Where to stay

Amanfayun In the middle of Lonjing tea plantation country, this is a unique hotel occupying an entire traditional Chinese village. Guests can take part in a tea ceremony in the village’s most elaborate building. Doubles from £363. 22 Fayn Nong, 00 86 571 8732 9999, amanresorts.com

Crystal Orange Hotel A modern boutique hotel in the town centre with quirky interior design including pop-art prints in the lobby and a glass lift. Doubles from £137. 122 Qinbo Jie, 00 86 571 2887 8988, orange-crystal.hotel.com.tw/eng/

Four Seasons at West Lake The last hotel that was permitted to be built on the shores of West Lake is a beauty. Gorgeously designed in the spirit of Hangzhou architecture with a fabulous spa. Doubles from £246. 5 Lingyin Road, 00 86 571 8829 8888, fourseasons.com

Fuchun Resort Tucked away among the tea plantations of Fuyang, the indulgent hotel has calming interiors and peaceful surroundings. From £287 per person inclusive of dinner, bed and breakfast. 00 86 571 6346 1111, fuchunresort.com

Hangzhou Xihu State Guesthouse Charming guesthouse surrounded by serene water with extensive and elegant gardens. Doubles from £136, including breakfast. 00 86 571 8797 9889, xihusgh.com

Shangri La The Hangzhou outpost of a favourite Chinese upmarket hotel brand overlooks the North Inner part of the lake. The Shang Palace restaurant here has a good reputation. Doubles from £128. 78 Beishan Road, 00 86 571 8797 7951, shangri-la.com

Tea Boutique Hotel A small and stylishly designed hotel based in the West Lake scenic area. Doubles from £89. 124 Shuguang Road, 00 86 571 8799 9888, teaboutiquehotel.com

Travel Information

Currency is the Chinese Yen (£1= 10.20 CNY). Hangzhou is eight hours ahead of GMT. The city’s humid, subtropical climate brings with it a wet season (June-September) and a long dry season (October-May). The best time to visit Hangzhou is during the mild spring months (March-May) when temperatures average 20°C.

GETTING THERE
Virgin Atlantic (0844 209 7310, virgin-atlantic.com) and British Airways (0844 493 0787, britishairways.com) both operate direct flights from London Heathrow to Shanghai Pudong daily. Connecting trains from Shanghai Hongqiao station to Hangzhou run twice hourly and take one hour.

RESOURCES
Visit Hangzhou (visithangzhou.com) has plenty of useful information about getting around, accommodation, and food and entertainment options for visitors to the area.

FURTHER READING
China Through the Looking Glass: Hangzhou by Monique Van Dikj and Alexandra Moss (Atomic Energy Press, £14.50). A colourful, traveller-friendly introductory guide to Hangzhou’s most important sights and historic attractions, as well as its distinctive culinary traditions. The book also paints an evocative portrait of the city’s culture, customs and people.

Where to eat

28 Hubin Road (Also see Where to stay) Traditional Hangzhou cuisine with a contemporary twist. Be prepared to pay a little more for signature fish dishes like Longjing shrimp and poached goby. From £19. 28 Hubin Road, 00 86 571 8779 1234, hangzhou.regency.hyatt.com

Chuan Wei Guan A 24-hour Sichuan hub located in the heart of the city. Grab moreish bowlfuls of ‘medicinal broth’ from hotpots cradled in hollow tables. From £7. 166 Huansha Road, 00 86 571 8791 7669

Dragon Well Manor Bespoke plates created from local ingredients gathered from the surrounding countryside. Has a flair for freshwater fish dishes. Shared banquet for six from £158. 399 Longjing Road, 00 86 571 8788 8777, longjingmanor.com

Hangzhou Restaurant A favourite modern hangout for locals. No translated menus available so it is best to have a Mandarin speaker at hand. £4-£12. 10 Huancheng Beilu, 00 86 571 8519 1717

Huang Fan Er A gem embedded among tourist traps. Pass under a retro Qing gateway into a surprisingly contemporary interior. Braised bullfrog adds colour to a mostly traditional menu. From £8. 53 Goa Yin Jie, 00 86 571 8780 7768, hzhfe.com

