Suzhou Banquet Dishes

The formal Suzhou style banquet is renowned throughout China. It is made up of many Suzhou signature dishes. The most famous of them is Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish.

Squirrel-shaped Mandarin Fish (Song Shu Gui Yu)

The Squirrel-shaped Mandarin Fish is characterized by its lack of bones and soft meat. The name is derived from the dish’s resemblance to a squirrel. The meat of the fish is made to protrude outwards like the fur of a squirrel. The placement of the fish and the red sauce poured over it also adds to its resemblance.
The fish is deep fried to give it a beautiful fragrance, while the meat inside is soft and fresh. The sweet and sour sauce further enhances its flavour, making this a mouth-watering and appetizing dish!

Whitebait Soup

Whitebait Soup is another typical dish in the Suzhou banquet.
This light and delicious soup is features the soft textured whitebait as its main ingredient. Ham, bamboo slices, green vegetables in the soup adds to its aromatic taste.

Biluo Shelled Shrimps

Biluo Shelled Shrimps is named after Bi Luo Chun tea, which is produced in Suzhou and is arguably the finest green tea.

This dish is prepared using Bi Luo Chun tea leaves to flavour the shrimp, giving the dish its unique taste.

Watermelon Chicken

Watermelon Chicken is unique in look and taste. The chicken is first braised, then marinated in a watermelon. The final result is a dish with both sweet and savoury flavours.

Taihu Boat Dishes

In addition to these formal banquet dishes, Taihu Lake in Suzhou also offers a unique array of seafood dishes.

With Taihu lake in the backdrop, you can experience what is known as Taihu Boat Dishes. Taihu Boat Dishes dates back to the Tang Dynasty, which is over 1,000 years ago. Officials and merchants would hold banquets on boats at the lake, enjoying the beautiful scenery while feasting. Since 1994, Boat Dishes have become a well established tradition in Guangfu town, at the eastern bank of the lake.

Currently, there are 13 boat restaurants along the fishing harbor at Taihu Lake. The wide variety of seafood available includes the well known Steamed White Fish, White Shrimps and Whitebait.

Taihu Lake white Fish

White fish is a specialty of the Taihu Lake. It is steamed with shredded ginger and red and green peppers. The dish is wonderful in texture, look, aroma and of course, taste.

Cracking Eel Paste

Cracking Eel Paste, is another Suzhou dish. The eel paste is made with rice field eels being broiled, stir-fried or quick-boiled.
The word cracking refers to the cracking sound of oil still present when the dish is served right out of the kitchen.

Jiasohuazi (beggar's ) chicken

About this famous Jiaohuazi(beggar's) chicken, there appears a lot of legends and stories, of which this one is most widely-known. A long time ago, a beggar passed a small village of Changshu, Suzhou. One day, he got a chicken and wanted to cook it for dinner. However, with no kitchen wares or any flavoring, it seemed to be impossible to cook it. Finally, the beggar arrived at the foot of Yushan Hill and killed the chicken with the intestines eviscerated and mud and weeds covered before putting it over the fire. When cooked, he stripped the mud and weeds and enjoyed the savory chicken meat.
Tips: when enjoy the delicious Jiaohuazi(beggar's) chicken, one can add some sesame oil together with sweet soybean paste and raw scallion, which could make the taste even better. Do remember to eat when it is hot.

Suzhou Snacks

If you have sweet tooth, Suzhou has various snacks to impress and satisfy your sweet desires. Some of these snacks may not appear in large restaurants but you will definitely be able to find them in ordinary snack booths or shops.

Green Dumpling Snack

Green Dumpling is a special food during April. It is made from glutinous rice, the green colour is from the juice of bromegrass which takes you a fresh taste, and the filling is made from sweetened bean paste and sugar.

Pan-fried Steam Buns

It’s classical, fantastic, wonderful, unexceptionable, terrific and awesome. In fact, shengjian mantou (生煎馒头, Shengjian mantou) is not a kind of steamed bun but stuffed bun. Shengjian mantou is fried on a big pan in shallow oil, so the bottom of shengjian mantou is very crisp and tasty. The most wonderful part is the filling which select and use leg meat of the hog. The secret of the dainty lies in the meat jelly which is mingled with the filling. After the frying, jelly is melted into juice, so it’s absolutely tasty.

Tips:

Enjoying the shengjian mantou you need some skills. The mantou just off the fried pan is very hot, you should take care of your mouth and tongue. The right way is use your tooth to tear a small hole on the top and sip off the delicious meat juice carefully, the last step is eating up the mantou.

Paopao Wonton Dumpling Soup

Wonton is a classical snack in South China, paopao wonton is the favourite for girls in Suzhou. The fillings usually use pork and shrimp and not filled too full, the remaining space is left for the air.

Suzhou style noodles

Suzhou style noodles is very famous in the Yangtze River Delta area. The same as Japanese Ramen, Suzhou style noodles emphasize the soup too. Soup is the soul of the noodle. The different is Suzhou local noodle use fine noodles not the thick noodles in Japan. Due to the different colour of the soup, there are red soup noodles and white soup noodle. Also, the toppings (in Chinese it is called jiaotou 浇头) are important too, you can choose chop steak, smoked fish, peeled prawns, eel paste or something else as your toppings.

Suzhou style mooncakes

Mooncake is the traditional snack during the Mid-Autumn Day. Suzhou style mooncake is very special in China. It is pan fried with pork as the special filling. Other styles of mooncakes use fillings like sweetened bean paste, yolk, lotus and pineapple. The savoury taste and pork filling makes this Suzhou style mooncake unique.

Sweet dried bean curd

Sweet dried bean curd is a typical Suzhou snack, tasting juicy and sweet. Both local citizens and overseas travelers are fond of its unique taste. If you want to bring some local specialties home, this one must be included on your list.

Sesame Cakes Filled with Jujube Paste

Sesame Cakes Filled with Jujube Paste in Chinese is called Zao Ni Ma Bing. There is a interesting legend about the birth of Zao Ni Ma Bing. This story is about the business should be honest towards customers and keep quality of the products. By this way, his / her business will be flourishing. 

Suzhou Preserved Fruits

Suzhou locates near Tai Lake, so it teems with plum, apricot, loquat, waxberry, peach, golden orange, etc. It provides rich raw materials to the production of confects. It is popular from the Three Countries Dynasty. In Qing Dynasty, the confects are famous at home and abroad. It is sweet and refreshing. It is suitable for the old and the young.