Related News
Home
» City specials
» Hangzhou
From low-status fare to lucky city delicacy
By Xu Wenwen |
November 15, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
EUROPEANS worry about China's hairy crab invading Europe's waterways, including the Thames and Rhine, and devise schemes to halt it. Chinese people are also keen to "wipe out" crabs - though in this case with vinegar, ginger and other seasonings!
The Chinese have long viewed the crab as one of the most delicious delicacies on Earth, seeing beyond its fearsome armored exterior and thinking of the heavenly taste of the meat and roe beneath.
They boil, steam and fry crabs, marinate them in alcohol, add them to soup and porridge and extract the meat to make instant food. Also, the roe is made into a delicious condiment, adding its distinctive flavor to many dishes.
Now is the best time to savor crab, as its meat is at its most tender and its roe plump and tasty.
Hangzhou people's passion for crab dates back to the late 9th century, according to "Notes on the West Lake," written by scholar Tian Rucheng in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
The book recorded that for people in old Hangzhou, shrimp was a valued dish, while hairy crab was deemed a low-status food.
However, a local woman loved eating crabs so much that her son, whose name was Tian Yansheng, would buy and boil crabs secretly for her so neighbors would not notice.
One day the son went on business to nearby city Huzhou and found the crabs there were very cheap so bought a large bag of them.
On his return to Hangzhou, a warlord attacked the city and many inhabitants fled to a nearby valley. Tian and his mother joined them, taking their large bag of crabs.
In the days that followed, city refugees suffered from hunger, many falling ill and some even dying, but Tian and the mother lived well, thanks to their stock of crabs.
After the warlord finally retreated from Hangzhou and locals returned home, they adopted the crab as a symbol of fortune and since then it has been considered a delicacy.
Like other people in Zhejiang Province, Shanghai and Jiangsu Province, Hangzhou people specially like lake crab - hu xie- which live in rivers and lakes.
But as different kinds of Chinese cuisines are popular with Hangzhou people nowadays, they do not limit their tastes to the traditional boiled lake crab.
Instead, a diverse range of recipes featuring different kinds of crabs are commonplace.
Here are some Hangzhou crab restaurants where diners are sure to have their tastebuds pinched.
Little Chef ZhoushanSeafood Restaurant
Signature dish: Inverted crab
This dish is called the inverted crab because of its serving style - a crab is cut in half, so the two pieces stand vertically in the center of a plate, with the shell protruding in the air.
Customer can order lake crab and portunid crab.
While lake crab is full of roe at this time of year, portunid crab does not contain much roe but has tenderand sweet meat.
Inverted crab is steamed with ginger, scallion and yellow wine, a traditional Chinese wine fermented from rice, which covers the plate bottom.
More elaborate than traditional steaming, this recipe gives the meat and roe a special aroma of hot rice wine, making eating crab an experience to appeal to both taste and smell.
Address: No. 43, Baijingfang Lane
Tel: (0571) 8516-6352
Pros: This restaurant specializes in seafood, and its crabs are very fresh.
Cons: Prices are a bit high.
Qixintian Crab
Signature dish: Mizong crab
Primarily a hotpot restaurant, this eatery only offers one dish - Mizong crab, named after a type of kung fu style.
The restaurant picks crabs imported from Myanmar, which have larger bodies and claws than Chinese lake crabs, and, therefore, more meat.
Chinese usually saute sea crabs, and in the restaurant the Myanmar crabs are sautéed with garlic, ginger, shallot, chili and its special sauce, giving a taste quite the opposite of the mild boiled lake crab.
The crabs are cut in half and their juicy claws cracked, letting flavors seep in. Customers can order crabs ranging from slightly to strongly spicy.
The crabs come in a large pot and hotpot soup will be added when the crabs are finished, so the leftover sauce and seasonings are used as the hotpot's soup base.
Address: 34 Xinyifang Street
Tel: (0571) 8515-0679
Pros: Large tongs, stringy meat and tasty sauce.
Cons: Too much SMG in the dish.
Zhang Hu Li Crayfish Restaurant
Signature dishes: All kinds of lake crabs
Zhang Hu Li is a crayfish restaurant but also sells crabs in the crab season. It offers crab dishes made to the same recipes as its crayfish menu, plus traditional boiled crabs.
Diners flock to the restaurant for its diverse recipes, as it offers more than a dozen crab dishes. Favorites include: spicy crab; curried crab; crab braised with pork ribs; and crab with sweet and sour fried rice cake.
And as long as your order (excluding crabs) totals more than 60 yuan (US$9.6), boiled crab are only 8 yuan each till December, making it a cheaper option for diners.
Address: No. 32, Baijingfang Lane
Tel: (0571) 8505-7733
Address: 123 Gaoyin Street
Tel: (0571) 8781-1928
Pros: The price is fair and the options many.
Cons: The restaurant is a bit noisy and scruffy.
Auntie Liang's Restaurant
Signature dish: Crayfish fried with crab
This is also a crayfish restaurant selling seasonal crab, and its best-selling dish is crayfish fried with crab.
The recipe sticks to one used for crayfish, but lake crabs are added.
The crab and crayfish are sprinkled with white sesame - resulting in a delicious smell.
The crab comes from wild stock, while the crayfish are fresh thick-shell dark ones, with tight and thick meat. The dish is slightly hot, due to plenty Sichuan pepper in the soup.
