Shenzhen Eats: Heritage Flavours, Future City

 

Our first foray into China was a dream come true 🇨🇳💗... finally I made it to my motherland mid-life and being able to bring my sons was beyond surreal and unforgettable! In Shenzhen, a city that moves at lightning speed, food becomes a place to pause. Centuries-old techniques unfold against a skyline pulsing with innovation, and every meal feels like a dialogue between past and future. On every level, Shenzhen delivered 👊💥.

From the theatrical precision of Peking duck, the experience begins in the details. Carved tableside, it's texture, technique, and timing coming together in a single, fascinating moment.

Enjoying with my favourite Chinese green tea 🍵

That first crackle of shattering duck skin wrapped in a soft pancake… pure texture, pure joy. Crisp, succulent, and layered with just the right balance of condiments- sweet, savoury, and fruity (melon strips). The reason my cousin living in HK, takes the metro over with friends, just for. Feeling privileged I got to experience it with her and my boys 🥰.

And dim sum, with over an hour queue proves why they are a local favourite. Gorgeous traditional ambience, affable warm service with table-side tea pouring and steaming bamboo baskets reveal treasure after treasure. Succulent, delicious and truly memorable 🤤!  

Each bite is restrained, intentional, and deeply rooted in craft.

And just when you think you’ve experienced the full spectrum, Shenzhen shifts gears. One of our most memorable meals in Asia was an all-you-can-eat live seafood buffet popular in Futian, where abundance meets interactivity 😍. Think rows of tanks and trays filled with clams, snails, crawfish, crabs, oysters, shrimp 🐚🐌🦞🦀 and even prized abalone, ready to be DIY scooped and steamed table-side. 

At around $50 CAD per person (no tax, no tips), it feels almost unreal for the quality and variety, a true celebration of freshness and value, and undeniably, delicious in the most satisfying way.

So many variety of clams and snails.

Stir-fry and sushi stations hum alongside open grills, while two full fridges offer an endless rotation of cold teas, sodas, and fruit drinks.

 

Choose between boiling or steaming tableside.

And then, as if the city insists on one more moment of awe, the night closes with the Shenzhen Light Show at Civic Centre in Futian CBD. Over 1.18 million LED lights ripple across 43 skyscrapers in a synchronized, music-driven display that lasts just 15 minutes, yet lingers far longer. A perfect reflection of Shenzhen itself: vibrant, precise, and impossible to forget 谢谢深圳 😘 Just incred!!!

Maybe my most noteable experience this trip... and by fluke! An early morning solo stroll to find a replacement luggage for the one we carried over- literally, with a broken handle for a timely media-crowd performance in front of a robotics shop 🤖.

I mean, this is Shenzhen. Not long ago, farmland.

Now? Robots that dance like humans.

A city that transformed in just a few decades from rural beginnings into China’s tech powerhouse.

The future isn’t coming… it’s already here.

Click to watch this robot dance

So fluid, human-like, so unrobot like what we're use to- think Robocop. Also, pet robot dogs are a thing. I encountered one on a HK bus, the "dog" was placed in a corner and when the owner was ready to get off he scooped it under his arm and activated it when placed on the sidewalk. World, are we ready!!?