If I’m allowed to pick just one favorite dining experience in China ... which includes the major culinary metropolises of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong ... my vote would go to a certain restaurant in Hangzhou.
Mind you, I do consider myself a very picky foodie when it comes to Chinese food, and especially with traditional Chinese food. While I do have preferences towards time-honoured local favorites rather than wild fusion dishes, that’s still a LOT of restaurants to choose from. This place has to rank higher on my list than Beijing’s Dadong, Shanghai’s Fu 1088, or any of my beloved little eateries in Hong Kong. And I found it in Hangzhou.
The food is phenomenal to say the least -- here I had my best ever fresh-water fish AND my best ever eggplants, as well as two excellent shrimp dishes. While its cuisine alone would be enough to make a great meal, the best part awaits the diner yet. This place also happens to be situated upon a 36 hectare private garden forming arguably the most serene stretch of the West Lake, all for the exclusive enjoyment of its dining and lodging patrons. Interested yet?
Introducing the Ziwei Hall. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it. In fact most Hangzhou locals don’t know its name either, and simply refer to it as the restaurant inside the prestigious Xihu State Guesthouse. And what’s more ... many citizens see the army checkpoint at the entrance and still think it’s government-property and thus must be off-limits to civilians.
This is the ginormous former villa of a Qing Dynasty scholar and merchant, now converted into one of China’s top 5-star hotels. Chairman Mao stayed here almost every summer, as did Nelson Mandela once. But it’s most famous for hosting President Nixon on that historic first trip by a western leader in 1972, and for being the resident where Mao drafted the constitution of the People’s Republic. Being a State Guesthouse it does occasionally purge all civilian guests and get locked down, when China welcomes some foreign monarch or prime minister, or perhaps Kim Jong Un. Other times of the year though, it is open to civilians for lodging, lunch or dinner.
But here’s the trick to visiting the restaurant. Reservations are definitely recommended as i) the restaurant occasionally closes for private banquets, ii) they speak reasonable English anyway, and iii) it convinces the PLA soldiers guarding the security checkpoint that you’re not some random tourist sneaking in for pictures. So we called ahead, arrived on foot (easy 15 minutes walk from the popular gardens of Viewing-Fish-at-Flower-Harbour), and opted for lunch rather than dinner for an afternoon stroll in the sunshine.
Food Review: ZIWEI HALL at XIHU STATE GUESTHOUSE (Hangzhou)
Address: Yanggongdi 18, Xihu District, Hangzhou
Hours: 11:00 – 20:30
Website/Map: Official Site
Directions: There are two entrances, both guarded by security checkpoints. The north entrance is just south of Guo’s Villa, while the south entrance a 15 minute walk north of Viewing-Fish-at-Flower-Harbour. Just mention to the soldiers on duty that you’re going to "Ziweiting Restaurant." We passed through without even needing to show our passports.
We had no idea how vast the villa grounds were until we arrived -- twice we got lost looking for the restaurant, and once we were turned back from a dead-end by the friendly soldiers. It took us a good 10 minutes walk past elegant pavilions, manicured pine trees and ponds full of Koi fish before we finally arrived at a white building with a receptionist counter. That turned out to be the restaurant complex, strategically situated at the centre of the villa next to the lotus pond.
Reservation had its advantages, as they saved us a table by the floor-to-ceiling window facing the lotus pond. The service here had to be the smoothest and closest to international standards I've ever seen of any state-owned restaurant in China -- courteous, well-trained servers, an easy-to-use menu in the form of an iPad (with proper English translations!), and even a complimentary pot of Hangzhou’s Longjing Tea (Shanghai’s Fu 1088 charges RMB 80 a pot in comparison). Try getting this at any of the state-owned establishments in Beijing!
Frankly my expectations were quite high -- the cuisine of Zhejiang is considered one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of China, and this particular place is widely reputed to be the best of Hangzhou, if not the entire Zhejiang. As a result I half-expected this meal to cost around RMB 500, and was surprised to see signature Hangzhou dishes such as Steamed Grass Carp in Vinegar Gravy (Xihu Cuyu) for the family-friendly price of RMB 36. Pictured above is our choice of dishes as displayed on the iPad menu, though they ran out of Crabs in Fermented Wine and we switched to Drunken Live Shrimps instead.
Now I'm crazy about Sashimi. I'm also crazy about shrimp, to the point of traveling to Kanazawa a few years back in part for a taste of the tiny but extremely sweet White Shrimp (Shiroebi in Japanese). I didn't expect to find White Shrimp (Baixia in Chinese) of a completely different variety in Hangzhou, also served completely raw. And not just raw, but ALIVE.
That's right. The tentacles still MOVED at our table. This is the Eastern Chinese tradition of Qiangxia, or literally Wine-Choked Shrimp (my translation), where live shrimp are drenched in a marinate of strong liquor to stun, sterilize and flavor, all at the same time. To eat, simply twist off the head and squeeze the meat out from the tail end, a la toothpaste. Sorry if I'm making this too graphic.
The flesh was quite sweet, though not as sweet as my expectation of shrimps this fresh, and certainly nowhere close to Shiroebi. I understood then why the dish needed so much seasonings and minced garlic, as these freshwater shrimp lack the briny taste of their saltwater counterparts that helps accentuate the sweetness of the meat. That said, I have no complaints about this dish though. These were still very good shrimp, and I certainly couldn't have asked for anything fresher.
