Northerners like to eat dumplings, while southerners prefer wontons. Dumplings just need a dip in vinegar and you can pop them in your mouth whole. Wontons, on the other hand, require a full bowl of broth and seasonings — you only take a small bite at a time. Suzhou’s Green Willow Chicken and Crab Roe Wontons feature thick wrappers, generous fillings, clear broth, and are topped with delicate strands of dried tofu shreds, making them very appealing. The broth is as clear as water, without any floury murkiness, yet still retains its rich flavor. The filling is soft with a savory umami taste — a southern interpretation blended with northern style. Green Willow also offers another delicious dish worth recommending — semi-fermented crab roe xiaolong buns. “Semi-fermented” means they are lightly leavened, somewhere between steamed bread and hard dough, achieving a natural balance that is neither too soft nor too firm. They have great chewiness, maintaining texture while staying solid enough so the soup doesn’t easily spill out. With a gentle sip, the richness of crab, the depth of soy sauce, and the sweetness of sugar dance across your teeth and tongue — truly a lingering delicacy.
Aozao Noodle Restaurant was founded in the third year of the Xianfeng Emperor’s reign (1853), and has a history of 147 years. It has been recognized as a Time-Honored Chinese Brand Restaurant by the Ministry of Internal Trade. The predecessor of Aozao Restaurant was the “Tianxiang Restaurant” located at the north end of Banshan Bridge. Due to poor management, the owner abandoned the shop. In the late Qing Dynasty, the creditor, Lady Zhao San, handed it over to the seamstress Chen Xiuying to manage...
Yangzhou lacquerware has a long production history. As early as over two thousand years ago during the Han Dynasty, it enjoyed great renown across the country. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the craftsmanship of Yangzhou lacquerware became particularly refined, and metal inlay products gradually increased. The Ming and Qing dynasties marked the heyday of Yangzhou lacquerware. In addition to colored painting and carved lacquer, new techniques such as flat-ground mother-of-pearl inlay, bone and stone inlay, and multi-treasure inlay also emerged...
Product Name: Honey-Glazed Ham Place of Origin: Jinhua, Zhejiang Product Features: Fiery red color, clear marinade, tender and flaky ham, sweet and savory taste Ingredients: Cooked Jinhua ham (top cut with skin), Xuan lotus seeds, red dates, white sugar, palm leaves, 5-year aged Jinhua Fu liquor, and other ingredients Product Introduction: Selected...
The craft of making Suzhou ethnic musical instruments boasts a long history, featuring a complete range of categories, abundant varieties, and exquisite craftsmanship, renowned both in China and abroad. These instruments exhibit distinctive artistic features and unique local styles. Representative works include the erhu, ruan, guzheng, pipa, as well as the revived ancient instruments like the konghou and bianzhong. There are also those prefixed with “Su,” such as the “Su flute,” “Su xiao,” …
Among Suzhou’s arts and crafts, none are as intricate and minuscule as micro-carving. Micro-carving involves using an extremely fine triangular knife to carve delicate calligraphy, paintings, figures, or poetry onto bamboo, ivory, or even human hair. The smaller the piece, the more precious it is considered. Micro-carving is also a traditional craft of Suzhou. As early as the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty…
Suzhou is one of the birthplaces of jade carving in China. In the middle and upper layers of the ancient cultural sites at Caoshanjian in Wuxian and Meiyang in Wujiang, dating back five to six thousand years, polished jade huang (a type of jade pendant) and jade fu artifacts were discovered—these are the earliest jade artifacts found in China to date. Throughout history, Suzhou has produced many skilled jade artisans. During the Ming Dynasty, figures such as He Si, Liu Shen, and Lu Zigang,…
Suzhou rosewood carving boasts a long history. Since the Ming Dynasty, it has developed a distinctive “Suzhou style” characterized by simple yet elegant shapes, clean and straight lines, exquisite craftsmanship, and a smooth, polished finish. In processing Suzhou-style rosewood carvings, the wood must first undergo a drying process, and traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery is used to control shrinkage, deformation, and cracking. The main products…
Hengjing Pigs are primarily bred in Hengjing Town, Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province. They are distributed around Hengjing Town in Wuxian County. Growth environment: The production area is located in a subtropical zone with a mild climate, abundant rainfall, high crop yields, and is one of China’s renowned regions for stable and high agricultural productivity. Physical characteristics: The skeletal structure of the Hengjing Pig lies between that of the Meishan Pig and the Mi Pig...