Address: 98 Hedong Road
Tel: (0571) 8592-9877
Pros: The crabs are full of roe; diners are supplied with plastic gloves and an apron.
Cons: The price is higher than average, and the crayfish is not served de-headed, as in some other restaurants.
The Chinese have long viewed the crab as one of the most delicious delicacies on Earth, seeing beyond its fearsome armored exterior and thinking of the heavenly taste of the meat and roe beneath.
They boil, steam and fry crabs, marinate them in alcohol, add them to soup and porridge and extract the meat to make instant food. Also, the roe is made into a delicious condiment, adding its distinctive flavor to many dishes.
Now is the best time to savor crab, as its meat is at its most tender and its roe plump and tasty.
Hangzhou people's passion for crab dates back to the late 9th century, according to "Notes on the West Lake," written by scholar Tian Rucheng in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
The book recorded that for people in old Hangzhou, shrimp was a valued dish, while hairy crab was deemed a low-status food.
However, a local woman loved eating crabs so much that her son, whose name was Tian Yansheng, would buy and boil crabs secretly for her so neighbors would not notice.
One day the son went on business to nearby city Huzhou and found the crabs there were very cheap so bought a large bag of them.
On his return to Hangzhou, a warlord attacked the city and many inhabitants fled to a nearby valley. Tian and his mother joined them, taking their large bag of crabs.
In the days that followed, city refugees suffered from hunger, many falling ill and some even dying, but Tian and the mother lived well, thanks to their stock of crabs.
After the warlord finally retreated from Hangzhou and locals returned home, they adopted the crab as a symbol of fortune and since then it has been considered a delicacy.
Like other people in Zhejiang Province, Shanghai and Jiangsu Province, Hangzhou people specially like lake crab - hu xie- which live in rivers and lakes.
But as different kinds of Chinese cuisines are popular with Hangzhou people nowadays, they do not limit their tastes to the traditional boiled lake crab.
Instead, a diverse range of recipes featuring different kinds of crabs are commonplace.
Here are some Hangzhou crab restaurants where diners are sure to have their tastebuds pinched.
Little Chef ZhoushanSeafood Restaurant
Signature dish: Inverted crab
This dish is called the inverted crab because of its serving style - a crab is cut in half, so the two pieces stand vertically in the center of a plate, with the shell protruding in the air.
Customer can order lake crab and portunid crab.
While lake crab is full of roe at this time of year, portunid crab does not contain much roe but has tenderand sweet meat.
Inverted crab is steamed with ginger, scallion and yellow wine, a traditional Chinese wine fermented from rice, which covers the plate bottom.
More elaborate than traditional steaming, this recipe gives the meat and roe a special aroma of hot rice wine, making eating crab an experience to appeal to both taste and smell.
Address: No. 43, Baijingfang Lane
Tel: (0571) 8516-6352
Pros: This restaurant specializes in seafood, and its crabs are very fresh.
Cons: Prices are a bit high.
Qixintian Crab
Signature dish: Mizong crab
Primarily a hotpot restaurant, this eatery only offers one dish - Mizong crab, named after a type of kung fu style.
The restaurant picks crabs imported from Myanmar, which have larger bodies and claws than Chinese lake crabs, and, therefore, more meat.
Chinese usually saute sea crabs, and in the restaurant the Myanmar crabs are sautéed with garlic, ginger, shallot, chili and its special sauce, giving a taste quite the opposite of the mild boiled lake crab.
The crabs are cut in half and their juicy claws cracked, letting flavors seep in. Customers can order crabs ranging from slightly to strongly spicy.
The crabs come in a large pot and hotpot soup will be added when the crabs are finished, so the leftover sauce and seasonings are used as the hotpot's soup base.
Address: 34 Xinyifang Street
Tel: (0571) 8515-0679
Pros: Large tongs, stringy meat and tasty sauce.
Cons: Too much SMG in the dish.
Zhang Hu Li Crayfish Restaurant
Signature dishes: All kinds of lake crabs
Zhang Hu Li is a crayfish restaurant but also sells crabs in the crab season. It offers crab dishes made to the same recipes as its crayfish menu, plus traditional boiled crabs.
Diners flock to the restaurant for its diverse recipes, as it offers more than a dozen crab dishes. Favorites include: spicy crab; curried crab; crab braised with pork ribs; and crab with sweet and sour fried rice cake.
And as long as your order (excluding crabs) totals more than 60 yuan (US$9.6), boiled crab are only 8 yuan each till December, making it a cheaper option for diners.
Address: No. 32, Baijingfang Lane
Tel: (0571) 8505-7733
Address: 123 Gaoyin Street
Tel: (0571) 8781-1928
Pros: The price is fair and the options many.
Cons: The restaurant is a bit noisy and scruffy.
Auntie Liang's Restaurant
Signature dish: Crayfish fried with crab
This is also a crayfish restaurant selling seasonal crab, and its best-selling dish is crayfish fried with crab.
The recipe sticks to one used for crayfish, but lake crabs are added.
The crab and crayfish are sprinkled with white sesame - resulting in a delicious smell.
The crab comes from wild stock, while the crayfish are fresh thick-shell dark ones, with tight and thick meat. The dish is slightly hot, due to plenty Sichuan pepper in the soup.
Address: 98 Hedong Road
Tel: (0571) 8592-9877
Pros: The crabs are full of roe; diners are supplied with plastic gloves and an apron.
Cons: The price is higher than average, and the crayfish is not served de-headed, as in some other restaurants.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
