Here are four must-try dishes during your visit to Banyan Tree Hangzhou.
Background
West Lake Vinegar Fish (Xi Hu Cu Yu)
The sweet and sour sauce used to flavour it is a thick, black paste of vinegar and sugar. The fish is fresh from the river and is very tender.
Beggar’s Chicken
The chicken is soaked in Shaoxing wine and coated with a layer of mud, then baked. When the mud has dried all the way through, the chicken is done, and the resultant clay can easily be broken off in chunks.
Dongpo Pork
Extraordinarily fatty (around a 50-50 fat-meat ratio), and thus extraordinarily flavourful, good Dongpo Pork is not greasy, but rather melts in the mouth. Credit for the dish is given to Su Dongpo, a renowned author and poet of the Song Dynasty, to whom the people made a gift of wine and pigs for his faithful service as governor. Accepting the gift, Su Dongpo ordered his men to cook up the meat, and then in turn, served it back to the people. The delighted citizens of Hangzhou duly named the dish in his honour.
Dragon Well Shrimp with Tea
Chock full of delicate white shrimp, green lotus shoots and flavoured with Longjing tea, this dish is pleasing in colour and titillating to the taste buds. It is said that this dish was created by accident when a Hangzhou chef spilled Longjing tea into a boiling pot of shrimp.
Other Tips
Art/Cultural Stops
Hangzhou’s famous Legend of the White Snake comes to life in a flurry of costumes, with the West Lake as its natural stage.