Kuiyuan Ladled its first bowl of noodles in 1867 and is best known for its xia bao shan mian (shrimp and fried eel noodles). From £5. 124 Jiefang Lu, 00 86 571 8702 8626

Jin Sha (Also see Where to stay) Chic den-like restaurant situated on West Lake. 5 Lingyin Road, 00 86 571 8829 8888, fourseasons.com

Grandma’s Kitchen Branches of this chain of noodle stores are all around town, and are hugely popular as proved by the long queues for lunch and dinner. From £4. 330 West Wen’er Road, 00 86 571 8892 0725, 6-1 Macheng Road, 00 86 571 8805 1987

Louwailou The oldest restaurant in the city has spent more than 170 years perfecting Hangzhou classics such as West Lake sweet-and-sour fish. From £9. 30 Gushan Road, 00 86 571 8796 9023

Shang Palace Great care is taken over a large selection of typical Hangzhou dishes such as beggar’s chicken and Dongpo pork. From £15. 78 Beishan Road, 00 86 571 8797 7951,shangri-la.com

The Steam House Emphasis on village-style cooking and garden-grown produce. The speciality steamed dumplings are not to be missed. From £27 for two people. 22 Fayn Nong, 00 86 571 8732 9999

Zhieweiguan A good spot for a fast lunch, this 100-year-old cafe serves mao er duo (cat’s ear noodle soup) and sanxian shaomai (steamed buns filled with pork and shrimp). From £4. 10-12 Yang Gong Ti, 00 86 571 8797 0568

Food Glossary

Congbaohui

Shallots and deep-fried bread wrapped in a thin flour pancake and served with sweet sauce. A breakfast dish.

Dongpo pork

Braised pork belly sometimes served in chunks, but more authentically in an elaborate pyramid shape. Usually served with chestnut pancakes or a spongy steamed bread bun.

Jiaohua ji

Also known as beggar’s chicken. A whole chicken stuffed with mushrooms and herbs, wrapped in lotus leaves, then clay, and baked.

Lian ou tang

A broth made from lotus root, red dates, ginger and chicken bones.

Longjing shrimp

Small shrimp from West Lake stir-fried with Longjing’s exclusive green tea leaves.

Mandarin fish soup

Said to have been created by a fisherwoman in the Song dynasty who made the soup at the side of the West Lake and impressed the Emperor.

Mao er duo

Cat’s ear noodles. So called because of the shape – the Hangzhou version of orecchietti.

Pian er chuan

Noodle dish with spiced soup, lean pork and bamboo shoots.

Sanxian shaomai

Steamed buns filled with pork and shrimp.

Song shu yu

Crispy Mandarin fish with sweet and sour sauce. Sometimes known as ‘squirrelfish’ because of the appearance of the head when cooked.

Stinky tofu

Aged bean curd reminiscent of blue cheese. Surprisingly tasty.

Xia bao shan mian

Shrimp and fried eel noodles.

Xihu cuyu

West Lake fish cooked in a vinegar gravy.

Xue cai

Pickled greens, also known as snow vegetable, grown in the Hangzhou countryside.

Food and Travel Review

Hangzhou is not your average Chinese metropolis. Despite its population of eight million, the capital of Zhejiang province, south-west of Shanghai, comes with something rather special attached. Namely, the West Lake, a vast and beguiling expanse of water that sweeps along the north-east of the city.

Marco Polo is said to have passed through in the 13th century when, due to its fertile land, superior tea and silk-making industry, Hangzhou was one of the three most important trading posts in China. It is still the tea and silk capital, and one of the most prosperous cities in the country.

The famous traveller described Hangzhou as the ‘the finest city in the world’, and it retains a reputation for being a heaven on earth, eulogised over the centuries by poets.

All day and long into the evening, the West Lake is packed with locals and visitors, walking or cycling around the leafy 15km periphery or taking boats across the water and into its canals, amid weeping willows and pagodas.

At dawn, the lake is at its best: locals practise tai chi on its banks and fishermen pull carp, shrimp and crab from its depths – this freshwater produce, along with the lotus leaves floating on the surface, play a key role in shaping Hangzhou’s cuisine.

Here, the locals are proud of their food. A phrase you’ll hear at regular intervals – whatever the level of cooking – is ‘pure’. They like their food to be fresh and not played with during the cooking process, allowing the true flavours to come through.

