Eating in Suzhou
Famous Local Food
Jiangshu Cuisines, one of the Eight Famous Chinese Cuisines, is exquisite in the shape and purely fragrant with slight sweetness yet not oily in taste. The representative dishes include Stewed Meatballs with Brown Sauce, Beggars Chicken and water boiled salted duck, Mandarin Fish and so forth.
Stewed Meatballs with Brown Sauce
Ingredients: pork (250g), lotus root (50g), egg (one), ginger (10g) and green onion (20g)
Seasonings: sauce (3 spoons), dry starch (1 spoon), salt and gourmet powder
Note:
1. 70% of the pork is lean pork, and the rest is, of course, fat.
2. Mince the pork and the lotus root into rice-size pieces.
3. This dish is good for the people with iron deficiency.
4. No tea, no fish or shrimp after taking this dish.
Baggers Chicken (Baked Chicken)
Ingredients: a whole hen (1000g), lean pork (100g), shrimp meat (50g), ham (30g), mushroom (20g), fresh lotus leaf (4 pieces) and mud (3000g)
Seasonings: rice wine (50g), oil (100g), sugar (20g), ginger (10g), anise (2 grains), green onion (70g), sesame oil (50g)
It tastes better if baked with the charcoal fire. It should be baked for four hours, and turn over the chicken every half an hour. This dish can be an appetizing dish and a nutrition recuperation.
Steamed White Fish
Ingredients: white fish (700g), fat pork (50g), soaked bamboo slice (25g), ham (30g),
Seasonings: cooking wine (20g), pepper (5g), salt (5g), ginger (30g), green onion (15g), sesame oil(30g)
Notes:
1. Leave the fish alone for 1 hour after gutting the fish completely
2. Cut the fish, not sever, every 1.3 cm from the head of the fish
3. Steam the fish, after pickling, with strong fire for 15 minutes
4. While steaming the fish, slice the green onion and ginger and mix them up with the seasonings
This dish will be good especially for the recuperation and the nutrition supplement.
Local Snacks
The Su Candy is thought highly of from the north to south in China. There are 150 kinds of candy in Suzhou, including 4 categories. Besides, local snacks are yummy and tasty.
Su Fresh Pork Moon Cake
The stuffing of the traditional moon cake tastes sweet, while that of Su Moon Cake is fresh pork. This snack looks shinning yellow and tastes crisp. This special snack is popular, especially on Mid-autumn Day when people have to queue up to buy the moon cake.
Fishiness Spring Roll
The Spring Roll made in the Land of Milk and Honey tastes different from that of other places. The Su Fishiness Spring Roll, with the weever meat and shrimp meat as the stuffing, is as thin as a paper and as round as a wheel. The fishy taste manifests the particular customs in Suzhou.
Recommended Restaurants
Songhelou Restaurant
Location: No. 72, Taijian Lane, Guanqian Street, Pingjiang District (No. 4 tourist bus and Public bus No. 1, 2, 8, 9, 32, 38, 68, 102 and 103 can take you there.)
Representative dishes: Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish, Dongpo Meat, Brasenia Whitebait Soup, Fried Snails with Shrimps and Braised Eel.
Wanjiadenghuo Restaurant
Location: No. 158 Suhui Road, Industry District
Representative dishes: A variety of dishes is available here, including local food, seafood, Hangzhou cuisine and much more.
Deyuelou Restaurant
Location: No 43, Taijian Lane, Guanqian Street, Pingjiang District
Representative dishes: Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish, Crab Meat with Stewed Meatballs, Steamed Pork with Rice Flour and Crab Meat with Tofu.
Wangsi Restaurant
Location: No. 23 Taijian Lane, Guanqian Street, Pingjiang District
Representative dishes: Beggar’s Chicken (whole chicken baked in a mud coating), Sweet-scented Osmanthus and Blood-color Glutinous Rice.
Nankai Restaurant
Location: No 123 North Dongwu Street (No. 50 and 103 will take you there. )
Representative dishes: It is one of the largest restaurants in the city, with a total of 200 tables. The large and grand banquet hall in the second floor can hold over 70 tables.
