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Brands offering a taste of tradition
By Xu Wenwen |
August 23, 2012, Thursday
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MORE than 700 years ago, when the Silk Road had already long been established, a large number of Arab merchants came to China on business, and some chose to remain in Hangzhou, then a commercial and cultural center.
They lived in areas along the city's axis, where Islamic restaurants also sprung up. Muslim cuisine, in the form of mostly mutton and beef dishes, has long enriched local food culture, combining with Han and Mongolian cuisine.
Even today traces of these Arab merchants of the Silk Road remain in the name "mutton soup restaurant," originally applied to classic Hangzhou Islamic restaurants offering mutton-based fast food, including dim sum and noodles.
Only one remains on Zhongshan Road M. Founded in 1788, it has taken the generic name for itself, and it is known as Mutton Soup Restaurant.
Starting with Mutton Soup Restaurant, Shanghai Daily introduces three Hangzhou time-honored eateries and takeaways that give customers not only a taste of good food, but also a taste of tradition - historic and recent.
Mutton Soup Restaurant
Befitting its history stretching back more than two centuries, Mutton Soup Restaurant offers some very traditional fare. However, these are complemented with new dishes.
As its name suggests, the eatery mainly offers mutton dishes, but it is no longer a Muslim restaurant since it now has pork on the menu.
Classic dishes include sliced boiled mutton and mutton braised in sauce, while many dishes featuring chopped cooked entrails are also listed in the menu.
Mutton and some sheep organs have a strong, distinctive smell which may take a while to get used to. For adventurous diners, it is said the most delicious part of a sheep is its eyes, ping-pong ball sized and black and dark-green in color. Try it if you fancy a challenge.
Eyeballs and entrails aside, there are plenty standard dishes on offer - like shish kebabs, sliced mutton fried with fish, barbecued leg of lamb and grilled lamb chops.
Most popular dishes include mutton noodles and mutton shaomai - steamed mutton dumplings - which, through using a 100-year-old secret recipe, have very little mutton smell.
The first floor of the eatery sells fast food priced from 5 yuan (79 US cents) to 25 yuan, while the second floor provides dishes, including famous Hangzhou cuisine as well.
First-time customers can easily recognize the restaurant as, appropriately enough, a sculpture of sheep stands in front of the gate.
Address: 64 Zhongshan Rd M.
Wushan Roasted Fowl Takeout
Since it opened in 1985, around 7:30am every morning a queue forms outside Wushan Roasted Fowl Takeout, half an hour before it opens.
Customers are not waiting for breakfast, but for freshly roasted chicken for lunch or supper.
The takeout, which opened its first branch at the foot of Wushan Hill, today has four branches in the city.
Queues form again between 4pm and 5:30pm, when the takeaway closes, the daily stock of 1,000 roast chickens sold out.
Wushan Roasted Fowl Takeout also offers roast duck and marinated meat dishes, but roast chicken is always the best seller.
The eatery says it doesn't have any secret recipe, but adheres to the following steps: stuff mushrooms, shallots and seasoning - including salt and sugar - into the cavity of a dressed chicken; soak the chicken in water with added honey; then roast it.
Priced at 17.9 yuan for half a kilogram, customers can buy
half or a whole chicken.
Address: 62 Wushan Rd; 158 Guangfu Rd; 432 Hushu Rd; 1/F, Centurymart, 86 Qingchun Rd
Xinfeng Snack Eatery
Established less than 20 years ago, Xinfeng Snack Eatery has 20 branches in Hangzhou and is renowned for its good, inexpensive breakfasts.
Xinfeng sells eight types of snacks in Hangzhou style - from steamed buns and wonton to vermicelli and tofu soup. Every snack types come with different stuffings or seasonings.
Most Xinfeng snacks are priced at between 1 yuan and 10 yuan, and every morning there's a queue of people buying steamed buns for breakfast.
It is said the 20 branches cater for more than 50,000 customers every day, and the brand sells over 300,000 bowls of shrimp-and-pork wonton soup every month.
The shiny, white shrimp wonton casings are made from high-quality flour, encasing fresh pork and river shrimps.
Little steamed buns and shrimp-and-pork wonton are the specialty, but to enjoy a bite of little buns, customers should be at the eatery before 8am. Otherwise, they are likely to be sold out.
In addition, Xinfeng's Hangzhou sweet doughnut is an ideal snack for afternoon tea. There is also a savory version with a vegetable and pork filling.