Hangzhou food is classed as one of the eight classic cuisines of China and, as such, has a long and rich history. It is lighter, fresher, less spicy and has more subtle flavours than the other cuisines. There are a lot of seafood, pork and poultry dishes, and soups and soupbased items are particularly popular. ‘There are 6,000 restaurants in Hangzhou,’ says Alleen Wu, who was born in Hangzhou and, after a brief stint of studying abroad, has now returned to work in the hospitality industry. ‘People are more relaxed here than in other cities like Beijing and Shanghai; they enjoy their life and they like to eat.’

We’re chatting over glasses of Longjing (or ‘dragon well’) tea, named after the Longjing area just outside of Hangzhou where it is grown. It’s the most rarefied of green teas and locals drink it constantly. It’s served with the long, spear-shaped leaves still in the cup (or, more authentically, a tall glass). When the spears sink to the bottom, you know the tea is ready to drink. ‘Hangzhou food is light and natural tasting,’ says Alleen. ‘It’s prepared naturally so you can tell if it’s fresh or not – you can’t tell that if it’s spicy.’

Alleen herself likes to eat at Grandma’s Kitchen, a successful and good-value local chain that began as a small noodle bar. Don’t be put off by the word ‘chain’; the food’s quality is affirmed by the fact that it has queues of people lining up every day to eat traditional dishes such as Dongpo pork – a braised pork dish named after the poet Su Dongpo, who was a well-loved governor of Hangzhou in the 11th century. Many of the dishes here, I soon learn, have romantic folklore explaining their origin, often dating back to the Song Dynasty, which held court during the 12th century.

That evening I go to Qinghefang Street, a bustling pedestrian boulevard to the east of West Lake lined with teahouses, restaurants and shops. These atmospheric, historic buildings have been here for centuries, some of them specialising in one product such as Jinhua ham or, randomly, scissors – both famous products from the Zhejiang province. Evening is the best time to visit when there’s a night market selling traditional snack foods such as Chinese burritos, soups and porridges and, it seems, every conceivable type of animal foot. But the real draw is the sweets: dingsheng cake, sesame candy and sweet-and-sour crepes, all for under £1 each.

Just off Qinghefang Street is a small lane called Guangfu Lu. It’s crammed with food stalls, many selling mini versions of traditional dishes including lotus root starch soup, spare ribs and rice cooked in lotus leaf. As the market is so popular and space is so tight, I share a table with a local Chinese family who are eating their food with such passion they pay no attention to me.

Parallel to Qinghefang Street is Gao Yin Jie. It is packed with restaurants, the best being Lao Hangzhou Fengwei and Huang Fan Er. There are not so many hawker stalls left in Hangzhou; the preferred option for locals are food courts such as Songdu Food City, which is full of families and young locals devouring fried mini crabs and deep-fried bean curd rolls.

Eating at hotels dotted around West Lake is an easy option in Hangzhou. In many countries, it may be considered sacrilege in some food-lovers’ bibles, but places such as 28 Hubin Road at the Grand Hyatt have gained rave reviews across China – you’re just as likely to see Chinese diners as Westerners. They come for two of Hangzhou’s signature dishes: beggar’s chicken as well as Dongpo pork. Both are delivered with a flourish. The story behind beggar’s chicken is that a starving beggar stole a chicken and, while he was being chased, he buried it in the ground. When he returned later, the chicken was encased in mud, but he built a fire and cooked it nonetheless. These days, the chicken comes stuffed with mushrooms and wrapped in lotus leaves before being encased in clay. It is so laborious to make that most restaurants need advance warning to cook it for you. At 28 Hubin Road, the chicken is carried, clay intact, to your table and shattered before you, unleashing a wonderful aroma.

The Dongpo pork is even more impressive: braised pork belly is cut with a knife into one continuous strip and layered inside a pyramid mould, which is then filled with bamboo shoots and steamed for a couple of hours. Chestnut pancakes are served on the side so you can construct your own delicious pork sandwich.

At Jin Sha restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel, the latest one to be built alongside West Lake, chef Tan Chwee Chan creates superb, refined versions of Hangzhou dishes: his Mandarin fish soup and Longjing shrimp are two of the best you’ll find in the city. The latter are tiny, sweet-tasting shrimp, stir-fried in the famous green tea with a choice of soy sauce or vinegar for dipping.

