What's Guai Ling Go? Directly translated the three Cantonese words can be taken to mean Tortoise Jelly in English and it is called so because of the special ingredient used to prepare the jelly and give it its distinctive dark colour and bitter taste. Yup! You guessed it right. It's ground tortoise shells (which goes a long way to explain why it's usually so expensive).
Guai Ling Go at Koong Woh Tong (RM6.00 for a small bowl).
Herbal Jelly tastes bitter so it's usually served with some syrup in a teapot. Just pour it in and mix with the jelly. The Chinese believe Herbal Jelly helps cool your body so if you're feeling hot or have the flu this may be good for you.
*** Hehe... Guai Ling Go does not actually contain any tortoise. It is in fact made purely out of herbs. How do I know? I asked a few herbal tea shops and they all told me the same thing. I hope you didn't believe what I wrote above about the ground tortoise shells :D
a golden opinion from
boo_licious
It's nice to stop and taste the herbal jelly from this place esp after you're tired from shopping. I like it cold but some people prefer it warm.
a golden opinion from
KY
Nay, they put the tortise in the oven and bake it alive. When it's all baked and crispy, a hammer is used to smash the ex-tortise into pieces. Everything is then fed to a grinder to make the powder for gwai leng gou.
Have a nice day, I'll be here all week. :D
a golden opinion from
wyejon
boo_licious: You know what? I've been eating there for so many years and they've never asked me if I wanted my herbal jelly cold or warm! I've always had it cold... never really thought it would be served warm as well :)
ky: lol
a golden opinion from
J
... no tortoise shell in it?
Now I'm confused...
When I went to China for holiday, I was told that there is.
(and that's why I stopped eating Guai Ling Go)
a golden opinion from
Jackson
huh? Warm Guai Ling Gou? Normally they served me cold.... i love to put lots of honey on it, yummy!
a golden opinion from
wyejon
J: I asked a few friends and they pretty much said the same thing as me... there is NO tortoise in Gwai Ling Go!!! If there was I would probably stop eating it as well.
Jackson: Yeah lor... never knew they had a warm version.