We came across this restaurant and decided to have lunch there.
If you can read Chinese, you would know that it is called Xi Shui Cui Yu Xuan. Now my Mandarin sucks so I wouldn't know the meaning of that! I could only recognise the characters shui (water) and yu (fish). Luckily though, Jam translated for me and it means "a small restaurant for fresh fish from the stream" or something like that.
In fact, throughout my whole trip, I had to rely on Jam and his friend to help with conversing with the locals. I really do not know how I would cope if I went there on my own! So if you plan to travel to China alone, make sure you know how to converse in Mandarin. At least know the basics!
The interior of the restaurant was quite cosy.
And I liked the way they had the eating utensils all nicely wrapped and sealed. Very hygienic indeed!
These were what we ate.
Dong-po pork. It is actually pork meat and yam cooked in bamboo. Really nice and delicious!
The yam were mostly located at the bottom after we had eaten the pork at the top.
We also had long beans with bittergourd.
And soup with mushrooms.
Of course, as in a typical Chinese meal, we must have rice! So here's my plate of rice with the side dishes.
Oh, I must not forget to mention the tea. Yes, they have this very nice luo han guo tea!
I could not stop drinking it! And it felt so good on my throat especially after walking outside in the hot sun!
Luo han guo fruits are grown mainly in the mountains of Guilin. They are also found in other parts of China but mostly in the Southwestern Chinese province of Guangxi, where Guilin is located. It is said that the mountains lend the plants shadows and are often surrounded by mists, thereby protecting the plants from the sun.
Is it any wonder that during my stay in Guilin, I could see many road side stalls and shops selling the luo han guo fruits!
For the uninitiated, this is how the fresh fruits on the tree look like.
They are green in colour but I have yet to see them being sold in the fresh form. The ones that were sold in the night market and road side stalls were usually the dried form, in brown colour. Like the photo which I took from the night market below. (bottom left)
I guess the fruit cannot be stored in the fresh form, so you never see people eat it fresh. In fact, it is never really eaten. The dried fruit is instead, cut open and boiled in water to make a sweet aromatic drink.
For your information, luo han guo is especially beneficial for health and is most useful for heatstroke, cough, sore throat and other respiratory problems. It also acts as a natural sweetener. In fact, it is 300 times sweeter than sugar, but minus the high calories!
Now I am craving for that luo han guo tea! I wonder if the tea is sold in Malaysia! We actually came back to this restaurant for a second time during our trip to enjoy the good food and the luo han guo tea! But that would be a post for another day.
I was really satisfied with my very first meal in Guilin. The price of our lunch came to 46 yuan, which is just 15.33 yuan (or RM8) per person! I learnt that there was a special discount for lunch. Now is that cheap or what!
Coming up next : The Elephant Trunk Hill
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