A unique place to eat is Dragon Well Manor, on the edge of the West Lake in the Longjing area of Hangzhou, a 10-minute drive from the city. There are eight pavilions – each one a private dining room – dotted around ornate gardens with ponds and bridges.

On the way to the kitchen, we pass two men carrying a crate of freshly caught fish. Further along the path is another pair, carrying a basket of live ducks suspended from a bamboo pole on their shoulders. ‘The most significant thing is not the beautiful scenery, it’s the food,’ Dragon Well’s owner Dai Jianjun tells me over the customary drink of Longjing tea. ‘The tea was picked from that mountain over there,’ he waves casually to the Manor’s breathtaking backdrop. ‘There is no menu; we prepare what we have. The customer tells us the price they want to pay and we build the menu around that.’

The private room set-up and the banquet-style menu mean that dining in a group is perhaps the best way to make the most of this experience. We start with bowls of warm, stone-ground soy milk to which dried shrimp, spring onions and soy sauce are added. Then comes sliced cold beef, celery with pressed bean curd, a mix of wild mushrooms, duck in a delicious broth. The dishes keep on coming: chicken with salted fish, pork belly with whole eggs in a rich sauce – a speciality that takes three days to prepare – and then the star of the show: fish soup. A waitress ladles out the soup, each with a serving of perfectly poached carp. To the side lies a discarded plate of fish and bones – Dai explains that this was used to create the stock.

Hangzhou is as much about what surrounds it as what’s within, and the same applies to the food. Dai’s producers are clearly the best the region has to offer, so the next day he takes us into the hills. At Mu Gong Shan, a mountain village two hours’ drive north west of Hangzhou, there’s a pretty valley that is home to a small farming co-operative. The land is lined with neat rows and the head farmer, Xu Haulong, takes us through them, checking off the produce as we go. It’s an impressive bounty: peas, soy beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, chillies, celery, spinach, and countless leafy greens, which he says only have Chinese names. Geese glide on a small pond, ducks roam freely and pigs lie in a cool, dark shed to escape the midday heat.

The standards Dai sets for the produce that makes it into the kitchens at Dragon Well Manor restaurant are high. Xu is one of Dai’s trusted suppliers and is clearly proud of the farm. He even photographs the produce and displays it in a ‘purchase book’ at his restaurant for diners to look at.

Dai picks up a large radish from the soil and peels it with a knife for us to eat; it has a startling fresh, peppery taste. There are big, green torpedoes lying indiscriminately on the ground. ‘They’re Chinese watermelon,’ says Dai. ‘They can grow anywhere.’ He digs underneath a floppy-leafed plant and unearths a sweet potato. ‘The leaves will be eaten by the pigs,’ he says. Nothing is wasted. If not food for the animals, it will be turned into fertiliser or fuel.

Plump, glossy-feathered chickens have a bamboo house which they reach by a bridge, allowing them to scamper back and forth to a shady wood. ‘There are no pesticides here so they are free to forage in the woodlands,’ says Dai.

At the farmhouse, Xu’s wife has prepared us a hearty lunch which she has cooked using a wood-fired oven and two woks: dried bamboo shoots, braised pork – made from a mixture of fresh and preserved meat – omelette with spring onion… ‘We pay more attention to the original taste when cooking,’ explains Dai, echoing what I hear all over Hangzhou.

Back in Longjing, for something slightly less grand but still local and delicious, there’s the Steam House. The restaurant is housed in an old wooden building surrounded by gorgeous landscape, as wild as Dragon Well Manor is decorative. As the Steam House is on the main cobblestone thoroughfare of the village, you’re likely to see Buddhist monks en route to the temple. Everything on the menu is incredible – from freshly made noodles to braised Chinese cabbage to stir-fried crab. As is par for the course in so many Hangzhou restaurants, produce is sourced from the surrounding countryside or their own kitchen gardens (of which there are three). A cooking school will open at Amanfayun in 2012, specialising in Hangzhou cuisine, to help cater for the rest of China’s fascination with this charmed region. At the same time, they hope to harvest their first crop of Longjing tea.

You see in Hangzhou, more than anywhere else in China, everything begins and ends with tea.