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Out-of-the-way food street became center of attention
By Xu Wenwen |
August 2, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THERE are two kinds of food streets: a strip purpose-built to be a food street; and one that over time evolves and earns a reputation as a food street. Hedong Road in Hangzhou, which has almost 30 restaurants, is the second kind.
Hedong Road in Chaohui block is a bustling place and passes through several residential communities. Yet 20 years ago, it was relatively distant, far from main thoroughfares. In the early 1990s, it was very much off the beaten track, a place offering relatively cheap housing.
In the early 1990s, locals started running eateries, offering cheap barbecue food, noodles and local dishes. Gradually foodies in the city caught a whiff of the appetizing aromas and explored the new food area. This led to more restaurants opening, serving mouth-watering food from breakfast to late-night snacks.
Chaohui block is no longer distant and houses along the road are far from inexpensive. Hedong Road is now filled with all kinds of restaurants, offering a panorama of China's food landscape.
From northeastern Chinese and Sichuan cuisine to seafood and local dishes, everything is on offer. Many people go there for dinner or late night snacks.
Today, Shanghai Daily visits a few famous restaurants.
Next Thursday, we tour night time snack booths.
Da Qing Hua
Da Qing Hua is a restaurant that offers classic northeastern Chinese food. This cuisine relies heavily on preserved foods and hearty fare due to the harsh winters and relatively short growing season.
The decor is not outstanding, but interestingly, includes prints of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors - echoing the restaurant name and indicating that it makes authentic northeastern Chinese food. The Qing court originated from northern China.
Northeastern cuisine includes popular dishes, such as pork and chive dumplings, preserved vegetable hotpot, congee with several types of pickles, as well as sweet dishes including guo bao rou- sweet and sour pork in northeastern style - and basi dishes.
The difference between guo bao rou and standard sweet and sour pork is that the northeastern version dish uses very thin pork slivers and more sugar but less vinegar, leading to a crispy, sweet taste.
The basi series is a representative dessert of northeastern Chinese cuisine. Fruit and starchy vegetables - including apples, bananas and sweet potatoes - are cooked with hot syrup, creating a sweet caramelized dish that is crispy outside and soft inside.
Basi dessert is always served with a bowl of water for diners to dip the food into before eating, which makes it crispier.
The only downside is that diners should eat basi dish as quickly as possible, since the food turns soft and gooey within minutes and does not taste so good.
Address: 25 Hedong Rd
Yong Le Fang 60 70 80
The numbers 60 70 80 in the restaurant refer to people born in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and is so named because the restaurant has a school days theme - which for people born between the 1960s and 1980s have slipped into distant nostalgia.
The academic theme continues in the decor, as the restaurant looks like a large classroom, complete with a hallway with boxes marked Physics, Math and English, and several large blackboards, complete with essays and math equations.
Completing the look, waiters call customers "classmates" and wear school-style uniforms.
"School dinners" are based on Zhejiang cuisine, including melt-in-the-mouth braised beef, wangci fish braised with snails in a thick soup and Grandma's tofu, which is made from hand-made tofu and tougher than the standard variety.
Address: 85 Hedong Rd
Tel: (0571) 8680-5777bLong Tang Li
A longtang is the typical old-fashioned neighborhood, fondly remembered by millions of people in south China. Long Tang Li Restaurant takes this as its theme, seeking to evoke the rich folk flavor of Hangzhou cuisine.
The restaurant resembles an old longtang - complete with wooden pillars, black tiles, stone sculptures and carved window lattices.
Its interior combines different elements of ancient houses in south China - with wood-paneled walls, paintings of old longtang houses, green-stone-paved road embedded with porcelain pieces, plus rattan chairs.
Every box in the restaurant is decorated with old wooden shelves, on which curios are displayed; an old alarm clock, a black-and-white TV set, a radio, a thermos, a sewing machine and other objects according with the vintage theme.
Along one wall is a line of firewood stoves, on which different foods - such as radish, pig feet, duck and chicken feet - are braised with soy sauce.
Its menu offers many authentic everyday Hangzhou dishes, such as sweet-and-sour hairtail fish, tofu fried with green cabbage, fried pork liver and pig's kidney and salty fish steamed with minced pork.
Long Tang Li also makes classical Hangzhou dim sum, including wonton, spring rolls, sweet pancakes - called sole pancakes due to the shape, cong bao hui, deep-fried dough sticks wrapped in thin pancake), and rice pudding. These dishes are a bit saltier than ordinary, so it is suggested that diners order rice with their meal.
