Guangzhou Xiaobei Day & Night: Moroccan Cuisine & Halal Dim Sum
[Internet Repost]
Summary: This article explores "Guangzhou Xiaobei's Night and Day: Moroccan Cuisine and Cantonese Morning Tea," perfect for readers interested in Muslim life, halal info, Islamic culture, and Chinese web content.
Guangzhou Xiaobei's Night and Day: Moroccan Cuisine and Cantonese Morning Tea
On the first day of the National Day holiday, I arrived in Guangzhou at night, hopped on the subway straight to Taojin near Xiaobei to grab some Moroccan food, and ordered a lamb tagine, avocado and shrimp salad, and Moroccan mint tea. They have chair seating, floor seating, and outdoor areas. The floor seating area has the best vibe, though the shisha smoking at night was a bit harsh on the lungs.
The tagine was super authentic—the lamb was tender and fall-apart, and the pot was quite deep with a generous portion of meat. The large flatbread served with it was fluffy and light, and soaking it in the meat juices was amazing. The iced mint tea was also great; the Magreb region is literally filled with people drinking mint tea everywhere, especially sitting on the street sipping tea and chatting. It’s too bad their salad used Thousand Island dressing though—how can a legit Middle Eastern spot use Thousand Island? Total laziness.
After eating, I took a night stroll around Xiaobei and grabbed some authentic yogurt shaved ice on Baohan Direct Street.
It feels like the number of Africans coming to Xiaobei for trade has bounced back to pre-2020 levels. At 10 PM, the place was brightly lit and buzzing with bustling crowds, plus a ton of new African restaurants have popped up on the streets. By comparison, Guangzhou's Xiaobei seems to attract more African expats, whereas Yiwu has way more Arabs and Turks.
The next morning, I went for zaocha / yum cha (Cantonese morning tea / dim sum) at Yishanggong in Xiaobei. They open as early as 7 AM, but since Xiaobei is an expat neighborhood where people rarely wake up early, breakfast at the foreign-owned spots around here usually doesn't start until 10 or 11 AM.
Yishanggong is Guangzhou's third halal Cantonese dim sum spot. The owner is a Hui Muslim from Tianshui, Gansu. At night they serve Korean BBQ and hot pot, but during the day they hire local Cantonese chefs to make dim sum. Their ingredients are more reliable than standard Huimin Restaurant (Muslim restaurant), making it a worry-free eat.
We ordered Pu-erh tea, chicken char siu bao (barbecue chicken buns), crispy red rice noodle rolls, cilantro and beef rice noodle rolls, niurou wan (juicily handmade beef meatballs), sugarcane water water chestnut cake, pan-fried red bean cakes, and salted chicken and dried oyster shredded radish congee. Their portions are way bigger than the ones at Guangzhou Huimin Restaurant and Hong Kong's Ai Qun Centre. Based on our past experience, we ended up over-ordering and were stuffed.
Their stir-fried beef rice noodles were delicious, and the rice noodle rolls had a great texture—you could just slurp them right down, unlike the ones at Hong Kong's Ai Qun which are a bit on the hard side. The savory congee tasted good too; having congee in the morning hits the spot. The red bean cakes were nice and crispy, which was solid. The filling in the char siu bao was way too small though, much worse than the ones at Huimin Restaurant, and the radish cake was on the oily side—Ai Qun Building still does a better job with that.
Summary: This article explores "Guangzhou Xiaobei's Night and Day: Moroccan Cuisine and Cantonese Morning Tea," perfect for readers interested in Muslim life, halal info, Islamic culture, and Chinese web content.
Guangzhou Xiaobei's Night and Day: Moroccan Cuisine and Cantonese Morning Tea
On the first day of the National Day holiday, I arrived in Guangzhou at night, hopped on the subway straight to Taojin near Xiaobei to grab some Moroccan food, and ordered a lamb tagine, avocado and shrimp salad, and Moroccan mint tea. They have chair seating, floor seating, and outdoor areas. The floor seating area has the best vibe, though the shisha smoking at night was a bit harsh on the lungs.
The tagine was super authentic—the lamb was tender and fall-apart, and the pot was quite deep with a generous portion of meat. The large flatbread served with it was fluffy and light, and soaking it in the meat juices was amazing. The iced mint tea was also great; the Magreb region is literally filled with people drinking mint tea everywhere, especially sitting on the street sipping tea and chatting. It’s too bad their salad used Thousand Island dressing though—how can a legit Middle Eastern spot use Thousand Island? Total laziness.
After eating, I took a night stroll around Xiaobei and grabbed some authentic yogurt shaved ice on Baohan Direct Street.
It feels like the number of Africans coming to Xiaobei for trade has bounced back to pre-2020 levels. At 10 PM, the place was brightly lit and buzzing with bustling crowds, plus a ton of new African restaurants have popped up on the streets. By comparison, Guangzhou's Xiaobei seems to attract more African expats, whereas Yiwu has way more Arabs and Turks.
The next morning, I went for zaocha / yum cha (Cantonese morning tea / dim sum) at Yishanggong in Xiaobei. They open as early as 7 AM, but since Xiaobei is an expat neighborhood where people rarely wake up early, breakfast at the foreign-owned spots around here usually doesn't start until 10 or 11 AM.
Yishanggong is Guangzhou's third halal Cantonese dim sum spot. The owner is a Hui Muslim from Tianshui, Gansu. At night they serve Korean BBQ and hot pot, but during the day they hire local Cantonese chefs to make dim sum. Their ingredients are more reliable than standard Huimin Restaurant (Muslim restaurant), making it a worry-free eat.
We ordered Pu-erh tea, chicken char siu bao (barbecue chicken buns), crispy red rice noodle rolls, cilantro and beef rice noodle rolls, niurou wan (juicily handmade beef meatballs), sugarcane water water chestnut cake, pan-fried red bean cakes, and salted chicken and dried oyster shredded radish congee. Their portions are way bigger than the ones at Guangzhou Huimin Restaurant and Hong Kong's Ai Qun Centre. Based on our past experience, we ended up over-ordering and were stuffed.
Their stir-fried beef rice noodles were delicious, and the rice noodle rolls had a great texture—you could just slurp them right down, unlike the ones at Hong Kong's Ai Qun which are a bit on the hard side. The savory congee tasted good too; having congee in the morning hits the spot. The red bean cakes were nice and crispy, which was solid. The filling in the char siu bao was way too small though, much worse than the ones at Huimin Restaurant, and the radish cake was on the oily side—Ai Qun Building still does a better job with that.