Dongshan’s “White Simmered Lamb” boasts a 200-year-old culinary tradition. The cooking technique for this local specialty has been passed down for over two hundred years. The white sliced lamb, made from authentic local Hu sheep, is served on freshly sun-dried lotus leaves. The meat is tender, snow-white, and velvety, with a delicate and richly savory flavor. Even today, there are still over a dozen households in Dongshan Town that produce white simmered lamb…
Dongshan is the birthplace of the Lake Sheep, with a breeding history spanning over 800 years. Dongshan Lake Sheep possess genetic traits unmatched by sheep from other regions: early maturity, tolerance to heat and humidity, adaptability to coarse feed, suitability for confined feeding, rapid growth and development, and stable production performance. In particular, their multiple births gene gives them far superior reproductive capabilities compared to other…
Arrowhead is also one of Suzhou’s famous “Eight Aquatic Delicacies.” What a lovely name it has. The Ming Dynasty physician Li Shizhen said, “One arrowhead plant produces twelve tubers a year, as if a loving mother nurses her many children—hence the name. Its leaves fork like a swallow’s tail, which is also why it’s called that.” This means that each arrowhead plant yields twelve tubers from its root, just like...
Water celery is one of the flagship produce among Suzhou’s “Eight Aquatic Delicacies.” The most delicious part of water celery is the roughly 15-centimeter-long, white and tender stem, commonly known as the “white tip.” The longer the “white tip,” the higher the quality of the water celery. So how is this prized “white tip” cultivated? Currently, it’s the peak season for both production and sales of locally grown water celery. …
Jade Dumplings are a variety within the Huaiyang dim sum series, made with fillings prepared from various green leafy vegetables. They come in both sweet and savory flavors. After steaming, the filling shows through the thin dough, giving it a jade-like green hue—hence the name. Typically, dumpling fillings are made from cooked glutinous rice, appearing brownish-red with clearly distinguishable grains resembling wheat kernels. In northern China, they are called “shaomai”…
Thousand-layer oil cake: The cake has a semi-transparent body that is exceptionally soft and elastic. Its layers are stacked yet distinct, offering a balanced sweetness and tenderness that is refreshing to the palate. Masterfully crafted through precise control of fermented dough, sugar, and oil, in 1983, Dong De’an, a specially ranked first-class dim sum chef from Yangzhou, participated in the National Culinary Competition. His display of Yangzhou-style dim sum, including the thousand-layer oil cake, amazed the judges. …
Three-Dice Buns are one of the traditional specialties of Yangzhou’s Fuchun Teahouse. Legend has it that when Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty visited the south of the Yangtze River, the Yangzhou chefs prepared an imperial breakfast for him and created the “Five-Dice Buns.” These buns were filled with diced sea cucumber, chicken, pork, winter bamboo shoots, and shrimp. After tasting them, Emperor Qianlong remarked with great delight, “The fame of Yangzhou buns is well deserved.”…
Main dish: Queen Mother’s Peach. Appetizers: Coral Snow Rolls, Crystal Pork Roll, Peony Jellyfish, Phoenix-Tail Prawns, Gold Coin Mushrooms, Duck Egg with Double Yolks, Delicious Green Melon, Rose Beef. (Yangzhou)…
The whole pig's head is served intact on the plate, perfectly presented—fall-off-the-bone tender yet retaining its shape; richly aromatic and deeply flavorful without losing its original taste. Different parts of the head offer distinct textures: the ears are tender yet slightly crispy, the tongue is soft and chewy, the eyes are springy, and the meat is as soft as tofu. The most unforgettable part is the skin, which is gelatinous, sticky, fragrant, and smooth, rivaling the texture of roast duck. …
Baoying in Yangzhou is renowned as the "hometown of lotus roots." The lotus roots here are branchy, plentiful, juicy, and tender, making them a delicious fruit. Lotus root starch from Baoying is made from the starch of fresh lotus roots and was already considered a tribute to the imperial court during the Ming Dynasty. This product is light in texture, finely ground, white in color, mild in taste, and neutral in nature, making it easy to digest — an excellent tonic. It is especially suitable for the elderly and those with weaker constitutions. (Yangzhou…)
This liquor was a famous wine in Yangzhou as early as the Song Dynasty and is now produced by Yangzhou Wiquan Distillery. Brewed with spring water from the Wiquan water system, it has a mild nature, rich aroma, mellow and refreshing taste, and a long-lasting flavor. It also offers health benefits and strengthens the stomach. (Yangzhou)…