Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Grand Harbour Restaurant, Xiamen, China

Some Kind of Chashaobao-like Thing

This photo isn't even really illustrative of the food we had tonight; it just happened to be one of the few photos that I got that looked half-interesting (310 Huandao South Road, 799-9999). Anyway, this was part of a giant banquet of seafood from Xiamen tonight, and I liked nearly everything that they served here, be it a bunch of shellfish like lobster, crab, and clams to some kind of a chicken whose mildly tough meat was tastier than any other chicken I've had before. Even the noodles and vegetables that they provided were delicious (the thing above was some kind of hollow bun featuring sweet pork inside...a bit like a cha shao bao).

I have to confess that Xiamen is nothing like I thought it would be. It's refreshingly laid back compared to the big cities that I've been to in China, and the food has been much lighter too. I pointed out to one of my local dining companions that I was expecting most food in China to be salty and oily, whereas the food here was very delicate and pure. Perhaps to no surprise, he said that was because locals here are adamant on having the freshest seafood, and putting too much oil on it just covers up its naturally savory taste. I couldn't agree more.

No comments: