Zhejiang cuisine is derived from the native cooking styles of the Zhejiang region in China. It consists of Shaoxing, Ningbo and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, which is regarded as the ‘land of fish and rice’.
Zhejiang cuisine specialises in quick-frying, stir-frying, deep-frying, simmering and steaming, maintaining the natural flavour and taste. Special care is taken in the cooking process to make the dishes fresh, crispy, tender, soft and smooth with a mellow fragrance. Thanks to exquisite preparation, the dishes are not only delicious in taste and but also extremely elegant in appearance.
Hangzhou cuisine is characterised by its elaborate preparation and varying techniques of cooking, such as sautéing, stewing and stir- and deep-frying. Hangzhou food tastes fresh and crisp, varying with the change of season. Ningbo food is a bit salty but delicious. Specialising in steamed, roasted and braised seafood, Ningbo cuisine is particular in retaining the original freshness, tenderness and softness. Shaoxing cuisine offers fresh aquatic food and poultry that has a special rural flavour, is sweet in smell, is soft and is glutinous in taste, thick in gravy and strong in seasoning. Each of the three sub-cuisine traditions is noted for its special flavour and taste, but they are all characterised by the careful selection of ingredients, emphasising minute preparation and unique, fresh and tender tastes.
Zhejiang cuisine is best represented by Hangzhou dishes, including Hangzhou roast chicken (commonly known as Beggar’s chicken), Dongpo pork, West Lake fish in vinegar sauce, Songsao Shredded Fish soup, etc.
Legend has it that “Beggar's chicken” was invented by a Hangzhou thief. The story goes that, because the thief had no stove, he wrapped the stolen bird in clay and baked it in a hole in the ground. Another version explains that he was a hungry thief who found a way to cook his bird and keep it and its aroma a secret.
Main Dishes
Boiled West Lake Grass Carp with Sweet and Sour Sauce (Xihu Cuyu, 西湖醋鱼)
Selected grass carp is starved in the pool for two days to remove the mud odour and strengthen the meat. After being gutted, the carp is washed and then cut into two parts from head to tail. The two parts are carved with a special tool called a Dongpo knife and boiled in boiling water for three minutes. When a chop stick can easily pierce the lower jaw, they are taken out and placed back to back. The used soup and soy sauce, vinegar, Shaoxing wine and white sugar are boiled together until cooked and then mixed with starch to produce a thick sauce, which is poured onto the fish before being served.
This dish only uses boiling water and flavouring, rather than cooking oil which preserves the freshness and maintains the original taste. The boiled fish is cooked until the blood runs clear before the meat is served.
Braised Streaky Pork (it is said that one of the most well-known poets of Tang Dynasty, Su Dongpo, created this dish; Dongpo Rou, 东坡肉)
It is the most famous Hangzhou dish. First, streaky pork with pork skin is scraped and washed, chopped into dices of approximately 75 grams in weight and then scalded until cooked. Second, the cooked pork along with onion slices and shredded ginger are placed onto a bamboo steamer and covered with a mixture of white sugar, Shaoxing wine and soy sauce and then sealed and simmered for two hours until soft and crispy. Finally, after the pork fat is skimmed from the surface, the skin is laid inside the gallipot and sealed with the lid and steamed for 30 minutes until fully cooked. It is soft and slightly gelatinous and extremely delicious.
West Lake Water Shield Soup (Xihu Cuncai Tang, 西湖莼菜汤)
It is also called Water Shield Soup with Chicken and Ham (Jihuo Chuncai Tang, 鸡火莼菜汤). West Lake specialty water shield is quick-boiled with cooked diced chicken breasts, ham, broth, fine salt, monosodium glutamate and cooked chicken oil. It is rich in colour, tasty in soup with fresh, tender water shield making this a very appetising and flavoursome local dish.
Deep Fried Bean Curd Rolls Stuffed with Minced Tenderloin (Ganzha Xiangling, 干炸响铃)
Sixiang specialty bean curd sheets are cut into squares and wrapped with the stuffing made from pork tenderloin fillets, fine salt, monosodium glutamate, and Shaoxing wine. After being cut into 3.5 cm sections, the stuffed bean curd squares are deep-fried in medium hot cooking oil until crispy and then served on a tray with sliced onion, sweet sauce, salt and pepper. The dish is golden in colour and is extremely crispy when being chewed so people have named it with a descriptive ring-related Chinese name.
