Have a taste of Guangzhou
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Songfeng Xuan
It's a rare treat to find an excellent restaurant embedded in a mountainous park. But Guangzhou is blessed with one; the Songfeng Xuan (Tower in Pine Breeze) Restaurant, at Mingzhulou in Baiyun Park. Two of us from GZ Daily were there as the guests of Managing Director Mr. James Chen, hot on the heels of the Gotherberg crew, who'd been there only a couple of days before and who after months on the ocean were probably grateful for something other than seafood!. To our pleasure, we were served the same exotic banquet the intrepid sailors had enjoyed.
Properly prepared Cantonese fare is extremely healthy, with an emphasis on freshness that's not commonly found in many Western restaurants. Vegetables in particular, are served underdone to preserve their colour, texture and taste.
And what a banquet they serve. Barbecued eel, that old Cantonese mainstay boiled chicken – without the fatty white skin, a boiled spinach dish (yes spinach! not gok choy), a fish as tasty as was delightfully boneless, jiaozi served upside down and fixed to a thin layer of pastry.
The room was unpretentious, decorated in pale yellows with the usual tile floor. A large circular table in the middle and plenty of space around it. The restaurant can accommodate up to 1,000 people, in very tasteful surroundings. You wouldn’t know that from looking at it, but there are many private rooms, each with unpronounceable 8 syllable Latin botanical species names, some of which (eg. Clitoria Ternatea) really catch the eye. It must be fun trying to reserve them over the phone!
Access to the restaurant is the only real hassle. If you live nearby, you can walk there or ride a bicycle if you like a challenge. If you have a car, you can drive it in and there are plenty of places to park. But therein lies the problem. You're also entering a quasi-national park, and it costs 5 yuan per person and 15 yuan per car. No major problem if you're driving your own vehicle – if you can afford the price of petrol you can certainly afford to get into Baiyun Park. The pointy end of the stick is that if you're relying on taxis, you can get one to take you in, but you can't get one to take you home again. Drivers are unwilling to pay 15 yuan to enter the park and take the risk they might not be able to locate their passenger at the top of the hill. And you can't blame them. So it's a brisk 20 minute walk down the hill, which is okay on the balmy summer nights but might be less fun in a sudden rainstorm.
Locomotive Restaurant with Romantic Ambience
Add: 1, Shamian North St., Guangzhou
Tel: 8121 8882; 8121 5226
Business Hours: Sat-Sun 11.30am-1am, Mon-Fri 5.30pm-1am.
All cards.
Nestled among trees at the eastern end of Shamian Island is the Locomotive restaurant, comprising a main "station" building nestled between two railway carriages. The carriage on the left has been done out with two private banqueting rooms, the one on the right – originally a dining car – is done out in mock-1930's style, with period tables, chairs, carpets, light-fittings, original wooden floors and window frames.
The menu is international, with dishes from a variety of countries, and very well done. An Italian-trained chef served up Mushroom Soup and Farmer Pumpkin soup, followed by Grilled Duck Breast, Grilled chicken with lemongrass and Baked Sole Fillet with Champagne Cream Sauce. Then the desserts: Hot Chocolate Pudding, Almond Parfait , Tiramisu, Green Tea Cake and Mango PuddingBest dessert was the Chocolate Pudding, though it had strong competition from the Tiramisu which my Italian companion went into raptures over.
The "Station" is a larger dining area featuring leather chesterfields and a curiously simple but effective lighting system, which illuminates in turn the names of famous European railway stations – Gare d'Orsay, Gare St. Lazare, Stazione S Lucia, to name a few. It will bring back memories of home for visitors from Europe.
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