During my 30 day stay, my greatest find was perhaps this underground mall called Fashion Tianhe Plaza (时尚天河商业广场). I had no intentions looking for another mall to browse through, but hey, you're right there in front of me outside the train station. I believe there are a number of ways to enter the underground plaza as it is very big. Upon first visiting, it is very easy to get lost and I wasn't able to find the same vending machine I used last time.
As it is very often hot in Guangzhou, going underground is the best way to cool off and have fun. Many shopkeepers have taken advantage of this and expanded their businesses underground as opposed to above ground. Even to a local, underground malls are almost never boring as they strive to provide you the most sensory experience for sights and tastes.
As of now, Fashion Tianhe Plaza has made it on the top of the list for food, fashion, and fun. I used the D3 Exit on Line 1 on the GZ Metro in hopes of searching for the Grandview Mall. Despite following signage, I found myself unsure of where Grandview was as some signage led to closed gates and others led to other places. Instead I saw the sign for Fashion Tianhe Plaza and thought to myself. "What the hell. Let's take a gamble." As you enter, there's more precise signs separating the food court from the actual plaza itself. You will not get lost in the food court, but you will get lost in the plaza.
I came here twice during my stay. If I could, I would have come here more often to try out all their foods. Since I live very far from the plaza, I usually try to make the best of my time. They have a dessert and drinks cafe, Japanese styled restaurants, Korean fusion restaurants, Chinese specialty restaurants, and I think some other smaller cafes. The plaza itself feels very new and I think they haven't finished renting out all the available spots.
For the first time, I was here with my grandparents so I picked a Chinese styled eatery. This one was called Xin Lu Zhou (新绿洲) which roughly translates to "New Green Continent". Depending on the tea you want, it costs differently per person. We had the chrysanthemum tea which was 5 RMB (0.75 USD) person. The cheaper teas are 3 RMB (0.45 USD). They extended their summer deals and held price reductions on special dishes. However I didn't read the fine print where it said it is limited to only one dish for your table. No biggie. We ordered a Chinese styled cucumber salad (8 RMB/1.19 USD), stir fried potatoes (18 RMB/2.69 USD), stir fried udon with vegetables (28 RMB/4.18 USD), teppanyaki tofu (38 RMB/5.67 USD), and a stir fried lotus root with wood ear (29 RMB/4.33). The prices are cheap even for RMB!
The place is rather small, but it's really clean and cozy. Service was pretty good except there was some miscommunication between the kitchen and the servers. The cucumber salad took ages to make and came last. I kind of regret ordering it because I didn't expect them to use so much red chili peppers. Chinese styled cucumber salads are made with cilantro, dried chilis, vinegar, salt, and chili oil. If I didn't bite my tongue earlier, it would have been less painful to eat. If you love spicy, this is the perfect appetizer for you.
Stir fried potatoes are my favorite dish to eat at home as well as many Chinese families. It's a comfort food for some of us. On the menu it says you have the choice of spicy, original or vinegar. I had the vinegar one which I absolutely love.
My grandparents wanted to try the stir fried udon. That one ended up my least favorite dish as it was very strong in flavor. They put a lot of black pepper into it. Ingredients consisted of pork strips, cabbage, carrot, and black bean sauce. It didn't taste bad, but I had to drink a hell lot of water.
The stir fried lotus root came a bit disappointing to me. It was more on the greasy side and the portion was smaller than I had expected. The dish traditionally prepared in Cantonese restaurants have nearly equal portions of wood ear, lotus root slices, and snow peas present, but it wasn't the case for us. We had only three snow peas in the entire dish. A bit stingy don't you think? Other than that, the rest of the ingredients were very fresh and could easily go down with a bowl of rice.
Our teppanyaki tofu arrived last. The sizzling iron plate was adorned with lettuce and large tofu pieces in a bed of sauce. Each silken tofu was stuffed with pork and preserved fish and topped with fresh scallion. It's probably one of my favorite things to eat of all time. Though the tofu had a hint of bitterness in it which I noticed in all the tofus in the city I had eaten.
After eating I explored the plaza. As I walk further and further, I begin to wonder why the architects of the place didn't build a giant map and install information booths operating 24/7. To be fair, there was a map somewhere that contained hundreds of shop names in 6 point size text that would drive my eyes into further blindness. I guess walk and learn is probably the best way to go about.
There are lots of opportunities to shop. Most of the shops are gears towards fashion for youths so you'll have plenty of clothing shops to browse through. There are a shops that sell toys and stationary. If for some reason you don't want to buy a toy, you can perhaps win one at the claw machines located near every corner of this place. It's hard not to miss the toy machines. I've seen a few jewellery stands, but perhaps standing at number 2 for most appearances in the plaza were beauty salons and manicure places. I even came across a petshop with a few kittens sleeping by the windows.
