith web matched really well together with the diced morel mushrooms in the middle. Very nice.

Wagyu beef puff, black pepper sauce (黑椒和牛酥) – The puff pastry was really done nicely. I like the fillings of wagyu beef marinated in a pretty light black pepper sauce.

Steamed rice roll, barbecued Iberian pork (西班牙黑豚肉叉燒腸粉) – It came with a fair share of coriander bringing some lovely fragrance to the barbecued pork and rice roll.

Boiled soup with carrot and corn (甘筍粟米豬展湯) – This was a bit disappointing. Most high-end Chinese restaurants would be offering their double-boiled soup in their set lunch menu but not here obviously. Last time I checked, this was a Michelin starred, fine dining restaurant. Sigh…

Har gau, prawn, lobster, caviar, salmon roe (雙籽龍蝦鮮蝦餃) – Very cute presentation which had us scrambling for our smartphones for photos. Pretty delicate.

Wok-fried prawn, garlic, dried chilli (大千珍寶蝦球) – The wok-fried prawn was indeed jumbo-sized. This was beautifully cooked with garlic and dried chilli.

Deep-fried crab claw coated, minced shrimp (百花炸蟹鉗) – Another great dish. Deep-fried crab claw has always been a crowd pleaser since our childhood days and the crispy batter was making the shrimp mousse even more mouthwatering. It was served with its usual partner, a gluey sweet-and-sour sauce.

Fried rice, whole abalone, chicken, conpoy, mushroom, lotus leaf (原隻鮑魚飄香荷葉飯) – I thought I didn’t order too much but at this point, I was already more than stuffed. I did manage to finish most of this, including the abalone which was really succulent. 

Almond cream, egg white, sesame dumpling (蛋白杏仁茶湯丸) – Very nice texture thanks to the egg white and I liked the fact that the almond flavors weren’t over the top.

Egg tartlet, red bird’s nest, gold leaf (金萡血燕蛋撻) – We still got room for some crispy egg tartlets. This came with some luxurious toppings of red bird’s nest and gold leaf. Needless to say, it calls for a few more photos.

Petite fours (美點雙輝)

We missed the view cuz the hostess claimed that they could not arrange it in such short notice. She did say that if someone had a last-minute cancellation, it could perhaps be arranged but that was really the last time I saw her in this dining room. I did spot some empty tables by the window so I was curious if they have just dropped the ball there. For a restaurant with such pedigree and heavy price tag, I simply expected a lot more (both food and service).

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: $$$$$

Address: 25/F, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road Central, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central / Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2825-4003

Website: www.mandarinoriental.com/en/hong-kong/victoria-harbour/dine/man-wah

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm daily