Buffet Breakfast - Royal Garden Hotel - Dalang Town, Dongguan

We stayed the second night at the Royal Garden Hotel. I cannot believe the size and class of some of this Hotel. It is a five star hotel and cost about A$110 a night including buffet breakfast. I am officially impressed.

Waffle, sausage, hard boiled egg, baked beans, greens and bacon. This is what my friend had.

The buffet selection.

Waffle, baked beans, eggplant, potato, bacon and fried noodles. This is what I had.

There is also a noodle station where you can choose your own ingredients and the chef will prepare it for you. I think Chinese food is a bit on the bland side as I found with this soup.

Chunmanyuan Restaurant - Pavillion Tower - Shenzen

I spent my first night in China in the Pavillion Hotel Shenzhen. The next morning we wanted to try the dim sum in the Chinese restaurant downstairs. It was full and the wait was 45 minutes. The waitress told us there was another restaurant in the tower complex next door. There was where we ended up.

Shenzhen is in Southern China so one can find dim sum and cantonese food. Most people also spoke or understood Cantonese.

This Dim Sum meal costs us RMB240 which is A$40.

Most restaurants do not supply paper or cloth napkins. Instead they provide wipes. I find that taking photos of this or menu helps me remember the name of the restaurant.

Steamed greens.

Braised pork with lotus root.

Preserved bamboo shoots.

Pork and century egg porridge.

Barbeque pork rice rolls.

Prawn rice rolls.

Braised beef and melon.

Shrimp dumplings (har kow).

Steamed egg sponge cake.

Tripe.

Glutinious rice.

The glutinious rice had a bit of black glutinious rice mixed in. This is something new to me and I must say it was a nice touch. Loved it.

Xingli Chinese Restaurant - Ritz Carlton - Shenzhen China

Xingli Chinese Restaurant Website

This is a very special moment in my life. My first ever meal in China! Returning to our ancestral homeland should have been a very emotional moment for me but I think I was too caught up in the excitement to even think about that.

I have to thank my friend Ray Ngai for making this trip possible, for his time, for taking me around and for his kind hospitality.

Now back to the matter at hand. It took Ray's driver a while to locate this restaurant as this was a restaurant that Ray had not been to before. Eventually we found it. It turned out to be a late dinner and the restaurant was nearly empty.

This restaurant serves Cantonese, Teowchew and Szechuan dishes.The meal cost about 800 RMB which is about A$130.

The classy table setting.

This is a very spicy Szechuan chicken dish. I found that the chicken in china are quite small and they are not very meaty. That's the way they like them in China as they enjoy the skin and nibbling on the bones. 

The menu.

Instead of the usual peanuts, they have chicken gizzards.

Some tofu nibblies.

Chilli and garlic dipping sauce.

Hmm.. pigeon. They don't have much meat.

Claypot tofu.

 Teowchew steamed fish.

This is something new to me. Chillies are used as vegetable. This is chilli and pork. Initially, I thought the green stuff was green beans but it turned out to be green chillies.

Stirred fried greens.

So? What did I think? The food was good while not being great but it was a good introduction to food in China!

Yoshiya Japanese Restaurant - Perth

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In my opinion, Yoshiya is the best Japanese restaurant in Perth. We have been going to this restaurant for the past couple of years. Aside from trying a few new dishes, we always order the same dishes.

The prices can be a bit on the high side but you know what? The food is worth it.

I thoroughly recommend this restaurant for good japanese food.

The facade of Yoshiya.

We always start the meal with the mixed shashimi.

The california maki is the best in Perth. It comes with lots of roe.

This tempura sushi is also the best in Perth. Seriously I have not had better.

 Agedashi tofu.

Teriyaki chicken.

Grilled snapper. This is another of my favourite. I think if there is a signature dish in this restaurant, this would be it. The skin is well grilled (but not crispy) and quite salty. I think some people might not like the saltiness but I love having the salty skin with my steam rice. The flesh is always white, soft and moist.

The Mez Greek Restaurant - Northbridge

I have been hearing good things about this restaurant. You can either order a la carte or choose a all inclusive meal. You can have a choice of just meat or meat and seafood for the all inclusive. You are served starters, the main course and dessert. You can have as much as you can eat. If you finish what you are served, they will bring some more. It's $55 a head for the seafood meal.

 Starters. It's like antipasto.

I liked most of what's here.

 I think this is the first time I have had so much Greek food.

 Nice sausage. I had quite a bit of this.

Some sort or rice wrapped in olive leaves.

The grilled seafood.

 Let me guess... hmm Greek salad?

 There were a lot of tender grilled meats.

Grilled meats taken without flash. They still taste the same.

Berry Farm - Margaret River

The berry farm makes jams, preserves, sauces, wines and ports. It is a 20 minutes drive from Margaret River.

 Jams.

 Ports and wines.

 If you ever wondered what an avocado tree looks like..

We had morning tea with jam and scones in the restaurant.

The Margaret River Chocolate Factory

The Margaret River chocloate factory make all sorts of cakes, chocolates, sweets and ice cream. Now I know how Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory felt!

 Muffins.

 Cookies.

 Cakes.

 Free sample chocolate. There was milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate.

The varieties of chocolates.

They look so tempting.

Ice cream.