Where to eat in Hangzhou, China’s rising fine-dining hub where regional flavours coalesce
Hangzhou has become a gourmand mecca in recent years, with its Michelin Guide full of top restaurants serving a range of Chinese cuisines
Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province, has been known for many things over the centuries: its scenic West Lake, immortalised in poetry; its silk, which earned it the title of China’s “city of silk”; and its Longjing tea, the leaves of which are found all over the city’s rolling hillsides.
One of the restaurants bolstering the city’s reputation is Ru Yuan (11 Yuquan Road, Xihu district, Hangzhou), by Hangzhou-born chef-owner Fu Yueliang.
Set within the Hangzhou Botanic Gardens, the restaurant is known for its Zen Japanese aesthetics. At the most recent Michelin Guide Hangzhou awards ceremony, it became the city’s first restaurant to be bestowed with two Michelin stars.
During the same ceremony, Song (8/F, Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at Hangzhou Centre, No 493 Zhongshan North Road, Gongshu district, Hangzhou) earned a Michelin star just eight months after opening, renewing interest in Zhejiang province’s Ningbo cuisine.
