LOCAL DELICACIES
Suzhou food, like the cities elegant landscapes, has its special characteristics. The local people love freshwater food and vegetables. Their dishes often taste sweet and their snacks looks like works of art.
SWEETS
The most renowned sweet shop is Caizhizhai on Guanqian Street, established in 1870. Apart from its colorful bonbons, Caizhizhai also sells various kinds of preserved fruits and melon-seeds. It is said that Empress Dowager Cixi was delighted by Caizhizhai’s rice dumpling candies, sent to her by a doctor. She named the candy an imperial tribute, which greatly increased Caizhizhai’s reputation.
MEATS
Lugaojian, an age-old shop on Guanqian Street, founded in 1663 during the Qing Dynasty, is always packed with customers. Authentic Suzhou style braised pork and braised duck are served here.
RESTAURANTS AND DISHES
This 2000-year-old Songhelou Restaurant in Taijian Alley has long been known for its authentic Suzhou dishes. Prepared with the freshest of seasonal ingredients, Songhelou’s most popular dishes are freshwater fish and shrimps, including sweet and sour mandarin fish, fried snails with shrimps and braised eel. The sweet mandarin fish was a favorite of Qing Emperor Qianlong, who dined here every time he visited Suzhou.
Opposite Songhelou is Wangsi Restaurant, which is famous for its liquors, chicken and wild vegetable dishes. The restaurant always uses the freshest ingredients, prepared to order, to preserve all the goodness and original flavor.
PASTRIES
Suzhou has a long history of growing glutinous rice, giving rice to a fine array of pastries. Traditionally in China, pastries are an auspicious food, symbolizing happiness and reunion. Huangtianyuan on Guanqian Street, founded in 1821, is the most well known pastry shop in the city. It offers traditional pastries such as lard cakes and osmanthus cakes, and has created over 100 kinds of new pastries.
LAMB SOUP
When winter falls on Suzhou, a large bowl of hot lamb soup helps ward off the cold. The dish is prepared simply: the lamb is braised in water without any added seasonings, a method used to preserve the original meaty taste. The soups price depends on the weight of the meat (a small portion costs around 5 yuan) and it goes well with noodles. The soup also serves as an ideal medicinal dish.
BIG GATE CRABS
Yangcheng Lake’s Big Gate Crab, a type of freshwater crab, is regarded as one of the tastiest crabs in China.
An ideal habitat for the shellfish, Yangcheng Lake produces huge crabs, weighing 250 to 400grams each, with a grey-green shell, white underside, yellow hair and golden claws. Hence the Big Gate Crabs of Yangchen Lake are also known as the king of crabs among the gourmets. They come into season in autumn.
DIM SUM
Zhuhongxing at Bifengfang beside Taijian Alley and Guanzhenxing on Guanqian Street are three good spots for dim sum and noodles.
TEA CAKES
Aromatic date and sesame cakes with pine nuts, thousand-layer pastry and petite sesame bun, are all famous Suzhou tea cakes. Legend has it that Emperor Qianlong tasted a date and sesame cake with pine nuts from Daoxiangcun on Guanqian Street and fell in love with it immediately. He bestowed on the shop a plaque to boast Daoxiangcun’s reputation far and wide.
