[Guangzhou 2016] Part Two: Underground Malls and What ... Inedible Sushi?!

Underground malls have been around ages in Asia. You see vloggers around the world go to them and cry at home when your nearest mall is a dated infrastructure raised from the ground. Guangzhou has managed to transform itself into a city of shopping attracting people from even the remote provinces of China.

People have the impression that if you walk into China, everything is automatically cheaper and even crass. Perhaps if you choose to purchase from an unknown booth in an alleyway, I can't deny that. Name brands recognized internationally are expensive and are even more highly priced than in your home country. Food is still considered cheaper no matter where you go, but you still have to pay a sum if you are demanding high quality. It's common sense. If you are looking for something reasonably priced and suitable for you, take the time to explore. That's the joy of traveling.

Pre 10am opening

There are so many underground malls in Guangzhou alone built for your shopping convenience. The proximity to public transit makes it very easy to find as the train stations usually connect directly to the underground mall. In this post, I will discuss the Jiangnan Sunday Mall (江南新地). In the photo I happen to appear there extremely early when none of the shops opened except for a Gong Cha. I got myself a pudding green milk tea for 15 RMB. That's right, these malls aren't open 24/7 like convenience stores. They typically have their opening and closing times at their entrance usually opening around 10 in the morning and closing 10 at night. If you are the type of person that enjoys night life, I'm not the right person to talk to though I do know there's a street somewhere littered with bars opened past 10pm.

To access the Jiangnan Sunday Mall, take Line 2 on the metro to the stop called Jiangnan West (江南西). It is essentially a long ass hallway with shops and attractions on both sides of the view. When you are at the end of the hallway and leave the station/mall, you will then see the Grandbuy Sunny Mall (广百新一城). At the top floor of Sunny Mall is a theater where you can watch movies, which i did , but that will be another post. The mall is very big and is divided into east and west sections. There are eateries located on the top floors too when you get tired from all the shopping. On the ground floor of Sunny Mall is Park 'N Shop (百佳) which is a supermarket I visit quite frequently for my needs.


Speaking of supermarkets, there is another one I visit called Carrefour (家乐福) located in the Wanguo Outlets (万国广场). Depending on which end of Jiangnan West that you exit out of, you can basically walk to Carrefour. Make sure you are walking along Jiangnan Middle Ave (江南中大道) and not Baogang Ave (宝岗大道). I'll even include a map here to differentiate.

Like the name suggests, Wangguo Outlets is an outlet for name brands. The ground floor has a bakery, a Haagen Daaz, Genki Sushi, Cafe Bene, and some clothing stores just to name a few. As you progress upward there are more clothing stores. At the very top floor are all the restaurants which I will discuss another time.

Typically, I plan my days so that I browse through one mall and eat someplace. On the same day of walking through Jiangnan Sunday, I ate at Wansui Sushi (万岁寿司) inside Wanguo Outlets with my grandparents. It was very amusing and a bit frustrating eating out with my grandparents. They're not the type to try new things and at the same time, they almost never eat out. I wanted to sit near the conveyor belt, but seeing that my grandparents would not be comfortable in raised lounge chairs, we ended up seated in booths. Oh well, that just means more place for my bags.

Little did I know that Wansui Sushi was a bad place to eat. The place was packed with people so I thought it must be really good. The staff were way too busy and it's so hard to flag down a waitress to take your order. Then once you order something, the kitchen took way too long to prepare it. I could have left the restaurant ages ago which was why I regret placing a second order of dishes. It took them half an hour to get me three plates of rolls. All I was thinking when I left was, I should have ate at Genki Sushi instead. Please Genki, instill me some faith in conveyor belt sushi.

At Wansui, you get genmai cha in a packet instead of the traditional green tea powder. Genmai cha wasn't so bad. I drank a lot of it. For starters, I ordered my favorite appetizers; miso soup and takoyaki. I ordered different noodles for my grandparents since they were not willing to try anything that didn't resemble Chinese cuisine. It was because of this experience and one more in the future that led me to eating alone for the rest of my month in Guangzhou. In terms of sushi, I had tamago, mentaiko, California roll, and unagi.

Miso soup and takoyaki was actually quite authentic. They didn't fuck it up like they did with mentaiko which tasted of an abomination. I really like mentaiko and had the pleasure of eating it several times in New York, but the so called pollock roe they served to me was something that tasted inedible. I don't know what they put in that pollock roe, but I can assure you it wasn't sake and soy sauce. All nigiri sushi was made using poor rice. It falls apart when I try to pick it up with my chopsticks. The sad thing was that they didn't use their hands to form the shape. It was clear that they used a rectangular mold to compress the cooked rice. Points off for poor craftsmanship. The California roll they made contained raw salmon which was strange because I thought California rolls is one of the cooked sushi. Maybe there's a raw salmon version I didn't know of? As for the unagi ... it was disappointing. This wasn't fresh eel. This was something they ordered probably from Japan already cooked, marinated, and sealed in a package. It even had a hint of fishiness. No good especially since I love eel.

I walked away feeling full from lunch, but also upset that I couldn't spend my money in a better place. However I reminded myself that there are always good and bad things and it would also be the same in my culinary escapades.

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To recap from now on, I will include names of places, the transit related info like station names, and related items like prices discussed in the post. Stars will be used to rate foods and currency conversion is using the 1 USD = 6.72 RMB estimate.

Places Visited

Jiangnan Sunday 江南新地: Use Exit A to access the entrance. There's a total of 16 exits within the underground mall itself.
46 Jiangnan W Rd, Haizhu Qu, Guangzhou Shi, Guangdong Sheng, China, 510240
46号 江南西路，海珠区，广州市，广东省，中国，510240

Grandbuy Sunny Mall 广百新一城
498 Baogang Ave, Haizhu Qu, Guangzhou Shi, Guangdong Sheng, China, 510240
498号, 宝岗大道，海珠区，广州市，广东省，中国，510240

Wangguo Outlets 万国广场
40 Qianjin Rd, Haizhu Qu, Guangzhou Shi, Guangdong Sheng, China, 510100
40号, 前进路 ，海珠区，广州市，广东省，中国，510100

All of these are accessible through Line 2 at Jiangnan West 江南西.

Food

Pudding Green Milk Tea 15 RMB (2.23 USD)
 ★★★★★
Fun to drink.

Wansui Sushi 171 RMB (25.45 RMB)
★☆☆☆☆
Wait time was too long. Food was dissatisfying to taste and not authentic.