During a recent visit to Guilin, China, I was “WOWED” by Mother Earth more times than I can remember. It is a spectacular part of the world, and as is the case throughout China, the people were lovely too. During our stay, we decided to visit Yangshuo County for the sensational views, local culture, and of course, the Food! We stopped by the Yangshuo Secret Garden restaurant, which is located in the countryside village of Jiuxian. According to their website, “The village faces out across rice paddies to the delightful Yulong River Valley with a back-drop of dramatic karst mountains.” Wowee indeed!

We walked into the restaurant, and in some respects, felt as though we had traveled back in time. There were a ton of options, and I started with a fresh squeezed juice, and then chose the sauteed eggplant (with peppers, onions and snow peas), and the spicy curry stir fry, with cauliflower & green onion. The food was great.

Our waitress’s name was Liya, and she was kind, smart, and attentive. Liya likes her job, and may even love it, because the people she works with are like family, and she gets to meet foreigners as well. She is the mother of two, and her English was excellent, despite her thinking otherwise. Liya loves to learn, and she can’t wait to travel throughout China, and visit other countries too, including Thailand and Australia. Liya, and the staff were awesome, and we would come back just for her, independent of the great food, and stunning scenery.

The bottom line? Visit the Yangshuo Secret Garden for a terrific meal, and even better service! Thank you Liya, and the Secret Garden staff. We hope to see you again! 🙂