Guangzhou Eats: Halal Food in Canton Fair 2014

If you happen to be a Moslem and will go to Canton Fair in Guangzhou, China, I will tell you one of the “safe food” I found in Canton Fair’s food court last year.

Canton Fair is where the businessman and traders from all over the world gathered and I met A LOT of Middle Eastern businessman there. So you don’t have to worry about being in a Moslem in China and couldn’t find any food that doesn’t contain pork meat.

How do I know that they’re Moslems? 

Well, first is their face, if they happen to be a Middle Eastern blooded guy (d’uh). But, surprisingly there’s another way on how I found it out. My middle name is Athina, taken from Arabic language; it’s common in Indonesia to name your kid with Arabic words even though you have absolutely no Arabian blood running in your family. So every time I handed my name card to them, they would go all “Aah, you’re a Moslem!” or “Assalamualaikum!”, something like that.

Now I know why it feels so good to find other “Moslem Brother” in a nowhere land where they eat pork and everything. It warms your heart.

So yes, like other Moslem who has a tough time finding halal food, I too had a hard time finding what to have for lunch. But, fear not, Moslem Brothers and Sisters! I present to you: Guangzhou Salam Catering Development Co.,Ltd  (totally exaggerating it, hahaha. It’s actually only one of the kiosks in the huge food court).

Let's zoom in...

See that "Halal" sign among the menus

Basically they have chickens and beefs on their menu, served with rice and potatoes and vegetables. The price is reasonable I guess, it was about 25-35 yuan (USD 5.00 – 6.00). I bought the chicken dish. The portion was ridiculously large; I couldn't finish it although I was pretty hungry at that time. It tastes pretty delicious and you won’t tell the strange smell they usually have on foods in Chinese dish (Indonesian will know).

Yummy!

You can eat this food on the “Halal Food Table” in the food court. It’s nice that Canton Fair set these separate aisles for them who eat Halal Food. You can eat your meal without being afraid you’ll get your plate splattered by pork oil from other people’s plate (?). Too bad I didn't take a picture of the “Halal Food Table” sign, but they have it in every food court, so don’t worry.

Anyway, there are always other options to find something to eat. It’s to bring your colleague who speaks Chinese to make sure you order the no-pork-dish. But, since they cook and serve it in the same equipment with the pork dish, well, you could tell a little bit of porky taste. If you’re too paranoia about this, you can choose one of these halal food in the food court. I’m sure they have lots in every food court in Canton Fair. Yay!

Jakarta Travels: Taman Bunga Nusantara - National Flower Park (?)

Last week I went to a place called Taman Bunga Nusantara, roughly translated to “National Flower Park” (?), not really sure though. It’s basically a compilation of themed flower garden in a big flower park. Gardens in a park. Erm..

It’s located a little far outside Jakarta. It’s in Puncak, Bogor. I suggest you bring your own vehicle, because the road is unbelievably challenging.

First you will face the famous puncak road (Puncak means summit).On holidays, this road has a one-way-open-and-close system. 2 hours only for one way up, and 2 hours only for one way down. We arrived at the highway when the road is open for “down way” and we have to wait for about an hour before the road opened for “up way”. Kudos to my friend who drove the car!

On the way, we got hungry and decided to eat at a restaurant called “Cimory Resto”. Cimory is a famous yogurt brand in Indonesia. They open up a restaurant with various food, drinks and dessert menu. It was very spacious and relaxing, especially for an office worker like me who just dying for fresh air and green scenery.

The view from our table

We continued the trip and it took about another 2 hours after Cimory restaurant. I think it’s not that far, but the road was narrow and rocky so we couldn’t drive with high speed. When we finally arrive, the sun felt so hot but the air was chilly. We paid Rp. 30,000 for entrance ticket (about USD 3.00).

It's a VERY, VERY spacious park. So happy seeing various and colorful pretty flowers that look like a big carpet. 

I can say that I’m not a huge fan of flowers, but apparently they ARE pretty.

They even have Japanese Garden and they call it 日本苑 (にほんえん - nihon'en), with all the ponds and fishes and bridges. How nice.

We spent about 4 hours in the park and DID NOT make it through all of the themed gardens. It was sooo huge. Well to be fair we did many stops and these stops took much time because we would take a lot of pictures. Like, A LOT. Oh yes, we are the selfie-nuts.

If you want to visit this place, make sure to wear your most comfortable shoes. Because you’ll walk a lot and the shuttle car only goes in the main road of the garden. No need to bring a lot of water because you can find cafes inside. All in all, the hours of trip was paid off.