Braised Spring Bamboo Shoots (Youmen Chunsun, 油焖春笋)
Zhejiang is rich in bamboo shoots, which takes a predominant place in Zhejiang dishes. An old saying goes that bamboo shoots are an excellent source of food throughout the year.
This dish uses freshly picked tender bamboo shoots, which are cut open, flattened and then sliced into 5cm lengths. The sections are braised with pepper oil and mixed with soy sauce, white sugar, monosodium glutamate and fresh soup and boiled until cooked. Then, a low flame is applied to simmer the dish until the soup becomes thick. Finally, sesame oil is poured onto the dish.
Being a typical Zhejiang traditional dish, it is greasy, rich in sugar, bright red and slightly sweet.
Mud Baked Spring Chicken (Jiahua Tongji, 叫化童鸡)
According to the legend, in ancient times there was a beggar who stole a hen, wrapped it with mud and baked it over a burning wood fire due to lack of furnace. When cooked, the chicken was striped of the mud and tasted extremely delicious. Afterwards, such cooking technique was introduced into a restaurant and constantly improved as time passed by. Today, it has become a famous Hangzhou traditional dish.
To cook this dish, a fresh hen weighing about 1.5 kilograms is butchered and washed. Its intestines are removed and the leftover chicken is pickled with a sauce made up of sand ginger, star anise, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, white sugar, fine salt, monosodium glutamate, sliced onion and minced ginger and then coated with pork fat, lotus leaf, cellophane and tied with hemp. If possible, mud mixed with the cooking wine and fine salt could be coated on the outside. After the chicken has been baked for three to four hours in a furnace, the coated mud is peeled off and the chicken is served with pepper salt and spicy soy sauce.
Braised Peeled Prawns in Longjing Green Tea (Longjing Xiaren, 龙井虾仁)
The dish is cooked with fresh river prawns and West Lake Longjing tea picked just before the Chinese Traditional Tomb-sweeping Day. It is white and green, tender and delicious with a deep sense of local style.
The cooking processes are as follows. First, river prawns are washed, peeled and coated with egg white, fine salt and wet starch. Second, 10 grams of fresh Longjing tea and 50 millilitres of water are boiled for ten minutes. Third, coated peeled prawns are braised with cooking oil at a moderate temperature until cooked. Finally, the cooked prawns are stir-fried with tea leaves, tea and Shaoxing wine to finish the last step.
Steamed Spare Ribs Wrapped with Lotus Leaves (Heye Fenzheng Rou, 荷叶粉蒸肉)
Spare ribs with skin are sliced into the 6cm x 2cm rectangular blocks. Each block is chopped in the middle, mixed and preserved with sweet sauce, soy sauce, white sugar, Shaoxing wine, sliced onion and minced ginger and then coated with crushed rice flour. The slit in the middle is stuffed with rice flour, and then the blocks are wrapped with boiled lotus leaves and steamed for two hours in a steamer. The Finished dish is glutinous, aromatic, light, savoury and not greasy at all. It is truly an excellent drinking accompaniment.
Food Street
Hangzhou’s unique charm is due partly to its speciality food and drinks; these have been easily available in several food streets in the city for the past few years.
Gaoyin Food Street
For a truly authentic Hangzhou experience, this is the place to come. Instead of going to the better-known Qinghefang block, locals come here. More than 30 restaurants are located here, with each covering around 300 square metres.
For fish head tofu, fish balls in light soup or perhaps bacon, you should go to the famous Wangrunxing, which is popular to the point that there is a constant stream of people going in and out. If you see a place with a big wooden shovel outside, this is Ganguoju, which offers Miao-style food from Guizhou province. This is mainly cooked using a griddle, in remembrance of how King Miao would welcome important guests. For different types of snacks, a place to try is definitely Baijiaxian, which specialises in them.
Xinhua Road – Special Local Farm Food Street
This is a very early Hangzhou food street. It is mostly made up of food stalls and is open to everyone. It is its flavours and prices, rather than its appearance, which attract people and the queues begin forming in the evening. Over the past few years, the only food and drinks available here have been from local farms, although now you can also find sweet food, as well as Western and Sichuan styles.
Snacks
Drinks
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