But here's where the crazy part begins. The plaza is a concepted mall as some may describe. Depending on which area you walk through, they follow a certain theme. Towards the entrance and exit to the metro, you will get neon lights and chic black floors. At another area, they build gigantic keyboard keys as seating area. I keep walking and see some people sitting by a table. When I cam closer, I saw that there were birds in cages that you can look at up close. If you ever want to see birds, you can certainly view them in this strange underground wonderland.
The most bizarre area I walked in was Old Shanghai. To imitate 1920s-1930 Shanghai, they had the floors resemble stones and install metal lamp posts. Each shop's signage bearing their name was framed inside metal like the lamp post and had memorabilia from that era such as an old barrel, a rickshaw, or fake bridge leading to a pavilion where visitors can rest. All of a sudden I hear a ringing bell and a light flashing behind me.
Holy crap, there's a train coming for me. So apparently there's an indoor trolley you can board that will take you around the mall. I never got to find out where I could buy a ticket for it. However you can follow the train tracks on the ground. I'll find out eventually, but my feet were so tired from walking around in circles.
During my second and what eventually became my last visit, I was out when the typhoon hit the city. They were issuing warnings all over the news and here I was eating like it was any day. If it wasn't threatening to shut down the metro, I could have stayed out longer which I should have because the typhoon never came except stir up some crazy wind. I didn't even need to walk. I just let it push me in the right direction.
So, I went back to the food court and tried Teng, a Japanese styled place. What they should have called it was Chinese styled Japanese food. On the day of the "typhoon", I am the only customer there. I ordered a seafood udon (35 RMB/5.22 USD). It comes with a complimentary seaweed salad. The udon comes in a white broth. For some reason it didn't have a hint of meat flavor which led me to believe that it may have been soy milk. The toppings are shrimp, baby octopus, clams, sliced naruto, cabbage, wakame, and corn. They tried so hard to make it a themed restaurant with sliding doors and waiting staff dressed like ninjas with black cloth over their faces. Just stick with a plain uniform guys. I guess one thing worth mentioning was that they clean all your eating ware with hot tea right in front of you and pour hot tea for you.
After I left the place, I pursued the Grandview Mall again. This time I followed the arrows on the floor pointing guests to the aquarium located inside the mall. If I find the aquarium, I'll find the mall itself right? It's not so hard as it appears after all. Ignore the signs above your head and pay attention to the arrows on the ground instead. I took a peek at the aquarium entrance to get some information. It felt really gimmicky and building an aquarium in a mall seemed sketchy to me as they cost a lot of money to maintain. It was only when I came back from vacation that I looked into it online to find that animal welfare groups are petitioning to have the aquarium shut down for bad practice. After seeing a few photos, it really did confirm my suspicions and I'm glad I didn't go in after all. Please don't support these kind of places. If you truly love animals, observe them in a sanctuary or go on a guided tour in the wild.
The rest of the Grandview Mall is fucking huge. There's a movie theater near the top floor as well as a huge arcade. Since it was typhoon day, I walked through the empty arcade by myself. I don't know how many escalators I was going on just to reach the top floor for the hell of it.
Words from the wise. Bring a good pair of shoes that are okay to walk in for several hours and are okay in the rain. As much as I hate the humidity from rain and heavy downpour, rainy days in Guangzhou make it the best times to go out. The temperatures are much cooler and typhoon warnings mean no crowds. You practically have the entire city to yourself.
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Places Visited
Fashion Tianhe Plaza 时尚天河商业广场
299 Tianhe Rd, TianHeBei, Tianhe Qu, Guangzhou Shi, Guangdong Sheng, China, 510620
299号，天河路，天河北，天河区，广州市，广东省，中国，510620
Take Line 1 to Tiyu Zhongxin 体育中心 and use Exit D3天河路.
Grandview Mall 正佳广场
228 Tianhe Rd, TianHeBei, Tianhe Qu, Guangzhou Shi, Guangdong Sheng, China, 510620
228号，天河路，天河北，天河区，广州市，广东省，中国，510620
Take Line 1 to Tiyu Zhongxin 体育中心 and use Exit D3天河路.
Foods
Xin Lu Zhou 新绿洲
★★★★☆
Very good food at cheap prices. Lots of variety and comfortable seating.
Cucumber salad
★★★☆☆
Good if you like spice.
Stir fried potatoes
★★★★★
My favorite out of all.
Stir fried lotus root with wood ear
★★★★☆
If it hadn't been missing snow peas and greasy, I would have given it a full rating.
Teppanyaki tofu
★★★★☆
Very satisfying except for the slight bitterness in the tofu itself.
Stir fried udon with vegetables
★★☆☆☆
I would avoid this one at all costs.
Teng 藤の屋日式料理
★★★☆☆
Don't expect very authentic cuisine. Service was prompt.
Seafood udon
★★★☆☆
Nothing out of the blue.
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