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August 8, 2013

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Trendy, tasty fare found in creative parks

By Xu Wenwen | August 8, 2013, Thursday | Print Edition

Uptown warehouses and factories have been transformed into creative parks ever since Hangzhou decided to develop its cultural and creative industries.

In 2000, the city got the movement rolling by renovating several old storehouses and mills into zones for art studios, galleries and design firms.

To meet their needs, many uniquely designed cafes and restaurants have opened, attracting even more trendsetters.

Shanghai Daily explores three cafes and restaurants in creative parks in uptown Hangzhou.

Miss Xia’s Restaurant

In north Hangzhou near the Grand Canal, there was a large factory that made ribbons and braids for women. But after the business departed, the six buildings it left suffered a dilemma — too old to be made into apartments, they also seemed too far from downtown for commercial use.

Last year, 10 years later, they were renovated and made into a creative park specially for architectural design firms, and the factory’s big lunchroom is now Miss Xia’s Restaurant.

Old brick walls are painted white, as are old pipes overhead and the ceiling. The clean and simple style includes plants decorating the white brick walls and straw hats used as lampshades.

The food is primarily local cuisine, with a bit of adaptation. Recommended dishes include stone-pot tofu, boiled for hours to make sure the tofu absorbs the gravy; shrimp kebabs, and ma ci, (fried glutinous pudding), a traditional local dessert seldom seen nowadays.

Address: 43-3 Yuhangtang Rd

Tel: (0571) 8883-1977

Ho Know Cafe

Visitors to this cafe are greeted near the entrance by a wooden log table with a naturally formed fist-sized hole in the middle. The round-table top, the cross-section of a tree, introduces the place’s natural yet creative design theme.

Ho Know Cafe is located in Phoenix International Creative Park in Zhuantang Town in south Hangzhou.

The park was a large cement factory, and the cafe is in what was a cement-mixing workshop, comprised of four round areas some four or five stories tall.

The areas now have stairs and elevators, and the café is on the first floor, while the owner He Jianping, a Chinese-German designer, runs a company on the upper floors.

The cafe is spacious and comfortable, with a four-meter-high ceiling. It provides coffee, juice, steak, pasta, pizza, cookies, cakes and ice cream. A meal costs only about 30 yuan (US$4.91) per person.

Many of the designer decorations and furniture are available for sale, from log tables and lights on the walls to cups and vases on tables. The tables are from the Thai brand Asian Art Imports. Other exhibits include IDEA watches from Japan, huge bags of the German brand Authentics and paper cell phone and iPad bags of the Australian brand Papernoma.

It’s easy to linger for an afternoon to peruse the exhibits and the 26 kinds of design magazines in foreign languages. For cooler weather, there also is an outdoor area facing a lawn.

Address: Phoenix International Creative Park, 1 Chuangyi Rd

How to go there: From Kaiyuan Road in downtown, take bus No. 189 to the last stop

Tel: (0571) 8709-8679

Chez Marie

The earliest creative park in Hangzhou is Silian 166, a renovated silk factory, is a number of nice, cozy cafés.

Among them, Chez Marie is run by a French chef and several Chinese who have worked and studied in France. Though a newcomer, it seems a natural with its artistic atmosphere.

The café opened two years ago and has agreements with several film fan clubs and art associations to host screenings, readings, fashion parties and art shows.

Especially attractive is the café’s tall space and skylight, left from the old factory. Windows are small and few, so the owners decided on a red-and-black décor and stained-glass windows to match its original dark atmosphere.

The name was inspired by renowned French gourmet Marie, and its French chef, who has lived in China for more than eight years and makes only natural foods.

All the cuisine is hand made without additives or MSG, and cooks often use seasonal ingredients. During strawberry season in March, the café makes strawberry cakes, ice cream and cocktails.

Pasta is Chez Marie’s signature food. The ice cream also is recommended — for this season, the green tea ice cream and jack fruit ice cream are excellent.

Address: F6, Silian 166, 166 Lishui Rd

Tel: (0571) 8830-9310

 

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