My Travel Food Diary: Quick Dinner Fix at Wuxi Bus Station

Dinner was nothing fancy; after completing our one day trip of Wuxi visiting the third largest lake, Taihu.
You can read and revel in the beauty of the lake here and here

We headed to the Wuxi Bus Station to take the night bus to Hangzhou, and since there were a couple of hours before the bus arrives and with kids and elderly with us, we hopped into one of the fast food outlets within the rather quiet bus station for a quick fix for dinner.
I am sorry that I forgot to capture the photo of the outlet, as we left in a hurry.

Of course, fast food cannot beat a good homecooked or well-cooked meal served in gourmet style, but we have to make do with whatever is available at the station.


Fried crullers


Braised pork with rice


There is also soup served with the rice


Tan Tan Noodles with eggs and vegetables


Dumplings in soup



Spicy noodles


For the kids:
Sausages with vegetables


The desserts, however, was the one to surprise us...
Cream of red bean with lotus seeds


Aloe vera with caramelized curd pudding


This was quite unique, and both desserts tasted quite good, surprisingly.

Anyway, as I have mentioned, there is nothing to shout about the food we had in this restaurant, besides the fact that it is convenient.
Food overall was average and at least was not half as bad as I expected, although the desserts were really good. I have even forgotten the prices; guess I was just that exhausted:p

Well, to be fair, the food replenished our energy levels and saved our stomachs for the night after a long day and lasted us throughout the bus journey to our next destination, so no complaints :)

My Travel Food Diary: Lunch in Shui Zhen Yuan Restaurant

Wuxi was a state in the Jiangsu province which we visited with a guided tour during our trip to China and you can read about the places of attractions I have posted here and here
I rarely travel with a tour group, and this is one of my very first, since school trips and you can read about my experience here

After a not-so-interesting trip to the Pearl Research Institute, we also had lunch there at their nearby (or probably the only) restaurant within the institute; Shui Zhen Yuan Restaurant.


Located on the second floor, the restaurant was bustling with the lunch crowd which are mainly comprised of the tour groups.



It was not that difficult to select what to order as the restaurant offered a detailed menu and I think even the food was pre-cooked as they were served rather promptly following our order.

Rice came in a container according to the number of pax.


The weird part about our tour is that we are on our own when it came to food, and we have to pay for our food. It is not like there is much choice when it came to dining areas as visitors are just 'forced' to dine in the one or two restaurants in the tourist spot.

Braised white tofu with mushrooms and ham




Sweet and sour fish fillet

As usual, most of the fish I have tried here are just bony and one must exercise caution when consuming them.


Stir fried omelette with silver fish

This is a fish found in the famous Taihu Lake and it is really a small and fragile fish in texture; in fact, it kind of reminded me of anchovies as well.
I don't know why, I just felt like it was very cruel to be consuming these little fishes when I am touring the lake, yeah, call me sentimental:p


Signature dish; sweet and sour vegetables

When the word vegetables is mentioned, green leafy types come to mind and therefore, we were indeed surprised when we saw this dish served.
The so-called vegetable were these grains served with thinly diced carrots, bell peppers and ham.

The meal cost approximately RMB90+ (~MYR45) and it was quite a decent meal; in fact, the food was quite good which at least made it worthwhile (yeah, especially after the not-so-fun trip to the institute).

My Travel Food Diary: Street Food for Breakfast

Eating like the locals in China is just part of experiencing the local culture and the food variety offered in this country is just endless.

In my last post, I mentioned that one should follow the local culture and just eat what the locals eat, if you can stomach most of the food or the scene of the people having the same food.
I considered myself fortunate that I was pampered with homecooked food on my recent trip and also restaurant food, thanks to the great hospitality of my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.
We were even welcomed to their home in Suzhou; in the modern industrial park's residential area.

For breakfast, the usual would be like home with bread with jam and coffee or my father-in-law would take a walk to the market to grab a few of the local favorites, just right across the street. Sometimes, my mother-in-law would make fruit juice for us in the morning and that is really a lovely treat.


Of course, when one is traveling in China, continental or western breakfasts did not seem so appropriate since there are just so much to enjoy from the local trays.
I am not really that into the street food, but I did enjoy learning and capturing the food that was placed on the table to be shared with my readers :)

A variety of buns for breakfast:
Shanghainese Xiaolong Bao

This is no stranger to anyone, as this is one of the most publicized buns in China.
A type of steamed bun but with the texture of a dumpling, this is a dumpling bun (as its Chinese name suggests) which holds meat with soup.
Yes, it's a little tricky to consume this and the trick is to pop it into your mouth instead of biting through the wrapping or risk having the soup spilling all over you.
Be careful though, when it is hot, or you could burn your tongue.
Sorry, no photo of the contents; as I have mentioned that one needs to take the whole dumpling in one gulp.

Fried mantou/Fried dumpling buns

The buns were filled with meat and then fried, to give it that golden brown color and that slightly crisp taste when one bites into the bun.


