Shunde Beef Cuisine — Nothing like Sichuan Hotpot, Simpler than Chaoshan Hotpot

中文版点击这里查看

The weather is cool in November even for Guangzhou, which sits right on the Tropic of Cancer. Our friends Rexon and David from Shunde (顺德) invited us to dinner in their town, at the place where there is the best beef cuisine in the world, according to our opinion. We couldn’t resist an enticing hot meal in the chilly autumn and accepted the invitation with excitement.

Delightful Afternoon Tea near Beijiao Port

Dinner was on a Wednesday, but we went over to David’s workplace to have some afternoon tea first. We took a DiDi from the city center of Guangzhou and arrived at his office just outside of Beijiao (北滘) Port. David owns and manages his logistics company that has customers in need of international shipping and trade. Cohabiting with the port allows his company and the staff to manage their business within arm’s length. We walked up the stairs to his office space, whose windows instantly showcased 5 floors of brand-new empty containers piled up in the port area. The piles of containers are so close to the windows that they feel like a neighboring apartment building, filling up the whole viewpoint through the window frame.

As we were sitting down around the tea table, I exclaimed how brand-new looking the containers were. David says that a container manufacturer sits just west of the port that supplies brand-new containers to big names in the sea freight business. As he poured the cooked (i.e. fully fermented) Pu’er tea brews in our teacups, he couldn’t hide his pride in his work and started talking about the logistics business.

Although dwarfed by other seaports in size, the Beijiao Port is the largest Category II inland river port in Chinese mainland in terms of annual throughput. This is largely due to one of the biggest appliance manufacturer, Midea, having their factories just north of this port. Beijiao Port is special in that it has direct export capability and permits despite being an inland river port. Midea uses around 90% of the port capacity every year and exports its high-quality home appliances to countries around the world. David’s company, together with his clients and the staff from the port customs, works seamlessly to make the exportation process secure and smooth. I fondly remembered the last time we were here for afternoon tea. The director of the port customs gladly joined with some tea refreshments, and they seemed like decade-old friends instead of business partners.

As the first round of Pu’er tea was fading in flavors, David started another round of Pu’er tea brew. We also suggested that we brew the Liupao tea from Wuzhou with the one-hour soaking technique. As an enthusiast of tea like us, he of course has the right pottery pot to soak it. We measured exactly 5 grams of Liupao tea and threw them in the boiling water, which upon contact created instant bubbling that almost jumped out of the pot. We then let the mixture simmer in the pot for an hour before pouring.

Rexon soon arrived and joined us for tea. He is a great researcher on Chinese culture and classics studies. His social media always brings out the best ancient Chinese wisdom that inspires modern Chinese people. As we happily enjoyed our tea and talked about our fantastic Wuzhou trip, a container forklift started taking the empty containers off from the piles one by one. The visuals of the containers being taken down and the loud noise from the forklift almost made us feel like they were disassembling an apartment building outside. These containers were soon to be used for sea freight.

One hour passed so quickly and it was amazing how 5 grams of Liupao tea could yield such a rich brew in such a great amount. We poured from the one-liter pot and enjoyed the smooth brew that was not strong or astringent at all. With worry of being tea drunk, we set out to our dinner place with pretty empty stomachs.

Fulfilling Beef Banquet with Amiable Hospitality

David drove us to the restaurant and Rexon was worried when we were close by. He told me that he hoped I was not appalled by the appearance of the place since it was a very local restaurant. I laughed and responded with assurance that I loved such places because I knew the most genuine and delicious Chinese food were often from the most humble premises.

Though located next to a noisy highway, the restaurant hides deeply in a residential area that has no direct connection to the vast infrastructure. The storefront is low-key to a point where you might question its level of hygiene. On the walls hang the signs that tell you how many seconds each type of meat should be boiled in the hot water. On paper, the cooking time is shockingly short, ranging from 15 to 50 seconds for various types of cuts.

Meat Cooking Time Recommendation on the Walls

We sat down at the table nearest to the entrance. Chilly breezes entered occasionally through the door, which was not a problem at all since we were about to start the first round of cooking. The main dish was beef hotpot, whose setup looks very simple, even simplistic: A mediocre stainless-steel pot filled with plain water, with two garnishes — ginger and green pepper slices. Many people are familiar with Sichuan or Chongqing hotpot, whose signature base is spicy and/or numbing soup. There are also other non-spicy versions of hotpot base, as well as plain water bases such as those from Chaoshan area. While Chaoshan beef hotpot gives you many sauces to dip into, you only have vegetable oil and soy sauce for flavoring in this restaurant.

Beef Hotpot with Plain Water and Soy Sauce

We couldn’t wait to start the induction stove but we first needed to ready our dipping sauce dish. When the water started boiling, David poached the ginger shreds with a big slotted spoon. Then we divided the poached ginger shreds into our own plates. We drizzled soy sauce and peanut oil over the ginger and added sliced green pepper to our liking.

Just like any other hotpot, we placed the meat into the pot by ourselves. Once a whole plate of very thinly sliced beef were in the boiling water, the blood color vanished and the water stopped boiling. As soon as the color changed, our friends turned off the stove and let the meat bathe in the hot water for a while. Soon, they were ready and we scooped them out with slotted spoons into our own plates.

