Guyi Hunan Restaurant

My first dinner in Shanghai was with a group of friends. We went to a very popular Hunan style restaurant. Since the place is so popular, we had to take a number and wait several minutes. But all the waiting was worth it.

I did not do the ordering, I let a local do that. I just took the photos and ate. I can only vaguely explain to you the dishes and will not be able to explain the sauces that the food was cooked in. We had a table of 8 people and I did not want to disturb the conversation by always asking the person who ordered the food, "how exactly is this dish cooked?" Just believe me, the food was excellent and I highly recommend this restaurant.

The first dish to come out was thinly sliced pork in a rich sauce.


The second dish was thinly sliced jelly fish with a sauce. Not many people like this dish because it has no taste. But I like the texture of jelly fish and it also depends on the sauce that makes this dish good.

The next dish was thousand year old eggs in a sauce. Another dish that some people might not understand and not like. These are eggs are buried in clay for several months. It loses it colour and the egg white turns black and egg yolk turns an ashy grey. A very nice dish as a starter.

The next dish was thinly sliced deep fried tofu with green and red peppers. I never had this dish before (a different interpretation of it), and I really liked this dish. The tofu was very thin and not too chewy. The sauce was spicy.


The next dish was a string bean dish cooked in a thick sauce that was slightly spicy.

The next dish was hot pot bone in spareribs. I swear that is the name of the dish. It was really good but I honestly cannot tell you exactly all the ingredients in it. However, it was also a very nice looking dish.


The next dish was a steamed fish. Cooked perfectly as the chinese can always do.

The next dish was another tofu dish. This time they were cut into cubes and sauteed in a thick and spicy sauce. Another of my favourites.


The next dish was a specialty of the restaurant; frog legs. Very nice presentation, the frog legs came in a hollow bamboo with a soup like sauce. Very spicy and very yummy.










The next dish was a typical dish in northern china, steamed and fried bread with sweet sauce (like condensed milk) to dip into. This is almost like a dessert if you dip the bread into the sweet sauce. However, I instead dipped the bread into the thick sauces of the main dishes. This made the bread even better.

The last dish was dessert and it was caramalised banana. You had to dip the fried caramalised banana into cold water, and the caramel hardened. This was a very nice ending to a wonderful meal.