My China Bites: Hangzhou Eats

During my two weeks in China, I took a side trip to Hangzhou, a short 3 hour bus ride away.  We spent most of our days there meandering around West Lake but of course, there was quite a large amount of time spent on food.

Even though we were just there for 3 days, we spent two meals at Grandma’s (外婆家), a chain that offered pretty affordable local cuisine.

For appetizers, we sampled a salted and marinated cod…

Veggie duck stewed in soy..

Stewed mung bean noodles…

And sweet and sour soup.

For our mains, we ended up tasting a pretty delicious sweet Dong Po pork roast…

Egg, chives and bean sprout saute…

A stew of clams and salted cod with salted cabbage and stinky tofu…

And a plate of sauteed pumpkin and chilies.

For breakfast, we feasted on pan seared soup dumplings in the older part of town.

Crispy bottoms…

And almost translucent skin filled with soup made for a delicious breakfast.

And on our walks, we also came across what might have been China’s version of the cronuts.  For two days in a row, we walked pass this particular pastry shop and its never ending line.

Out of curiosity, we got in line to find out what they were selling that was so popular with the locals.

It turns out they were churning out batches after batches of chestnut filled pan fried pastries and they were selling out literally like, well, hot cakes!

We bought a box to enjoy later but I couldn’t help take a bite.  The flaky crust enrobed a perfectly sweet chestnut filling, making this a fabulous afternoon snack, equally enjoyable with or without a cup of tea.