Beef Bathing in Hot Water

The cooked beef was so easy on the teeth. It was tender and full of flavor, with soy sauce not overpowering the tasty beef itself. Ginger gave a balanced mouthfeel and counteracted any greasy feeling. No sauces or garnishes blocked the rich flavor of the beef. Unlike other hotpots that use heavy soup base or fancy dipping sauces, plain water base and soy sauce complemented the abundant tastes of fresh beef and eliminated any opportunity of masking any bad smell or flavor of the meat. This is often the ideology of Shunde Cuisine — presenting the original flavor of the food materials as is.

Mr. Zeng joined the dinner just in time when we were cooking the first round of beef. Zeng is a good friend of ours and manages extensive trades between China and Chile, especially of furniture and wines. He is knowledgeable in good Chilean wines and avidly imports them to China. He brought some good wines to pair with the beef. Although it seems a bit odd to pair the very local Chinese beef cuisine with a western style wine, we found them matched perfectly. As we poured plates and plates of various cuts of beef to the pot, the owner of the restaurant served us some side delicacies: Shunde pan-fried carrot cakes (香煎萝卜糕), Shunde pan-fried taro cakes (香煎芋头糕), and fried beef tongues. The beef tongues were chewy with teriyaki flavor and disappeared very quickly from our table.

Shunde Pan-fried Carrot Cakes (香煎萝卜糕), Shunde Pan-fried Taro Cakes (香煎芋头糕)

Fried Beef Tongues

Guests kept coming and eventually filled up the first floor. Beside our table, a family of 12 gathered and ordered a huge plate of steamed beef, totaling 5 kilograms. Vapor overflowing, the steamer plate was taken off from the steaming pot and served directly into the center of their table, which was a visual feast for us. Zeng pointed to the transparent fridge behind the chopping station, where several whole pieces of fresh beef hang inside, and told me that the restaurant needed to maintain such guest streams every day. Otherwise they would risk wasting the beef and there would be no way they could keep the beef until the next day. This is because the beef they use are never frozen; They are cut at the butcher and served in the restaurant on the same day to ensure the utmost freshness. It felt amazing to have such loyal patrons paying visits to a humble restaurant in an obscure neighborhood on a Wednesday evening, which speaks loudly their unanimous approval of the culinary mastery and seriousness toward quality. According to Zeng, Shunde people are willing to drive for an hour to eat in such a restaurant in Shunde, where there are many.

Simple Setup for Pan-fried Beef Cubes in our Dining Table

The owners of the restaurant are a married couple, who cook in the restaurant every day. The husband was out at the time so the wife proceeded to our table and started cooking the next dish — pan fried beef cubes. The beef cubes were slightly marinated with soy sauce, but again, the setup was quite simple. And yes, they set up the gears right on our table. She drizzled vegetable oil over the heated pan and pushed half a plate of beef cubes into the pan. Crispy frying sound and the meat-infused fragrance instantly reached us. Minutes later, she delicately flipped each cube to cook the other side. Soon, the cubes were ready with some additional onion and green pepper slices. We couldn’t wait to finish them because they are best served hot. The flavor was much richer than the hotpot beef as the high heat from the pan induced Maillard reaction between the oil and the meat, yet the meat was juicy and so soft to chew. This was also the intended order of serving — we needed to move from light flavored dishes to heavy flavored ones for a complete joy of palate.

Double Side Frying of the Beef Cubes

Pan-fried Beef Cubes Finished

As the cooked cubes disappeared at an alarming speed, Zeng couldn’t wait to cook the rest of the beef cubes. Another characteristic of genuine Shunde restaurants is that guests join for cooking. As Zeng always mentions, every Shunde local is a cook. While he enjoyed the process of cooking the beef cubes, David showed us photos of his son cooking. His son slices salmon sashimi, cuts vegetables, and boils soups. I was amazed because I was not allowed to touch knives or cooking pots for alleged safety reasons when I was a kid. I was also amused that such young kids are already so serious about cooking, which makes no wonder why every Shunde local is a cook and why Shunde has the ceiling of Chinese cuisine.

As we were pretty much satisfied with the beef cuisine, our friends invited the woman chef and owner to our table for a drink. She happily came and shared several glasses of wine with us. We do not see such amiability from restaurant staff or owners everywhere. A bit later the husband arrived and had a drink with us and insisted he fry more beef for us. We couldn’t reject such hospitality and enjoyed watching his dexterity of pan frying the beef cubes. When he flipped the cubes, he skillfully used a pan cover to lift all the cubes altogether and flipped the pan to cover the lifted cubes, and turned both 180 degrees for the cubes to fall back into the pan on their other side. The beef cubes were equally delicious, but we ate in a much slower pace because we were close to our stomach capacity.

Owner Flipped the Beef Cubes in One Go

The owner sat down with us for more chats and drinks. He is the third generation in his family that operates the family business of the beef restaurant. He learned from his father when he was little by standing aside and watching his father disassemble whole cattle. He is essentially an experienced butcher that knows every inch of beef. Although he does not butcher livestock himself, he hits the local market early in the morning to purchase the freshest beef every day.

As it was almost time for the owners to leave for home, their daughter arrived to greet us. She was about just 5 years old and so shy seeing expat guests. We bid farewell to the owner family and stayed a bit longer to finish the food and drinks. The restaurant staff was nice enough to wait for us and our friends opened another bottle of white wine to drink with them. We all felt so well treated that we naturally wanted to return the hospitality. It was a fulfilling and warm dinner in this season and we already expected another visit to the restaurant.

On the way back, we contemplated the simple and happy life Shunde people lead like the owners of the restaurant do. The food is simple but delicious, and their life is simple but happy. The restaurant is like a little gem laying on the outskirts of the fancy downtown Guangzhou, whispering the secret of happiness to the city’s dwellers.