Shan Wai Shan 山外山 in Hangzhou Botanic Gardens

One of the must-eat places in Hangzhou is this restaurant near the entrance (but within) the Hangzhou Botanic Gardens (杭州植物园). When my friend and I arrived, it was just before 12pm and the place was absolutely packed. To make things more confusing, there was no queue nor system, and neither of us was fortunate enough to spot a vacating table nor aggressive enough to bash our way through the crowds. So we came back just after 1pm, and things appeared a bit more sane. The outdoor tables were still fully taken, but we managed to snag a newly-vacated table.

You order by pointing to pictures and telling the waitress which table you're at.

The fish I didn't get to eat.

Jellyfish with vinegar - around RMB30. I love this dish, which is traditionally ordered in Chinese meals as one of the starters circling around on the lazy susan. It's crunchy with a bite!

My friend ordered this warm walnut drink which was mixed with black rice grains - it had an interesting nutty flavour.

Tiny prawns (around RMB 60) that were supposed to be eaten whole. They were very flavourful, although slightly too salty.

Beggar's Chicken - After finally getting to eat the dish, I didn't see what the hype was all about. It was quite tender and flavourful, but it tasted like ordinary steamed chicken to me.

We ordered this double-boiled (something-宝汤) soup which cost just under RMB50. It had baby abalone, fish maw, sea cucumber, dried mushrooms, dried scallop (I think), and was very rich with all the goodness of the sea treasures. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Fish with vinegar, or 西湖醋鱼. This was very nice, and for a non-fish fan, that's pretty high praise. The fish was supposedly a local breed (I forget the name now), and therefore very fresh. The vinegar was mixed with the right amount of sugar which made it possible for the sauce to be slurped up on its own.

The entire meal cost us RMB425, or S$ 85 for 2 people. Although it was a bit more expensive than Grandma's, the food was definitely good, and the surroundings and ambience more than made up for the additional cost. Worth a splurge.

Address: 中国杭州玉泉路8号（植物园内玉泉景区旁）

Tel: 0571-87995866

Website: http://www.shanwaishan.com/

Ewwww

I wonder what Dish number 2169 does for the libido?

Looking at the Chinese translation, I think it comes from Bambi....

Fo Mo (or Fu Mao) 复茂 in Hangzhou

There is a stretch of restaurants in Hangzhou along a street called Gao Yin Jie (高银街), and it goes for about 300m with many many food options in terms of cuisine and price. It's parallel to Qinghefang Old Street, which is a shopping street consisting of conserved old shophouses with many tourist products available for purchase. I also managed to pick up a couple of jars of lovely Longjing Tea there to bring back home. It's great for shopping in the evening, and it's a short 50m walk or so to Gaoyin Jie to hunt for a place to have dinner.

Our dinner wasn't worth blogging about, but our supper certainly was. After having a very unsatisfactory meal at one of the more upmarket restaurants (which was packed, but they had run out of many things including Dongpo Pork and Beggar's Chicken - again!), we went on the hunt for something that would make us happy. And then Fo Mo appeared!


Since my last jaunt in Shanghai in Fo Mo, I had been craving the spicy mini lobsters, and was most happy to see another branch in Hangzhou.
飘香龙虾 at RMB 45. The mini-lobsters were sauteed in a mildly spicy sauce, with pepper and were very juicy and succulent.

招牌手抓蟹, or famous hand-caught crabs for RMB 68. There wasn't much meat on the crabs, but I suppose it was the experience of sucking through the shells trying to get every last bit that was enjoyable.

The bill came up to RMB 124, which was not really cheap for supper although it included drinks. This was the same price that lunch at Grandma's cost us. Still, it was good enough for us tourists, and 我们兴高采烈 （and also 依依不舍) 的回家。

杭州市上城区高银街119号（近吴山广场）Tel: 0571-87022809

or check out their website at www. xiaxie.com

The Grandma's 外婆家 in Hangzhou

Grandma's is a pretty well-known chain of restaurants serving authentic Hangzhou food. We got to one of the branches around 1.30pm for lunch, and it was still extremely packed. It took about 15 mins for us to get a table.


Appetiser of preserved radish. Crunchy and spicy.

Wai Po Ba Bao Cai （外婆八宝菜) at RMB 6. Decent but not outstanding.

Wai Po Hong Shao Rou (外婆红烧肉), RMB 35. The pork was amazingly soft, tender and even though it was oily, it was so easy to eat. It was very flavourful as well. We only ordered this after we were told that the Dongpo Pork was sold out, and so was the Beggar's Chicken. Both of them are Hangzhou specialities, and we were quite disappointed that we didn't get to try them at Grandma's.

Digging below the layers of fat to get the meat. I didn't eat the fat, but couldn't resist the skin!

响铃 - baked rolls of tofu skin. It wasn't worth the energy it took to crunch through.

Ma Po Dou Fu (麻辣豆腐) at RMB 3. It was amazingly cheap, and excellent with the steamed rice. I slurped up every last drop.

Something that was a cross between a clam and a mussel - either a pippi (found in Australi) or tua tow (found in Sg/Msia). These came sizzling on a hot plate, and when eaten hot, were simply delicious. This was about RMB 30 or so.

We also had a huge 1 litre jug of winter melon tea, which cost RMB25. Including rice, our final bill came up to RMB 125 (approx S$25), which was very reasonable. And on the whole, the food was really delicious and very enjoyable.

You can access their website, and check out their menu at http://www.waipojia.com.cn/index.asp. Unfortunately there's no English webpage, but if you're in Hangzhou, your hotel can help with making a booking at giving you directions if you just ask for the nearest Grandma's. The common line for reservations at all outlets is 400-672-6009.

Japanese Food in Tianjin

I happen to be a huge fan of standard Japanese hotel breakfasts where they give you a piece of grilled fish, with miso soup, pickles and rice. So when we stayed at the Hotel Nikko in Tianjin, and when I found the Japanese breakfast, I went totally crazy. I didn't eat anything else the whole time I was staying there - it was this everyday. The second day (not pictured) they had this amazing half-boiled egg onsen tamago thingy. Cholestrol overload - I had two!

Grilled fish, pickles, miso soup, tamago yaki and rice

Natto, mustard, soy sauce and seaweed to wrap it all up - heaven!

Funny (but true) fact about the Tianjin Nikko (amongst others): The hotel manager's name is Mr Oiishi. No kidding.

Hangzhou Sights

Hangzhou is known for being one of the most popular tourist cities in China, and it's not hard to see why particularly in spring. I haven't quite sorted out the food pictures, so here's some photos from Hangzhou's best tourist spots for now.

West Lake - Photo taken from the Su Causeway

West Lake - White cherry blossoms around the eastern part of the lake

West Lake by night, with the famous willow trees in the foreground

Bamboo grove at the Hangzhou Botanic Gardens

Random cherry blossom tree at Hangzhou Botanic Gardens

Random cherry blossom tree at Xi Xi Wetlands

油菜花 at Xi Xi Wetlands

Scenery at Xi Xi Wetlands

Japanese knick-knacks

I recently received 2 different types of Japanese snacks. First, the mother came back from Nagano with a few boxes of these apple-crate lookalikes from the ski resort (of all places).

They looked just like real apples.

They felt like real apples.

Apple cake!

A few weeks later, I was playing host to some Japanese government officials who had just flown in from Tokyo. They gave me a small box of snacks with an egg motif after the meeting. Opened it up in front of my curious colleagues.

From what I could tell with my limited Japanese, this egg-shaped snack had sesame and originated from a shop in Ginza.

The *egg white* was made out of white chocolate, and the *egg yolk* bit was black sesame. Pretty groovy.