This restaurant, as its name implies, specializes in Hangzhou cuisine. The decor is nice, with touches of Chinese calligraphy and arts on the walls. You can also see many photos of the celebrities visiting the restaurant throughout the years. Our table is spacious and even though quite close to the next ones we were quite comfortable during the whole meal.
For starters we ordered three appetizers. The first was Lotus Roots Stuffed with Glutinous Rice in Syrup ($70). This is one of the signatures of the restaurant, with the glutinous rice stuffed inside the holes in the lotus roots and prepared in the syrup. On the bite you can feel the chewy texture of the rice with the slight crunchy lotus roots, a nice texture contrast. The syrup had a bit of sweet osmanthus, making it fragrant yet not overly sweet. A nice one to begin our meal.
The second starter was Pig's Kidney Special Sauce ($80). The kidneys were cooked well to make it soft, which was unlike the Cantonese style which generally would make it more crunchy by blanching. The special sauce was something I could not figure out, having some spiciness but balanced with a hint of sweetness and saltiness. Overall an interesting taste but not my favorite.
The third starter was Wine-saturated Chicken ($118). A common dish available in all Shanghai and Hangzhou restaurants, this one had a generous portion of chicken, marinated in the Chinese yellow wine sufficiently to impart the aromas and flavors to the chicken. I found the bitterness of the wine was a bit too strong and while I was not sure whether this was supposed to be the original style I just found that to be less appealing.
We each ordered a soup, with my mother having Fish Balls Soup with Water Shield ($48), my wife having Mandarin Fish Soup with Assorted Vegetables ($48), while for me it was Hot and Sour Soup ($40). Many people knew the hot and soup soup was my favorite but unfortunately I found mine a bit disappointing as it was not spicy nor sour enough. Comparatively it seemed the other two soups were much better. Next time I would try those instead.
For the main dish we had the Sauteed Fresh Water Shrimps with Longjing Tea Leaves ($268). I never failed to be amazed by the labor to remove the shell of these small shrimps, and it would take a while to finish all the shrimps required to prepare this dish. The shrimps were cooked perfectly, keeping the delicate taste and each showing a beautiful orange pink color. My only comment was that the tea leaves were virtually non-existence and did not add any aroma or flavor to the shrimps.
The other main dish was Sauteed Pea Sprouts with Crab Roe ($298). I found this one another of my favorite in the evening, with a nice presentation of the crab roe in the middle and surrounded by the bright green pea sprouts. The vegetable was in season, young and tender, plus the great taste of the crab roe getting it to another level of enjoyment. I also thought this dish was very reasonably priced if comparing with other restaurants. A must-order in my opinion.
With two Steamed Flour Roll ($76) and a bowl of rice ($14), the total bill on the night was $1205. The service was decent without any surprise, and overall I recommend this restaurant to someone who wants to try some authentic Hangzhou cuisine.
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