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September 4, 2014

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Small eateries keep it simple

By Xu Wenwen | September 4, 2014, Thursday | Print Edition

NOT every soldier wants to be a general and not every boss wants a large business. You can also find a good suit at a small tailoring shop and a great bowl of noodles at a night market stall.

Some owners of small restaurants with great business resist the urge to expand and open more outlets. They believe that working on a larger scale will lead to lower quality food. They prefer running their small eateries and have no interest in having a bunch of stars to their names.

Last Thursday, Shanghai Daily listed three such small restaurants in Hangzhou. Here are three more.

Wenzhou Taste

This little eatery has gained a good reputation among white-collar workers who work in the Alipay Office Building. Often working late, these office professionals like to warm their “bellies and hearts” with its soups before they head for home.

Its signature snacks originate from Wenzhou, a coastal city in Zhejiang.

The rouyan looks similar to wonton and costs 28 yuan (US$4.55) a bowl. While it’s a bit expensive, Wenzhou Taste can charge more because they wrap the stuffing in a meat sheet rather than a flour sheet. The white, thin wrapper, known as yanpi, is made with lean pork and sweet potato powder.

Fish cakes (15 yuan) are another Wenzhou specialty. The golden snack is usually salty due to the fish. Wenzhou Taste minces the fish meat and kneads it into a long stick. Then it is steamed and cut into slices. The eatery’s fish cakes feature a firm texture and light saltiness.

 

Address: B1, Alipay Office Building, 276 Tianmushan Rd

Tel: (0571) 8797-1986

Ge’s Jianbao 葛师傅煎包

This small eatery can serve up to 25 people. On its “wall of fame” hang 10 photos of some celebrities and famous food critics like Craig Au-Yeung Ying Chai and Dai Long.

They all come for Ge Weimin’s jianbao, or pan-fried steamed buns that are also known as shengjian mantou in Shanghai.

It is usually filled with pork and gelatin that melts into a soup when cooked. Ge, the owner and chef, started making jianbao when he was 16 years old. He worked in different restaurants and studied techniques to make fried dumplings and buns. When he reached 40, Ge opened his own restaurant.

Business wasn’t good when he opened four years ago but he insisted on continuing.

In following months, he and his wife earned such a good reputation that food critics from around the country came to taste his steamed buns (6 yuan for four pieces).

Unlike many Chinese cooks, Ge is happy to share his recipe. He says he uses yeast and baking soda to leaven the dough, a pig’s hindquarter for the stuffing and uses rapeseed oil to fry the buns. He adds that good timing allows the stuffing to cook properly and a thick crunchy crust to form on the bottom.

A bowl of wonton (6 yuan), or beef vermicelli (6 yuan) also comes highly recommended. The wonton wrappers are customer-made in a food factory and the beef vermicelli is boiled in beef and ox bone soup.

 

Address: 130 Jietansi Lane (close to Yan’an Rd)

Opening time: 7am to 9pm

Mantis Shrimp

This restaurant gets its name by specializing in serving this thorny-shelled crustacean. In China, the mantis shrimp is known as the “urinating shrimp” because of its tendency to shoot a jet of water when picked up.

But don’t let that turn you off as the flesh of a mantis shrimp is tasty. It can be fried, steamed, boiled, grilled or dried. Common recipes call for either pepper, salt, and lime; fish sauce and tamarind; or fennel.

Chen Lu, 30, runs Mantis Shrimp with her brother, the chef, at the foot of Baoshi Hill.

As Sichuan natives, they cook up spicy mantis shrimp dishes. Instead of using just water to boil the shrimps, they use a hotpot soup containing over 30 herbs and seasonings. The soup is simmered for 15 hours before the shrimps are boiled in it, allowing the crustaceans to absorb more flavor. The texture is closer to lobster meat than shrimp and it’s served with the restaurant’s secret vinegar recipe.

The shrimp costs 78 yuan per 500 grams although wild shrimps are 88 yuan for the same amount.

Other specialties include flavored snails and grilled crab.

 

Address: Baoshishan Xia Er Long (No. 2 Lane at Baoshi Hill)

Tel: (0571) 8738-1523

Hours: 9:30am-4am

Hangzhou


 

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