Address: 237 Hedong Rd
Tel: (0571) 8806-0985
Hedong Road in Chaohui block is a bustling place and passes through several residential communities. Yet 20 years ago, it was relatively distant, far from main thoroughfares. In the early 1990s, it was very much off the beaten track, a place offering relatively cheap housing.
In the early 1990s, locals started running eateries, offering cheap barbecue food, noodles and local dishes. Gradually foodies in the city caught a whiff of the appetizing aromas and explored the new food area. This led to more restaurants opening, serving mouth-watering food from breakfast to late-night snacks.
Chaohui block is no longer distant and houses along the road are far from inexpensive. Hedong Road is now filled with all kinds of restaurants, offering a panorama of China's food landscape.
From northeastern Chinese and Sichuan cuisine to seafood and local dishes, everything is on offer. Many people go there for dinner or late night snacks.
Today, Shanghai Daily visits a few famous restaurants.
Next Thursday, we tour night time snack booths.
Da Qing Hua
Da Qing Hua is a restaurant that offers classic northeastern Chinese food. This cuisine relies heavily on preserved foods and hearty fare due to the harsh winters and relatively short growing season.
The decor is not outstanding, but interestingly, includes prints of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors - echoing the restaurant name and indicating that it makes authentic northeastern Chinese food. The Qing court originated from northern China.
Northeastern cuisine includes popular dishes, such as pork and chive dumplings, preserved vegetable hotpot, congee with several types of pickles, as well as sweet dishes including guo bao rou- sweet and sour pork in northeastern style - and basi dishes.
The difference between guo bao rou and standard sweet and sour pork is that the northeastern version dish uses very thin pork slivers and more sugar but less vinegar, leading to a crispy, sweet taste.
The basi series is a representative dessert of northeastern Chinese cuisine. Fruit and starchy vegetables - including apples, bananas and sweet potatoes - are cooked with hot syrup, creating a sweet caramelized dish that is crispy outside and soft inside.
Basi dessert is always served with a bowl of water for diners to dip the food into before eating, which makes it crispier.
The only downside is that diners should eat basi dish as quickly as possible, since the food turns soft and gooey within minutes and does not taste so good.
Address: 25 Hedong Rd
Yong Le Fang 60 70 80
The numbers 60 70 80 in the restaurant refer to people born in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and is so named because the restaurant has a school days theme - which for people born between the 1960s and 1980s have slipped into distant nostalgia.
The academic theme continues in the decor, as the restaurant looks like a large classroom, complete with a hallway with boxes marked Physics, Math and English, and several large blackboards, complete with essays and math equations.
Completing the look, waiters call customers "classmates" and wear school-style uniforms.
"School dinners" are based on Zhejiang cuisine, including melt-in-the-mouth braised beef, wangci fish braised with snails in a thick soup and Grandma's tofu, which is made from hand-made tofu and tougher than the standard variety.
Address: 85 Hedong Rd
Tel: (0571) 8680-5777bLong Tang Li
A longtang is the typical old-fashioned neighborhood, fondly remembered by millions of people in south China. Long Tang Li Restaurant takes this as its theme, seeking to evoke the rich folk flavor of Hangzhou cuisine.
The restaurant resembles an old longtang - complete with wooden pillars, black tiles, stone sculptures and carved window lattices.
Its interior combines different elements of ancient houses in south China - with wood-paneled walls, paintings of old longtang houses, green-stone-paved road embedded with porcelain pieces, plus rattan chairs.
Every box in the restaurant is decorated with old wooden shelves, on which curios are displayed; an old alarm clock, a black-and-white TV set, a radio, a thermos, a sewing machine and other objects according with the vintage theme.
Along one wall is a line of firewood stoves, on which different foods - such as radish, pig feet, duck and chicken feet - are braised with soy sauce.
Its menu offers many authentic everyday Hangzhou dishes, such as sweet-and-sour hairtail fish, tofu fried with green cabbage, fried pork liver and pig's kidney and salty fish steamed with minced pork.
Long Tang Li also makes classical Hangzhou dim sum, including wonton, spring rolls, sweet pancakes - called sole pancakes due to the shape, cong bao hui, deep-fried dough sticks wrapped in thin pancake), and rice pudding. These dishes are a bit saltier than ordinary, so it is suggested that diners order rice with their meal.
Address: 237 Hedong Rd
Tel: (0571) 8806-0985
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