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Restaurants insist on organic produce
By Xu Wenwen |
May 9, 2013, Thursday
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WITH a slew of food scandals generating headlines around the country, organic food has become more popular.
Restaurants have caught on to this trend with some sourcing food from suppliers who are providing organic produce and, in other cases, running their own farms.
Shanghai Daily checks out two restaurants known for their organic food in or near Hangzhou.
Dragon Well Manor
As a restaurant recommended by New Yorker food critic Fuschia Dunlop, Dragon Well Manor, though hidden in a small lane in Longjing Village, is so popular that reservations are required all the time.
Its proprietor, Dai Jianjun, prides himself on natural ingredients and MSG-free cooking. He has been a chef since 2000 and after speaking with old farmers he concluded: "To cultivate good food, good water, environment and weather are needed. But perhaps more importantly, you need farmers who are experienced and familiar with the land where they've lived for generations."
Soon after this he moved to Suichang Town, Lishui City in Zhejiang Province, and lives a farmer's life. He has signed contracts with farmers in the area to buy their organically raised chickens, pigs, oxen and fish, as well as vegetables.
One dish on Dragon Well Manor's menu is She De, literally "be willing to part with," and costs at least 100 yuan even though it is only green vegetables. It costs so much because the outer leaves of the green vegetables are all peeled off, but the inner part is kept for the dish. Fifteen kilos of green vegetables are needed for one dish of She De.
Another signature dish is called Unsung Hero, a fish soup. Four small fish are boiled for hours until the fish meat melts resulting in a thick broth. The bones of the small fish are removed and a large fish is added to the soup.
Address: 10 Longjing Road
Tel: (0571) 8788-8777 (Call days in advance because the restaurant only has eight rooms)
Farming and Reading House
Wang Youhong says he remembers thinking around 10 years ago that food no longer tasted the same as it did when he was a boy.
Born in a mountainous village in Jiande, Hangzhou, Wang spent his early years around farms and animals. Everything he ate was organic, produced by his parents and other villagers, until he went to university in Shanghai.
In the large city the boy studied and worked so hard that in a decade he was an executive at a large IT company. Later he established his own IT company in Shanghai.
However, Wang says he wasn't happy or satisfied.
He remembers thinking things were going wrong, life was too fast, the workload too heavy and the food, well, terrible.
"From water to pork, everything tasted different from the food I ate in childhood," says Wang, who says he has a very sensitive tongue. Plus, food scandals started to become more frequent.
He says he called his younger brother, who remained in Jiande and was working as a farmer. His brother would bring fresh produce to him in Shanghai.
After that, Wang avoided restaurants and always cooked at home.
Wang often cooked for friends, who were amazed by the great tasting food and asked Wang's brother to bring more.
The "business" proved so good that the two brothers decided seven years ago to rent some land on a mountain near their village and grow food organically.
At first, they sold bamboo grown on the mountain, but two years ago Wang quit his old venture and opened a restaurant in Maojiabu, a tea village in west Hangzhou.
He called it Farming and Reading House. Wang runs the restaurant while his brother works the farm to supply fresh vegetables and organically raised pigs, chickens and fish.
The restaurant's signature dish is lotus seed and chicken soup, made from chickens raised by Wang's younger brother, lotus seeds picked from fish ponds and mountain spring water. It is simmered on a coal stove for four hours (reservations required).
Naturally sweet spring water from the mountain is widely used in the restaurant, from soups and dishes to tea. The green tea is from Jiande and costs 25 yuan (US$4) per glass.
The Wangs make all kinds of tofu, mantou (Chinese steamed buns), vermicelli (made from sweet potatoes) and even chili, oil and some wine - the lotus wine is recommended.
The menu changes with the season but the Wangs will recommend their freshest produce to customers.
Prices are not low though. The duck soup is 380 yuan.
Address: No. 42, Maojiabu Village (west to the bus stop Maojiabu, one among several farmers' houses.)
