Shenzhen is a major city in Guangdong Province, China. The city is located immediately north of Hong Kong. Due to its close proximity, travelers to Shenzhen will usually drop by to Hong Kong for a visit and vice versa.

The first thought that came to mind when comes to Shenzhen, China would be : steamboat, hotpot, spicy food & the many different types of native cuisines from different cities/states of China. There are native cuisines from Guangdong, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Beijing and many more. Each dish is unique in their own ways.

Apart from food, the other thought that came to mind for Shenzhen will be none other than their supply of imitation AAA Grade for branded designer bags, apparels, you name it, you have it type of many many others stuff that you can think of.

I enjoy shopping in Shenzhen especially for electronic gadgets as they are always in the technology forefront on such stuff.

Now, back to a more serious and interesting topic…..Food!

Food in China is generally oily and salty other than spicy for certain dishes. Due to this reason, not all people can get accustomed to the local chinese food. As a foodie (吃货), I need to experience all kinds of delicacies. I had more for those dishes to my liking and less of those not so palatable.

A typical chinese dinner in a restaurant.

Local cantonese style dim sum served in the restaurant.

This restaurant is in 杰豪皇庭酒店@立新路16号。

In Shenzhen, you will get to see a lot of local street stalls. 华记大排挡 is one such stall serving Hunan cuisine.

Another street stall at the back alley of 华强北电子商场 serves cheap and good food too.

Steam meat dumpling

Deep fried meat wanton

Plain noodle with black bean sauce

My personal favourite, tomato fried rice with egg (番茄蛋炒饭)

A simple meal in a hakka restaurant.

Another meal at Top One Restaurant (一飞茶餐厅).

Coming up next is one of my favourite must eat place, 来御来三汁焖锅。This is a hotpot restaurant where all the ingredients are stewed in a hotpot simmered with their special home-made sauce and spices.

The ingredients are placed onto the hotpot and stewed. While waiting for the food to be ready, you may order some starters for warm up.

Cold starter dish of cucumber marinated with sesame oil, soya sauce and chilli oil. This is really appetizing.

Yuanyang bun (鸳鸯包) – mixed of steamed and fried buns to dip with condense milk. Something unique.

The fried yam ball is truly awesome as the yam filling is so smooth in texture and each mouthful is super additive.

Now, the stew pot is ready just when you are done with the warm up.

Done with 焖锅, we now move over to 火锅。野妹火锅 @ 福永白石夏 serves cheap and good Sichuan style steamboat.

Another steamboat buffet restaurant, 草原肥羊自助火锅 @ Zhengfeng North Road offers value for money steamboat buffet if you are in to it.

One other good Sichuan steamboat to consider, Delicious Garden (厚花园).

扬州炒饭 in the shape of a Koi fish

Quite champion with affordable prices.

This next dish is quite interesting, the fish is from Mississippi and is called 鸭嘴鱼, duck beak fish.

The raw fish will be sliced up and cooked together with a pot of soup comprises of pig’s stomach, kampong chicken and herbal tonic like cordyceps, wolfberries, etc. A great dish.

这就是传说中的猪肚鸡和鸭嘴鱼

Another super champion steamboat restaurant, HaiDiLao (海底捞) is a must visit too. They have outlets across countries but it is still most economical to eat it when in China as prices are the most affordable.

HaiDiLao serves mainly Sichuan style steamboat and ensuring customer satisfaction is their top most priority by providing top notch service and best food. They emphasizes on customer experience, the staff goes the extra mile and are attentive towards customers.

Normally, the queue is super long when dining during peak hours. The restaurant provides for refreshment while waiting for a table to be assigned. When the staff noticed that you have your phone on the table, immediately they will provide you with a zip lock bag to protect your phone from getting dirtied. For diners who wear spectacles, they will provide you with a cleaning cloth for cleaning the glasses. During dining, you may even go for the complimentary manicure services. Best part of all, the staff will assist to place the food to the hotpot and cooked for you. If you order prawns, they will help to de-shell the prawns.

You are highly recommended to order the 侧面, handmade noodle as the grand finale. The noodle texture is springy and chewy and goes well with the rich soup base. Best part, you will get to see the cool live noodle performance by the staff preparing it.

Isn’t it cool?

There are also great shopping & sightseeing areas in Shenzhen too.

Shenzhen Window of the World (深圳世界之窗) is a fantastic vivid miniature replicas of the world’s wonders, historical heritages and famous scenic sites. Great sightseeing place.

Within one day, you can visit many reproductions of the famous sites from different countries. For example, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Eiffel Tower, Pagoda of Mandalay, Pyramids and the Sphinx, Sydney Opera House, miniature Roman Colosseum, etc.

You may consider to visit Coco Park (购物公园) if you have the time. Coco Park (located in Futian area) features much more than a shopping mall, the area also features a popular bar street, large open public spaces and some great restaurants. You will also find many al-fresco cafes in this mall.

How to go to Coco Park?

You can take the Shenzhen Metro using Line 1 (罗宝线) and alight at Shopping Park Station (购物公园站) and take Exit C.

In one of my recent visit to Coco Park, I happened to chance upon this newly opened outlet, Poke A Box selling healthy sushi donut.

I found the outlet to be unique and try it out without fail.

Tuna & Salmon sushi donut seated on a piece of seaweed with avocado, mango, sliced radish & black caviar.

Salmon sushi donut seated on a piece of seaweed with avocado, mango & salmon roe.

Other than food, there is also my favourite dessert stall, 许留山 in this mall too.

My favourite cheesy durian pastry. Durian lovers, this is your not to be missed dessert.

Their recommended Mango Romance. Specially for mango lovers.

I am pretty sure you will love this place once you have been there.

Hope you find Shenzhen interesting and pin it down your calendar for your next visit.