For details on branches, go to www.hz-xfxc.com/fendian.htm.
They lived in areas along the city's axis, where Islamic restaurants also sprung up. Muslim cuisine, in the form of mostly mutton and beef dishes, has long enriched local food culture, combining with Han and Mongolian cuisine.
Even today traces of these Arab merchants of the Silk Road remain in the name "mutton soup restaurant," originally applied to classic Hangzhou Islamic restaurants offering mutton-based fast food, including dim sum and noodles.
Only one remains on Zhongshan Road M. Founded in 1788, it has taken the generic name for itself, and it is known as Mutton Soup Restaurant.
Starting with Mutton Soup Restaurant, Shanghai Daily introduces three Hangzhou time-honored eateries and takeaways that give customers not only a taste of good food, but also a taste of tradition - historic and recent.
Mutton Soup Restaurant
Befitting its history stretching back more than two centuries, Mutton Soup Restaurant offers some very traditional fare. However, these are complemented with new dishes.
As its name suggests, the eatery mainly offers mutton dishes, but it is no longer a Muslim restaurant since it now has pork on the menu.
Classic dishes include sliced boiled mutton and mutton braised in sauce, while many dishes featuring chopped cooked entrails are also listed in the menu.
Mutton and some sheep organs have a strong, distinctive smell which may take a while to get used to. For adventurous diners, it is said the most delicious part of a sheep is its eyes, ping-pong ball sized and black and dark-green in color. Try it if you fancy a challenge.
Eyeballs and entrails aside, there are plenty standard dishes on offer - like shish kebabs, sliced mutton fried with fish, barbecued leg of lamb and grilled lamb chops.
Most popular dishes include mutton noodles and mutton shaomai - steamed mutton dumplings - which, through using a 100-year-old secret recipe, have very little mutton smell.
The first floor of the eatery sells fast food priced from 5 yuan (79 US cents) to 25 yuan, while the second floor provides dishes, including famous Hangzhou cuisine as well.
First-time customers can easily recognize the restaurant as, appropriately enough, a sculpture of sheep stands in front of the gate.
Address: 64 Zhongshan Rd M.
Wushan Roasted Fowl Takeout
Since it opened in 1985, around 7:30am every morning a queue forms outside Wushan Roasted Fowl Takeout, half an hour before it opens.
Customers are not waiting for breakfast, but for freshly roasted chicken for lunch or supper.
The takeout, which opened its first branch at the foot of Wushan Hill, today has four branches in the city.
Queues form again between 4pm and 5:30pm, when the takeaway closes, the daily stock of 1,000 roast chickens sold out.
Wushan Roasted Fowl Takeout also offers roast duck and marinated meat dishes, but roast chicken is always the best seller.
The eatery says it doesn't have any secret recipe, but adheres to the following steps: stuff mushrooms, shallots and seasoning - including salt and sugar - into the cavity of a dressed chicken; soak the chicken in water with added honey; then roast it.
Priced at 17.9 yuan for half a kilogram, customers can buy
half or a whole chicken.
Address: 62 Wushan Rd; 158 Guangfu Rd; 432 Hushu Rd; 1/F, Centurymart, 86 Qingchun Rd
Xinfeng Snack Eatery
Established less than 20 years ago, Xinfeng Snack Eatery has 20 branches in Hangzhou and is renowned for its good, inexpensive breakfasts.
Xinfeng sells eight types of snacks in Hangzhou style - from steamed buns and wonton to vermicelli and tofu soup. Every snack types come with different stuffings or seasonings.
Most Xinfeng snacks are priced at between 1 yuan and 10 yuan, and every morning there's a queue of people buying steamed buns for breakfast.
It is said the 20 branches cater for more than 50,000 customers every day, and the brand sells over 300,000 bowls of shrimp-and-pork wonton soup every month.
The shiny, white shrimp wonton casings are made from high-quality flour, encasing fresh pork and river shrimps.
Little steamed buns and shrimp-and-pork wonton are the specialty, but to enjoy a bite of little buns, customers should be at the eatery before 8am. Otherwise, they are likely to be sold out.
In addition, Xinfeng's Hangzhou sweet doughnut is an ideal snack for afternoon tea. There is also a savory version with a vegetable and pork filling.
For details on branches, go to www.hz-xfxc.com/fendian.htm.
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