For entrees we selected two of the most representative dishes in Hangzhou Cuisine, but at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of flavors -- starting with the extremely light and delicate Longjing Shrimp, then moving onto the heavily vinegared sauces of Steam Grass Carp in Vinegar Gravy.
At RMB 108 the Longjing Shrimp (Longjing Xiaren) was justifiably the most expensive dish, as each of the 80 or so small freshwater shrimp had to be meticulous peeled and deveined by hand, then lightly kneaded to achieve the smoothest texture. The preparation of these shrimp was top notch: smooth to the tongue with a light coating of eggwhite-marinade, and perfectly crisp to the bite. Unlike some of the Longjing Shrimp I had in the past, the Longjing tea leaves here was added as a final seasoning rather than an active ingredient in the stir-frying, thus preserving the bitterness of tea as a palate cleanser against the slight oiliness of the dish. To be fair the shrimp meat did taste a little too oily at first, but the ideal balance would be achieved after a dip in the sweet vinegar.
That was good, but it's only starting to get even better.
Introducing the best fresh-water fish I’ve ever had outside of Unagi dishes, and this is coming from a guy who hates most fresh-water fishes for that repulsive, pond-raised stench known as Tushengwei to the Chinese, Dorokusai to the Japanese, and Friggin’ Muddy Taste in my kitchen. Known to the locals as “West Lake Vinegared Fish,” this Steamed Grass Carp in Vinegar Gravy arrived on a monstrous plate, halved lengthwise and smothered in a thick sauce of aged vinegar and red cane sugar. On any other day the grass carp and I are sworn enemies ... usually its Muddy Taste would be so intensely disgusting that I’d refuse to share the same table with a pot of Grass Carp Congee. But this was the most famous dish of Hangzhou, and prepared by supposedly the best restaurant in Hangzhou. I know I’d regret it if I didn’t at least try, perhaps just for a pea-sized nibble.
But this was sooooo good. So good, that I couldn’t even recognize it as a grass carp without that characteristic muddiness. Perhaps the sharp, complex acidity of aged Zhejiang vinegar had something to do with it, or perhaps it was some sort of fermented rice wine marinade, or the fish itself, or maybe some super secret technique passed down from the grandmaster chef for Chairman Mao. Whatever it was, it removed all traces of the unpleasant fresh-water flavor and turned the fish into something as enjoyable to me as a saltwater grouper. Miraculous ... Shenhuqiji ... was the word that came to mind.
But just as miraculous was the price of RMB 36 (CAD$5.7) for such a massive fish, expertly prepared by a restaurant which was, apparent to me by this point, clearly among the best in Eastern China. This lunch was going really well with each dish progressively outperforming the previous, and we’re still not finished yet!
Now THIS. This was truly, absolutely the best dish of the meal. My wife, the eggplant lover, picked this unassuming dish of homey eggplants deep-fried in an XO Sauce-infused batter. The flavor here far surpassed any eggplant either of us had ever tried -- soft, delectable eggplants in a perfectly golden batter, with the umami taste and hint of spiciness from the dried scallops and chili peppers in the XO Sauce. And just like top quality Tempura, it came without any hint of excess oiliness at all. The price was again unbelievably cheap for a 5-star hotel, though I would have gladly paid 3 times the price for our best eggplants ever.
We finished off with a bowl of Noodles in Hangzhou Style, known as Pianchuan’er in the local dialect (which I have no clue what it means). It was almost identical, in both ingredients and flavor, to what is called "Noodles with Pickled Mustard Greens and Shredded Pork" in Hong Kong. It's somewhat back-to-earth after all the extraordinary dishes we had, but that’s okay. This was already our favorite meal of our entire 17-day journey.
Making our best lunch even better was an after-lunch excursion in the Guesthouse's immaculate classical gardens, and a romantic stroll along its own private shoreline of the West Lake, free from any tourist crowds or amplified megaphones. Remember that this villa was off-limits to commoners, let alone foreigners like us, only a generation ago, and you’ll see how much we enjoyed this rare peek inside the mystique of a “State Guesthouse.” After all, I don’t think I’ll get invited by the Chinese Premier to Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse anytime soon.
These were easily our most pleasurable 3.5 hours in Hangzhou, or perhaps anywhere in China. As we exited through the entrance on the Guo’s Villa side, a signage of "No Access for Wedding Photos" reminded us once again of how fortunate we were to tour and to have one of our most memorable meals at such an exclusive location. At a price no more expensive than a family steakhouse in Canada, I’m sure that I’d be here a couple times a month, if only I worked (or retire!) in Hangzhou.
Bill for Two Persons
| Live Drunken White Shrimp | RMB 68 |
| Longjing Shrimp | RMB 108 |
| Steamed Grass Carp in Vinegar Gravy | RMB 36 |
| XO Sauce Crispy Eggplant | RMB 26 |
| Noodle in Hangzhou Style | RMB 28 |
| Fruit Platter | FREE |
| 15% Service Charge | RMB 39.9 |
| TOTAL | RMB 306 (CAD$48.6) |
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