Shunde Chencun Deyunju Sliced Fish Hotpot 顺德陈村德云居 ☏ 0757-2639 1908

Our local Shunde guide brought us to 陈村德云居 Chencun Deyunju for their signature Sliced Fish in Hotpot 顺德无骨鱼 using 正宗水库大鱼 Big Head Carp fish.

Stepping inside, the first impression was 德云居 De Yun Ju was a huge, sprawling entertainment complex designed for tourists. De Yun Ju started with one building and kept on growing during the last twelve yearrs.

It appeared well ran, well kept, the facilities in good shape and working order.

De Yun Ju's space was so big that staff zoomed around on motorised mobility devices.

The protocol was to go the foyer with the live seafood display tanks. Here, staff will help you with recommendations, enquiries and orders.

The main event at De Yun Ju is their Big Head Carp fish which can be prepared in many different ways.

The smallest 大头鱼 Big Head Carp fish weigh 12 catties or 6kg. It will be done three ways 一鱼多食. It was a little too much for seven of us but we didn't really have a choice, if we want this fish. Need at least ten people to tackle this without stretching.

First fish course, thick slices cut from the fish. The slicing did not separate the red and white meat.

A young staff simply blanched the fish slices for a predetermined number of minutes in water and serve.

The blanched fish was soft tender, slightly sweet without any earthy taste. I enjoyed and ate lots of slices until my tummy couldn't take in any more 🤭

Second preparation, the bones deep fried with a bit of salt, aromatics and chili.

Turns out this was our favourite preparation. The outside was well browned, sealing in the tenderness, natural juices and sweet flavours which were complemented by the savoury brown outside and aromatics.

Final preparation was chopped fish head steamed with sauce, aromatics, and mushrooms.

I love the skin, fats, and gelatinous tissues around the face and head crevices. I ate as much as I could but could not finish everything.

烧鹅 RMB88 One portion of roast goose. We were determined to eat roast goose at every restaurant we went during this trip 😂

We love it. The crisp golden brown skin was saturated with juice, grease and savoury flavour. The meat was tender, sweetish and well infused with mild savoury spice flavour too.

蚝皇文笋 RMB48 For vegetables to complete the meal we chose young bamboo shoot as it was in season.

It was simply stir-fried in a savoury soy sauce. The bamboo shoots had a soft tender crunch and natural sweetness, but otherwise the dish was somewhat flat tasting, savoury salty.

青瓜花上汤 RMB48

Fleshy soft-tender buds in a savoury sweet superior stock. The roughage we need delivered in a delicious way.

煎肠粉 RMB28 I asked for this when I saw it in the menu, because besides roast goose, I want to try as much rice noodles as possible in Guangzhou and Shunde.

It's pan fried chee cheong fun or rice rolls. Thin, crisp, rice sweet, a bit of wok hei, and overlay of savoury sauce. We all love this.

Other people's food I shot while hovering around, outside the kitchen like a pesky food paparazzi.

Raw fish or Chinese style sashimi. (For this trip we had our raw fish at Bingsheng in Guangzhou.)

Dace fish done three ways - fish cake, stuffed in chili pepper, stuffed in own skin.

Not sure what this was. Looked like some sort of grilled pork leg. So much skin, collagen, fat, I want!

Crunchy fish skin is ubiquitous in Shunde cuisine.

I hope to try all these next time.

Admittedly, De Yun Ju felt a bit touristy to me initially, but the environment was nice and unique, food was fresh and tasty, service was earnest and friendly, and prices were within expectations. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves even though we over ordered 😂

Our total bill for this meal came to RMB749 (SG$138).

For our seven day foodie trip, our total shared food bill came to SGD200 per pax for the entire trip. There were six of us, and we also paid for our driver / guide's share as we invited him to join us during meals.