Hangzhou, a peaceful oasis outside of Shanghai, boasts beautiful sceneries of mountains and lakes. You’re bound to build up an appetite after hiking or exploring West Lake, so refuel with the local cuisine, which is light in flavor and not too oily. Read on for authentic and affordable eats.

Grandma’s Kitchen (外婆家)

As the name would suggest, Grandma’s Kitchen serves home-style cooking. While it’s popular amongst locals because of its cheap prices (you can leave stuffed for under 50RMB per person), this also leads to long queues. Although it is definitely worth the wait, it’s smarter to go at an off peak time, around 3-5 PM. When it comes to ordering, forget menus—Grandma’s Kitchen gives you a glossy magazine so you can gawk at every mouth-watering dish’s photo. Besides the aesthetic value, it also makes the ordering process much easier. Each dish has an English translation, which you need to cross-reference with the check-boxed sheet written in Chinese that you give to the server. Thankfully, their most popular and signature dishes are marked. Without being able to decipher every Chinese character, I ordered whatever had the most thumbs up signs next to it.

Out of their signature dishes, I tried the Claypot Tea Chicken (龙井茶香鸡) and Green Tea Cakes (绿茶饼). The Claypot Tea Chicken, my personal favorite, was extremely tender and fragrant, with its light and crisp skin and meat that fell off the bone. The Green Tea Cakes, fried on the outside, filled with bean paste, and rimmed with sesame seeds, were not overpoweringly sweet, but instead very mild. Although the green tea flavor was not strong as its powdered relative, matcha, I couldn’t help but devour four in a row.

As for side dishes, I ordered Grilled Eggplant and Roasted Cauliflower. The ingredients of the eggplant weren’t very complex, just roasted garlic on top of eggplant; you can find street food vendors making it the same way. However, simplicity is key with this dish. Grandma’s Kitchen’s rendition was much less oily than others I’ve tried and grilled to perfection, with each bite bursting with garlicky goodness. It was a nice change of pace not seeing my vegetables doused in oil. The cauliflower was crisp and coated with just enough sauce.

Fortunately, you can still get a taste of Hangzhou without actually making the trip, since Grandma’s Kitchen has chains in Shanghai. Just beware that their locations outside of Hangzhou are of slightly lesser quality in terms of flavor and preparation. Locations 2/F, 3 Hubin Lu, near Pinghai Lu 湖滨路3号2楼, 近平海路 Hangzhou 999 Huaihai Zhong Lu, IAPM Mall, LG2, near Shaanxi Nan Lu 淮海中路999号环贸IAPM广场LG2, 近陕西南路 Shanghai

Green Tea (绿茶)

Beautifully situated on a pond, it’s hard to tell what’s better: the food or the ambience. With floor to ceiling windows, natural light pours in from all directions. Green Tea perfectly emulated Hangzhou’s nature setting with a rustic yet hip vibe, including exposed brick, colorful lamps hanging from wooden beams, and zen-like water features.

Only a few dishes had pictures and English translations, but considering my luck at Grandma’s Kitchen, I decided to stick with arbitrarily choosing dishes based on what was popular.The Barbeque Chicken (绿茶烤鸡) , Frog with Garlic and Vegetables（铁板田鸡）, and Egg with Mixed Vegetable and Vermicelli Pancake Wrap (手抓抓合菜) proved their signature status. The chicken was juicy and flavorful, and tasted very similar to Xinjiang spices. Not realizing I had ordered frog until looking up the characters, I was surprised at how tasty it was—much like chicken in flavor, but with a fish-like texture. The egg dish was presented in a cast-iron skillet, with the omelette atop mixed vegetables, which you then place in onto a pancake. The different textures and aromas were cohesive, and it was overall an unpretentious dish with its basic yet flavorful components.

To satisfy my sweet tooth, I indulged in Thick Toast and Chilled Mango and Sago. Thick Toast is a consistently satisfying dessert no matter where you are in Asia, and Green Tea held up that notion. A giant piece of toast filled with smaller bread blocks covered in butter, condensed milk, and ice cream are quite literally a recipe for success. The less gluttonous Chilled Mango and Sago was light and refreshing, with a bright, fruity flavor. Location 83 Longjing Road, opposite the back door of Zhejiang Hotel 龙井路83号, 浙江宾馆后门斜对面 Hangzhou This article was written by Tatiana Bautista. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Tatiana Bautista