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Get cracking with mystery snails and crayfish
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TEMPERATURES are rising and the time of the year has come when seafood tastes the yummiest. With lakes, rivers and a bay, there’s plenty of seafood in Hangzhou. Shanghai Daily has picked two of the best options, so grab your napkins and an icy beverage and get cracking!
Crayfish
As the weather is getting warmer, crayfish (xiaolongxia in Chinese) are back on the table.
Last month, when the high-end crayfish restaurant You Don’t Go opened in Dragon Hotel, the annual competition of xiaolongxia heated up as other small eateries across the city began to battle it out for the attention of hungry customers.
The city’s hottest crayfish seller is a shabby house on Wangjiang Road. The stools and tables are rickety, and menus are stained with oil.
Since it has no official name, diners named it Wangjiangmen Crayfish. Wangjiangmen Crayfish opened 12 years ago.
In order to provide guests with juicy crayfish, the store picks a thin-shell variety, which features tender, sweet meat. In addition, it serves up crayfish the traditional Hangzhou way — stir-fried with scallions, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, sugar and pepper, then boiled. Those who love a pungent flavor can choose from three degrees of spiciness — mild, medium and extra hot.
Where to eat:
• Wangjiangmen Crayfish
Address: 227 Wangjiang Rd
Tel: (0571) 8180-0131
Chinese mystery snail
Now is the season when Chinese mystery snail, or luosi, is most succulent. Unlike escargots which are often served with garlic butter and a splash of Cognac, these humble freshwater luosi are steamed, boiled or braised in roadside eateries, since they are cheap and abundant.
Luosi has gills and an operculum covering the opening of the shell. Usually, they are served with the shell while the operculum is removed. Diners usually use toothpicks to pick the meat from the shell, or just suck it out.
Only the head of luosi, the only crunchy part of the mollusk, is edible — the rest is too mushy.
Hangzhou locals have been eating luosi since ancient times. When people could not afford meat, harvesting nutritious luosi from nearby rivers, streams, ponds and lakes was a way to fill the tummy. In Hangzhou, the most common cooking method is to stir-fry them with dried chili, minced garlic and soybean paste. The small chilies permeate the meat and the shell, and can sting the lips and tongue.
This dish is particularly popular at this time of the year. Before cooking them, people have to immerse luosi in water for several days with drops of oil added, which aims to flush impurities from the snails.
In addition to Hangzhou’s cooking methods, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region’s luosi braised with vermicelli is also popular. Luosi meat is simmered with peppery seasonings and spices into a broth, then vermicelli, bamboo shoots, preserved radish, black fungus, pickled cabbage and other ingredients are added. The soup tastes spicy with a touch of umami from luosi.
Where to eat it:
• Aishang Luosi Vermicelli
Address: 92 Tingtao Rd
Tel: 137-5081-1962
• Xiaonanyang Luosi King
Address: 243 Jianguo Rd S.
Tel: (0571) 8780-6777
• Huo Long Tang Restaurant
Address: 169 Wenyi Rd W.
Tel: (0571)88862429
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