Boss' Supper Place

We were looking for a place for late supper after concert in Guangzhou and I remembered a place called "Tao Gie Mie Zhou" 頭家夜粥 (pronunciation in Chiuchow dialect) that a few friends were raving about recently, so we decided to pay an impromptu visit. 

They were surprised we walked in without a booking and we were just as surprised to see the place was jam-packed with customers even at 11pm (the website said the place closes at 1am but I guess that's just there "for reference only") Luckily they managed to pull us a table for two after asking us to wait for 30 minutes 

We had our dinner earlier elsewhere but that didn't stop us from ordering half a dozen dishes for our nightcap. With the name of the restaurant meant "Boss' Supper Place" in Cantonese and the owner and chef coming from Chiuchow, the place opens only in the evening til late and specializes Chiuchow-style supper dishes. The menu was simple and divided into four sections plus the blackboard special posted on the wall. There’s the cold dish with various items marinated in “lo sui”, the chiuchow-style marinate with wine and soy sauce, then there’s the list of raw pickled seafood done in traditional style. Rice porridge is the popular Chiuchow supper dish and here they are prepared with aged pickled radish with a choice of added ingredients, from pork tenderloin to squid, to abalone, shrimps or even the whole fish or lobster or crab. There were some cooked seafood dishes available too, depending on what’s available at the market on the day. 

Those Lo Sui dishes were awesome – the goose intestine came in generous portion and lined with fat, with the marinate well infused. The pork knuckles has a nice bouncy texture and served in chunks. We tried a couple “blackboard special” – the pan-fried Spanish mackerel was just like that, carved into pieces and pan-seared with a little oil, and I love the slightly crispy skin. The local squids were in season during summer and slightly bouncy with nice flavor – it’s done with bell peppers, toasted cashew and onions, similar to how we did “Stir-fry King” dish in Hong Kong. 

And the Porridge – it’s simply out of this world. It’s served in a deep casserole pot which can easily serves 4-6. They recommended us to just order a couple additional items as accompaniment. The pork tenderloin slices were taken from the back of the pig near the tendon so there’s a good bite with some bouncy texture – thought that’s perfectly matched with the flavor of the porridge, also prepared with rich pork-based broth. Then the shrimps added to a nice hint of umami flavor, going well with the 30-year-old-aged pickled radish for the rich taste and crunchy texture. No way we could finish that by ourselves, but we ended up taking that back all the way to Hong Kong the next day (and still just as good). 

Not our own discovery but we were glad that we managed to try. Afterwards I shared this story to a friend who’s a regular to the restaurant, and she said it’s a miracle that they managed to get us a table without a booking. Lucky us, and we know who we should go with when we wanted a return visit.  

When? August 5 2023

Where? Tao Gie Mie Zhou, Building 9, Liede Xipu Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou
頭家夜粥 廣州市天河區獵德西浦大街獵人坊9棟