Steamed Bao Zi

Bao Zi is a steamed stuffed bread, again with pork (no surprise)


Fried chives pancake

This is one of the popular food that can be found all over China, so one would definitely find it it anywhere. I find it a little oily, despite this being the only vegetarian-based bun.


Soya bean milk

The Chinese love soy milk and soy-based products for breakfast or even for their meals.
It's no surprise that this can also be found all around China.
This version of the soy bean milk from the market was not that good, though.

When in China, you can make a note to check out their soy bean milk and bean curd pudding which comes in the sweet and salty version. Yes, you read that correctly, there is also the salty soy bean milk and soy pudding.
I am still not that sure how that tastes like yet myself.

Of course, if you are not keen on local tastes like all the street food above, there is always the good old option of bread, butter, jam, coffee, cereal or pancakes for breakfast.

My Travel Food Diary: Snacks from Happy Mart

On our way back from Shanghai and while waiting for our train to go back to Suzhou, we stopped at the nearest convenience store; Happy Mart.

I love to check out local convenience stores when I travel, as one will never know what they can find. Did you also notice all the convenience stores worldwide carries different types of stuffs? I am referring to their food and drinks and not those toiletries.
Yes, the convenience stores are also the most convenient places for one to find out about the local culture and favorites.
It is nice to find something which is unique and you can't find in your own country, while giving me a chance to lament on how pathetic our own convenience stores are sometimes with their offers:p

Steamed strawberry cake with jam filling

I have always loved steamed cakes like these, and unfortunately, this was the only one left there :(

The cake was fluffy soft; with a light aroma of strawberry and the jam filling was just nice, not too sweet.


Nothing special; just a ham and cheese sandwich



This Happy mart was located in a rather strategic location; right opposite the train station and I guess its popularity also made it run out of most of its snacks really quickly.

Well, at least I did find something to snack on for our dinner while we make our way back :)

What about you, are you always hunting in the local convenience stores when you are traveling too? Have you come across anything interesting that you can't find in your own country (should be aplenty!)

My Travel Food Diary: Eat like the Locals in Shanghai

When in Rome, do what the Romans do, and that's exactly what I did when I travel as well, or at least I try, because it's all part of the experiencing the local culture.

So, when in China, it's interesting to find out what the locals take their lunch (if you can take it) and put on a brave front to stray off that beaten path.
You can read more about how we found this place here

Being in China or even in any Chinese-populated area means one could be surrounded by endless outlets to eat and even the variety, and I can definitely speak the same of cosmopolitan city Shanghai.
Although we were surrounded by so many different eateries, as I have mentioned in my travel blog (above link), we walked into this restaurant which serves local Chinese economy food with a buffet of various home cooked dishes and a sour-faced lady serving you, scooping food on plates to be placed on your tray. (I know, not a very nice picture)


The place is actually famous for their noodles; Suzhou noodles (how ironic, since we travelled from Suzhou to Shanghai and we ended up in a restaurant serving Suzhou food)


It was nearing the end of lunch hour when we were there, which I am glad as it was quite crowded when we were there and there was practically no table available.
Thank goodness the restaurant actually has a half upper level which we had to make our way up a a rather steep wooden staircase to find more tables and diners there.


Some of the tables were not cleared although the diners have left.


However, those were the pictures after we were unable to find a place to sit and ended up sharing with a guy who was having his lunch alone.

We didn't really have a choice, honestly, and I can't complain that he was willing to share his table although he wasn't exactly that hygienic either.
(think coughing, sneezing, spitting, yikes!) I did regret wanting that local lunch experience at that point, honestly as that was something that I could never get used to in China.

The chopsticks are all placed in a porcelain vase, and they are wrapped in thick paper cards.


Our lunch set; we opted for three dishes and the soup is on the house

It costs RMB14 (~MYR7) for this, and I'd say that it was really reasonably priced.

The server, although not very friendly (she did wear a mask, which was a plus for hygiene) was quite generous with the serving of the food as we were pleased to see.

Braised lean and fatty pork with soy sauce and spring onions


Mapo tofu


Braised mandarin fish with black fungus and ginger


White rice


Despite the not-so hygienic conditions, the food was actually not too bad and the price's good too, though I may opt for nicer restaurants.
Well, the plus point, I get to see the local culture; ugly or not.


Another restaurant opposite the one we had our lunch at; it seemed of higher class but there is not really a crowd, so I am not sure whether it was the price or the food, or just both.

Anyway, this was the only local lunch we had on our own as we were pampered by our brother-in-law with good food when we were in Suzhou.


The local food and dining is not such a bad experience, if you can bear with the not-so hygienic habits of some of the locals (not all, just to be fair) but it would help if one knows a bit of Chinese to interact with the locals selling the food.
I'm not really used to it either, but at least one experience can be enriching to understand the local culture, although I still opt for hygiene first.

Read more about my Shanghai trip here
High-speed train experience