Tel: (0571) 8799-9699
Average price: 100 yuan/person
Restaurants have caught on to this trend with some sourcing food from suppliers who are providing organic produce and, in other cases, running their own farms.
Shanghai Daily checks out two restaurants known for their organic food in or near Hangzhou.
Dragon Well Manor
As a restaurant recommended by New Yorker food critic Fuschia Dunlop, Dragon Well Manor, though hidden in a small lane in Longjing Village, is so popular that reservations are required all the time.
Its proprietor, Dai Jianjun, prides himself on natural ingredients and MSG-free cooking. He has been a chef since 2000 and after speaking with old farmers he concluded: "To cultivate good food, good water, environment and weather are needed. But perhaps more importantly, you need farmers who are experienced and familiar with the land where they've lived for generations."
Soon after this he moved to Suichang Town, Lishui City in Zhejiang Province, and lives a farmer's life. He has signed contracts with farmers in the area to buy their organically raised chickens, pigs, oxen and fish, as well as vegetables.
One dish on Dragon Well Manor's menu is She De, literally "be willing to part with," and costs at least 100 yuan even though it is only green vegetables. It costs so much because the outer leaves of the green vegetables are all peeled off, but the inner part is kept for the dish. Fifteen kilos of green vegetables are needed for one dish of She De.
Another signature dish is called Unsung Hero, a fish soup. Four small fish are boiled for hours until the fish meat melts resulting in a thick broth. The bones of the small fish are removed and a large fish is added to the soup.
Address: 10 Longjing Road
Tel: (0571) 8788-8777 (Call days in advance because the restaurant only has eight rooms)
Farming and Reading House
Wang Youhong says he remembers thinking around 10 years ago that food no longer tasted the same as it did when he was a boy.
Born in a mountainous village in Jiande, Hangzhou, Wang spent his early years around farms and animals. Everything he ate was organic, produced by his parents and other villagers, until he went to university in Shanghai.
In the large city the boy studied and worked so hard that in a decade he was an executive at a large IT company. Later he established his own IT company in Shanghai.
However, Wang says he wasn't happy or satisfied.
He remembers thinking things were going wrong, life was too fast, the workload too heavy and the food, well, terrible.
"From water to pork, everything tasted different from the food I ate in childhood," says Wang, who says he has a very sensitive tongue. Plus, food scandals started to become more frequent.
He says he called his younger brother, who remained in Jiande and was working as a farmer. His brother would bring fresh produce to him in Shanghai.
After that, Wang avoided restaurants and always cooked at home.
Wang often cooked for friends, who were amazed by the great tasting food and asked Wang's brother to bring more.
The "business" proved so good that the two brothers decided seven years ago to rent some land on a mountain near their village and grow food organically.
At first, they sold bamboo grown on the mountain, but two years ago Wang quit his old venture and opened a restaurant in Maojiabu, a tea village in west Hangzhou.
He called it Farming and Reading House. Wang runs the restaurant while his brother works the farm to supply fresh vegetables and organically raised pigs, chickens and fish.
The restaurant's signature dish is lotus seed and chicken soup, made from chickens raised by Wang's younger brother, lotus seeds picked from fish ponds and mountain spring water. It is simmered on a coal stove for four hours (reservations required).
Naturally sweet spring water from the mountain is widely used in the restaurant, from soups and dishes to tea. The green tea is from Jiande and costs 25 yuan (US$4) per glass.
The Wangs make all kinds of tofu, mantou (Chinese steamed buns), vermicelli (made from sweet potatoes) and even chili, oil and some wine - the lotus wine is recommended.
The menu changes with the season but the Wangs will recommend their freshest produce to customers.
Prices are not low though. The duck soup is 380 yuan.
Address: No. 42, Maojiabu Village (west to the bus stop Maojiabu, one among several farmers' houses.)
Tel: (0571) 8799-9699
Average price: 100 yuan/person
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