Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page B7

March 5, 2015

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Creative restaurants earn rave reviews

By Xu Wenwen | March 5, 2015, Thursday | Print Edition

FIERCE competition in the catering industry means restaurants are seeking creative ideas to stand out from the crowd.

The creativity ranges from a selection of fusion bites to creative names for dishes and seems to be working. Queues form at such establishments and customers are posting photos of these interesting dishes on social media.

Foodies are always seeking out newly opened restaurants with a creative edge. Today we pick a few that have generated a buzz.

Cape No. 7 海角柒号台式创意餐厅

This Taiwanese restaurant is named after the film “Cape No. 7” and features a big selection of dishes found at night markets on the island. Highlights include Small Sausage in Large Sausage, Braised Pork Rice, Coffin Plank and Stewed Chicken with Three Cups Sauce.

These dishes are modern creations and the restaurant calls itself a creative restaurant.

For examples, the Small Sausage in Large sausage is a sausage wrapped in a big glutinous-rice sausage with some green leaves, just like a hotdog.

The Taiwan sausage is made in house and has a wonderfully fresh taste. A bit of garlic gives it a clean and slightly sweet flavor.

The Coffin Plank is actually a creamy seafood soup contained in a hollowed-out bowl made of deep-fried French toast. The name was created after an archeologist said to the cook, “I feel like I am digging stuff from a coffin.”

The Lemon Shrimp, a sweet-and-sour version of Pepper Shrimp, comes highly recommended.

Lemon Shrimp is salty, sour and sweet, which complements the umami flavor from the shrimp.

The restaurant is on Luyang Road and is only a one-minute walk to West Lake. Wooden stairs, an old telephone and vintage film posters add a nostalgic vibe. The first floor serves as a small bar in the evening.

 

Address: 3 Luyang Rd

Tel: (0571) 8721-2168

Nul One

The restaurant specializes in odd names. Some like You Are My Little Apple and Who Moved My Cheese provide diners a clue about what they are.

Others, not so much.

Most diners would be hard pressed to guess what is Wait Wait Wait, So Unexpected, Really Tasty and Tu Fei Yuan (literally meaning rustic, fatty, and chubby).

Wait Wait Wait is a soup that takes cooks 20 minutes to make while Really Tasty is another creamy soup. Tu Fei Yuan is cyberspeak to describe a homely looking person, but at Nul One it’s potato salad served in a large hollowed-out potato, which is rustic, fatty, and chubby.

So Unexpected is a tiramisu cake shaped like manure, with a chocolate-made fly decorating the top.

If the tiramisu turns you off eating, try the cheese and jackfruit cake with blueberry jam. It’s shaped as swirled vermicelli in a large bowl.

The restaurant is small and the tables are limited, so it’s better to book about three days in advance.

 

Address: 2/F, Mansion A, World Trade Center (crossing of Hangda Road and Shuguang Road)

Tel: (0571) 8971-2243

Since the Korean TV series “My Love from the Star” shot to fame among millions of Chinese viewers, fried chicken and beer, beloved by the show’s heroine, has been extremely popular. Dozens of restaurants serve different versions of fried chicken to cash in on the show’s popularity.

But Thank U Mom, a Korean brand, features chicken nuggets that are “fried” without oil. The secret is an “oil-free” BBQ air fryer that makes nuggets with 80 percent less oil than regular fried chicken.

The chefs sprinkle water on the meat during cooking to make sure the meat remains juicy.

It’s served with a choice of sauces including honey and spice, garlic and soy sauce.

Pizza and Korean rice cakes are also on the menu. The pizza could be topped with various fruits and the rice cake is made with an Italian pasta recipe. Remember to come early or there will be a long line and all the chicken will be sold out.

 

Address: 202, C Zone, Hubin In77 Department Store, 258 Yan’an Rd

Tel: (0571) 8587-0647

Hangzhou


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend