A Food Tour of Hangzhou: 14 Famous Local Specialty Dishes

Hangzhou Cuisine, Ningbo Guisine and Shaoxing Cuisine combined complete Zhejiang Cuisine, one of the top eight cuisines in China.  

East China’s Hangzhou City is famous for West Lake, Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the enticing tea culture, as well as the local foods that make the most of abundant, superb ingredients. Hangzhou foods are known for its freshness, tenderness, smoothness and mellow fragrance, thus always connected with health benefits and favored by all. A trip to Hangzhou isn’t complete without tasting the city’s top 12 specialty dishes.   

West Lake fish in vinegar gravy (西湖醋鱼)

A popular traditional Chinese dish in Hangzhou, there are many stories and legends about it. This dish uses middle-sized grass carp, which is steamed with fresh water first, and then blanked with thick, sweet vinegar sauce. Lou Wai Lou at 30 Gushan Road, Xihu District serves authentic West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy – the restaurant’s signature dish.

 

Dongpo pork (东坡肉)

Named after Su Dongpo, a famous poet, calligrapher and painter nearly 1000 years ago during North Song Dynasty, Dongpo pork uses layers of lean and fat meat, which is pan-fried and then stewed with wine.

Jin pai kou rou / Dongpo pork pyramid (金牌扣肉)

An upgraded Dongpo pork, the pork pyramid is sliced into more than 20 layers, and stuffed with chestnuts and smoked bamboo shoots.

Longjing tea-fried river prawns (龙井茶炒河虾)

As the name suggests, this Hangzhou dish uses the river spawns in West Lake and the best green tea leaves produced in Longjing Tea Plantation Village.  

Beggar’s chicken (叫花鸡)

It was created by a beggar who baked the chicken on fire wrapped with mud. Nowadays, the dish has been renovated – the chicken itself is stuffed with pork and mushroom, and wrapped with lotus leaves.

Deep-fried bean curd roll (炸豆腐卷)

A favorite toufu snack in Hangzhou, it is of golden brown color, crispy and tastes very good. 

West Lake vegetable soup with fish ball (西湖蔬菜鱼丸汤)

Mi zhi huo fang / Honey Ham (蜜汁火腿)

Made from Jinhua ham, mixed with pine nuts, lotus seed, and blanketed with honey, the dish satisfies both sweet and savory cravings.

Stewed Fish Head with Tofu in Pottery Pot (陶锅豆腐炖鱼头)

This nutrient-rich fish dish is good for health and a good choice in winter. >>Discover China's Most Popular Winter Food

Orange stuffed with crab meat (蟹肉馅儿的橘子)

A royal dish from South Song Dynasty, it is made from fresh orange, stuffed with chicken soup and crab meat – good in taste and beautiful in shape.

Codfish Ball (鳕鱼球)

A popular food for kids and parents alike. >> discover Most Popular Kid-friendly Chinese Foods

Zong xiang huaxi bie / river turtle meat zongzi (粽香花溪鳖)

The boneless snapper is wrapped in fresh rice dumpling leaves and wrapped in a skirt, with a small amount of glutinous rice in the ratio of 7:3. The boning process is time-consuming and time-consuming, and is made by slow simmering.

Steamed pork with rice flour wrapped with Lotus Leaf (荷叶粉蒸肉)

The recipe is similar to that of regular steamed pork, except that fresh lotus leaves, which are famous in Ningbo, are used. The steamed pork is wrapped up and steamed in a steamer, so that the steamed pork not only has the glutinous aroma of steamed pork, but also the fragrance of lotus leaves.

Lotus root filled with sticky rice (糯米藕)

A unique Chinese dessert in the traditional cuisine of the Jiangnan region, it enjoys a reputation for its sweetness and glutinousness, and its rich osmanthus aroma. Raw glutinous rice is dunked in lotus root and served with osmanthus sauce. The lotus root in osmanthus honey sauce is known as one of the four most humane street food in Nanjing, along with osmanthus sweet taro seedling, plum blossom cake, and small round dumplings stuffed with red bean wine.