Guangzhou Cuisine. China] Dongxing Hotel - A first taste of Michelin-starred Jiangmen Wuyi Cuisine, the birthplace of eel with rice in pot

For our fourth meal of the holiday, the third Michelin restaurant, we went to the Dongxing Hotel, located in Tianhebei, close to our hotel. This restaurant specialises in Cantonese Wuyi cuisine, which is the traditional farmhouse style of the Jiangmen area. Farmer's food is my favourite, and Dong Xing has been a Michelin recommended restaurant for many years in a row. This is definitely a pilgrimage worth making for me if I'm a sucker for original Cantonese cuisine.
Although the hotel is located in the business district, Tung Hing is still full of customers during holidays. The restaurant is full of people, and the "wok atmosphere" and human touch of an old-school restaurant is exactly the kind of atmosphere that should be associated with farm-to-table cuisine.

Tung Hing's cuisine is not about glamourous presentation, but about solidity and heat. Every dish on the menu this time has given me and my mother a very deep experience:

"The King of Fancy Pork in Wuyi
These two dishes were the most special of the whole night as "never had them before".
The King of Pork has been handled extremely well. The fat layer of the pork has been slowly forced out over a long period of time, and the proportion of each piece of pork is extremely precise. In the mouth, the pork skin is sticky and gelatinous, while the fat melts away like cream, leaving no greasy feeling at all, and with the black thick sauce that is moderately salty and sweet, each bite is an excellent meal starter.

Farmer's Taro Mushroom Spare Ribs in Casserole" The Farmer's Taro Mushroom Spare Ribs in Casserole is a masterpiece. Taro Mushroom is a rare ingredient in Hong Kong, and it is the first time that I have ever eaten it myself. The chef handled the taro seedling very well, and after removing the astringent flavour completely, it was like countless miniature sponges, soaking up the lard and the delicious broth that oozed out of the pork ribs. The unique texture of the taro is smooth and slightly tough in the mouth, demonstrating the magical power of the farmhouse dish to turn the ordinary into something magical.

"Deep-fried Eggs" and "Crispy Pumpkin Cake".
These two dishes brought me the biggest surprise because I have not eaten them in Hong Kong for many years, and the restaurants in Hong Kong refuse to make them, probably because the unit price is not expensive and there is no money to be made, and I am afraid that the customers will eat these two dishes, so I call them two less profitable dishes.

Dong Hing's fried eggs are particularly exquisite, with the lace-like crispy edges of the eggs being stimulated by the high-temperature oil, making them visually appealing. When topped with the sweet and sour gravy made from Gochujang vegetables, the four flavours of sour, sweet, tangy and crunchy collide in the mouth, awakening an appetite that is so appealing to my mother.

Crispy Pumpkin Flapjack" Pumpkin is cut into very fine julienne shapes and flambéed into golden crispy round cakes, each bite is filled with the natural sweet aroma and firmness of pumpkin, which is sweet but not greasy, with a distinctive texture. Although I don't know whether it is a main course, a side dish or a dessert, it made me eat one after another.

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Tung Hing Eel with Rice is the highlight of the restaurant, and the moment you open the lid, the hot smell of eel with sweetness and aroma of rice comes straight to your face. The rice in this rice casserole with shredded eel is crispy, fragrant and non-sticky, which is definitely the highlight of the whole casserole. However, the meat of the eel was actually quite ordinary, not as tasty as the Hong Kong people's favourite "one mouthful of meat, not enough fun", and lacked the solid texture and sweetness of the meat.

Stewed Goose with Ancient Method
This is a farmhouse dish that embodies the importance of controlling the time of fire and throat, and the flavour can actually be good. The goose meat is slowly simmered in an ancient secret sauce, the colour of the sauce is dark and deep, and the meat is soft and tough when you bite into it. However, the flavour is "all the same" compared to Hong Kong restaurants, and although even the tips of the bones have an old-school savoury flavour, the surprise is a little less than the previous handmade dishes.

Other dishes such as Steamed Chicken in Original Sauce, Fresh and Sweet Clam Soup, Bean Curd with Salt and Pepper and Stir-fried Diced Bean Curd with Dace in Black Bean Sauce were just secondary accompaniments for me. Although the ingredients were fresh and the wok was full of flavour, it was rather ordinary in front of the previous dishes which were full of surprises, but it served to balance out the flavours of the whole meal.

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Although there are many branches in Dongxing, this flagship restaurant is often "booked up in seconds", so it is recommended to make a reservation in advance, with a per capita spending of around RMB60-90. The price per person is around RMB 60-90. The price-per-person ratio in Michelin restaurants is extremely high, making it the best choice for a "flash mob" in Guangzhou. Hong Kong diners looking for a meaty taste of eel may be put off, but Dongxing is still worth a try just to watch Mum rave about the burnt and disappearing flavours of the layer of rice, which is one of the best in Guangzhou.

Address: 1/F, Han Feng International Hotel, No. 439, Tianhe North Road, Guangzhou, China
Tel: 020-38824101