Food in China: Suzhou Noodles & Xiao Long Bao

This marks the first blog post about food abroad! I am going to start of with Suzhou, though I actually went to Hefei first but I cannot wait to blog about this place first because it is the place I tasted the best Xiao Long Bao in the world. Thankfully for Wikipedia, you can check out the definition of this glorious little white bun stuffed with meat here. I did not get a chance to taste the Xiao Long Bao in Shanghai (which is apparently where it originated from) but Suzhou is close enough so I am happy. It was a rainy day and we just finished touring the Humble Administrator Garden. We settled on one of the little shops down the road from the garden for lunch and it was the best lunch I had in China. Pics below! *drools*

This is the restaurant we ate at. We decided on this place because the tour guide was eating here...If you can read Chinese then you'll know the name of the place. I unfortunately can't read Chinese so I can't help translate.

Xiao Long Bao. The difference with Xiao Long Bao's in Malaysia is the size! The Malaysian version is often tiny and the pastry tends to be more to the hard side..and sometimes oily too. This one here is fluffy and soft on the outside and generously stuffed with pork. It was so worth it and delicious, I kept craving for it when I got back. 

This is the inside, the right amount of meat meets the right amount of dough. 

Here's the Suzhou Mien (Noodle). I am not sure if the weather was cold or this was just too good. When I tasted it..it felt...so good. The soup was hot which is perfect for freezing rainy weather and it was definately flavourful. The noodles were also thick and springy. I miss this already...why don't they have this in Malaysia?!

Of course the noodles came with meat to accompany. You can choose from a variety of pork, beef and lamb. I chose the lamb because eating lamb in winter keeps you warm! The lamb was also full of flavour, just like the noodles. Unfortunately, I ate so much I couldn't finish the noodles (the portion is huge!) but it kept me contented for the whole afternoon. I guess this is how a foodgasm feels like.....

The interior of the restaurant. 

That's the end of this post. My next post is going to be about "Fine Dining" in Northern China.

To view my travelogue on Suzhou, please click here.

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Travelogue: Suzhou, Jiangsu Province

On my third day in China, I took a train from Hefei to Suzhou. The journey was about 2 and a half hours and most of the time was spend swapping places with strangers so I could sit with my mates instead (our host only managed to get us separate seats). The thing with stopping trains is that people will board the train at different stops so an initially empty seat could end up being occupied later on, hence there were a lot of reshuffling to do. When I could finally bring myself to sleep in peace (without strangers tapping my shoulder telling me I'm in their seat), we were already five minutes away from our destination. It was also the Chinese New Year period so many Chinese were travelling on the train to go back home. We were also the ones with the most luggage that had to occupy walkways and whatever empty spaces we could find. Lugging it to our bus parked 15 minutes away from the train station is another story altogether....

Nickname: Venice of the East (for their water canals, namely the Grand Canal)
Weather: about 5C and rainy (hence it was cold!)
Time Difference: None
Accommodation: Marriot Hotel, Suzhou

Best feeling in the world - to be greeted by super single beds in a perfectly lit 5-star hotel room after a long and tiring train journey. 

One of the clubs on Suzhou Downtown Street where we had dinner at this cosy authentic Japanese restaurant on the first night. 

Tastes nothing like fish soup but like BBQ instead!

The only hotel that provided PROPER american breakfast throughout the trip. Marriot was my haven for 2 nights. 

Humble Administrator Garden

Mandarin Ducks also known as Love Birds

Boat ride on the canals

people still live in these homes

Leaning pagoda of Tiger Hill

more Suzhou nightlife

Tomato beef rice on the second night. Was famished by the time my food came..

From my hotel window. By the way, its always hazy here in China regardless of summer or winter. In case you have not noticed, the sky is always grey/white and never blue on this side of the world...

Ancient wheelbarrow

A lake at Suzhou Industrial Park

Our host, treated us to a grand lunch once again (this is just part of the meal, there were more dishes after this). The Chinese are very generous with their food. Unfortunately, it was not to my taste as I am too used to Malaysian Chinese food. Will blog about food in China in another post :)

You've come to the end of my photo diary from Suzhou. Next stop: Hangzhou!