Guangzhou Caidian Restaurant: My RANT! Seriously, AVOID THIS MAJOR PITFALL!!!
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Caidian actually offers decent value for money, and the prices aren't a rip-off. However, their biggest issue is how slow the service is!! The food often arrives lukewarm, which totally ruins the taste. So, among all the tea houses offering around a 50% discount, I'd rank this one last.
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It's not even the slow service that bothered me; I actually thought the food came out at an okay pace, at least within my expected timeframe. What really got to me was how they just left us hanging after we were seated, and then on top of that, they made so many mistakes with our order, which wasted a ton of our time.
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Overall, if you have plenty of time, it might be worth a try. When I was in a cab, I asked the driver (a local), and he mentioned that for authentic Guangzhou yum cha, you don't necessarily have to go to Caidian; places like Taotaoju (and another one whose name I forgot) are also good. I only went to Caidian because I saw it hyped up so much on Xiaohongshu and just had to check it out.
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It's a classic case of 'you get what you pay for.' If you want good service, go to Taotaoju; if something like this happened there, you could definitely complain. But Caidian caters more to the local neighborhood crowd. As a local myself, I'd say if you go to places like this, you just have to be extra vigilant, allow plenty of time, and don't expect anything beyond cheap prices. Those online recommendations for Caidian are often wildly exaggerated for clicks – the restaurant might not even be paying for that marketing. It's best to take those posts with a big grain of salt.
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Okay, a quick word on the food itself (no hard feelings here!). The beef brisket in the rice noodle rolls was tender, but some pieces had such a strong, unpleasant gamy taste it almost made me sick. The noodle rolls themselves were bland (I don't think they were tossed in any sauce), though they were steamed soft and you could taste the rice flour. The soy sauce chicken feet were meaty and firm, and the soy sauce was quite flavorful, probably specially seasoned. However, the toenails on the chicken feet were black, which was pretty off-putting to look at. Luckily, I don't eat the toenails anyway!
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The crispy taro paste bun was really good. The crust was perfectly crispy, and since it was freshly baked, it had this wonderful, fragrant milky aroma. I thought the taro paste itself tasted quite fresh too.
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Hey dear, next time you should try Hengbao! I spent a day in Guangzhou before heading to school and made a special trip there. It was about 30 RMB per person for my sister and me, and we were stuffed. The food was pretty good, and the staff were super friendly and quick – clearing tables, handing out menus, taking orders efficiently. Their siu mai and chicken feet are delicious, and the Tzai Zuk (boat congee) is good too. The only miss was the red rice noodle roll; it was cold when it arrived, so maybe skip that one. We didn't get to the shrimp dumplings because we were too full. We ate about five or six dishes between the two of us and were completely satisfied.
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I'll check it out if I get the chance.
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I went there today too. It was alright – good for a bite or two, but it gets a bit rich if you have too much. It's probably best to go with a group of four, so everyone can just have one of each item.
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The annoying thing about the takeout was they only gave me gloves—no spoon or chopsticks! I wonder if trying to eat congee with my hands will make me look like a complete barbarian.