It is made from mandarin fish (also known as mandarin fish and stone mandarin fish). After being killed alive, remove the spine and cut diamond-shaped knife marks on the fish to the skin. After dipping in dry starch, it was fried in cooked lard for the second time, showing golden color. The meat turns into hair, the head is raised, and the fish tail is slightly tilted, like a squirrel. When the marinade is poured on the mandarin fish while it is hot, the mandarin fish will give off a fragrance. Because of its excellent color, fragrance, taste and shape, it can be called one of the leading characters in Suzhou Steel's famous dishes.

It is said that sweet and sour mandarin fish evolved from squirrel carp. At the beginning, Emperor Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River and wandered to Songhe Tower. To entertain the emperor, he insisted on eating fish. The chef used his quick wits to fry and cook carp for Marshal Zhao Gong. Later, carp was replaced by mandarin fish with thin bones and tender meat, and sweet and sour mandarin fish became a famous banquet dish. Famous chefs in Suzhou strive for perfection in cooking. There are fifteen or sixteen kinds of condiments and seasonings, such as shrimp, diced cooked bamboo shoots, diced mushrooms, green peas, pork soup, wine, vinegar, salt, sugar, lard, sesame oil, onions, garlic cloves, dry starch and wet starch. The sweet and sour mandarin fish, which was praised as the "chief dish" by Japanese friends who filmed "Sanwei China", was listed as one of Jiangsu's performance dishes at the national cooking master's technical performance appraisal meeting held in 10 this year.

There is a saying in Tang poetry that "peach blossoms flow and mandarin fish are fat", so the best time to taste sweet and sour mandarin fish is between March and April every year.

Snail shrimp

It is cooked with live river shrimp from Taihu Lake basin and Biluochun, a famous tea from Dongting East and Xishan, and has strong Suzhou local characteristics. Shrimp, especially white shrimp in Dongshan area, is extruded from live shrimp and added with slurry made of refined salt, egg white and dry starch. When the cooked lard pot is heated to 50%, slide the shrimp to milky white, drain the water with a colander, and then fry it again with high fire. At this time, add the tea leaves and monosodium glutamate soaked in 5g Biluochun tea in advance, and stir-fry is not allowed, then take the shrimps out of the pot and put them on the plate. At the same time, it is decorated with soaked tea leaves, which are green and white, and the shape is delicious and fresh.

Water shield skin sugar tablets

Taking the unique water shield (also known as Pucai and Shuikui) and pond fish (commonly known as pond fish, native fish and tiger shark) in Taihu Lake as raw materials, it is a soup in the famous dishes of Su Bang.

Water shield grows in Taihu Lake with a long history and uses its tender leaves that are not exposed to the water as soup. There is a phrase "fish soup" in the book of delicious food. Praise "water shield soup": "The glass bowl is filled with jasper light, and the five flavors are mixed." Siniperca chuatsi likes to live in cracks or roots of lakes and beaches, feeding on small fish and shrimp, with a round head and tender meat. Scalding, that is, after removing the spine and head of Siniperca chuatsi, makes clean fish slices. Add Shao wine, salt and chopped green onion, mix well, and then boil in the soup made of lard and broth. Add Shao wine, shredded ham and monosodium glutamate, then pour it into the water shield bowl and drizzle with chicken oil, and it becomes a delicious soup with endless aftertaste.

Suzhou chuandian

Suzhou boat cuisine belongs to the dim sum part of Suzhou boat cuisine. Suzhou boat dishes have a long history and have nothing to do with Suzhou water town. Suzhou has the reputation of Venice in the East. Historically, transportation mainly relied on ships. At that time, there were more than ten kinds of junk boats, canoes, clippers, cruise ships, juggling boats and sailing against the current, while junk boats, canoes and cruise ships all had "kitchens".

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, local businessmen often held banquets on cruise ships and invited "Wuzhong businessmen" to discuss business, which made the dishes on board more and more abundant. Wumen's banquet is mainly cold dishes, with wine and dishes, followed by cooking, with exquisite snacks in the middle and big dishes at last. Large dishes usually end with fish, which shows that there are more than enough leftovers. The chef knows the psychology of eating guests while eating. Dim sum is just an ornament, small and exquisite, both ornamental and delicious.

At present, all famous restaurants are innovating traditional boat dishes and have trained many masters in making boat dishes. Boat dishes have become an indispensable part of the banquet. Mainly flowers, insects, birds and animals, such as: white goose, with flour and jujube paste as stuffing; White rabbit, made of flour and fine sweet noodle sauce; Peaches are made of flour, fine sweet noodle sauce and cocoa powder. Loquat is made of flour, jujube paste, sweet bean paste, cocoa powder and sesame. When making, glutinous rice flour and mosaic powder are first kneaded into dough, then kneaded into shapes, and food pigments are added, then steamed in a steamer and coated with sesame oil when coming out.

Others include: spiny eel tube, white juice, round dish, oil eel paste and lung soup, salted shrimp, cherry meat, watermelon chicken, beggar chicken, oil chicken, fine exposed tendons, the first dish in the world, chicken oil, cabbage heart, mother oil, braised duck with whole duck, duck soup and water shield soup.

Famous snacks and famous snack bar

Zhuhongxing noodles

Zhu Hongxing is very knowledgeable in Suzhou. Suzhou people often complain after eating noodles from other places: they eat soy sauce soup with noodles. This is the difference in regional tastes. Suzhou noodles pay attention to soup, so does Zhu Hongxing. Hanging soup every day is like cooking soup in a restaurant, and it is never vague. Hanging soup should be made of chicken, pork, bones and eel bones, soaked in water, and then hung out the clear soup. Everyone has his own skills, and this is the secret recipe. At this point, everyone will understand the meaning of "noodle soup" in Lu's Gourmet.

With good soup, we should also pay attention to the thickness of noodles. Zhu Hongxing's dough is different from others. It is made of fine flour called Erbaya. Pour it into the pot, add cold water, and then pour it out. Take it out and shape it with a claw, pat it twice in the air, roll the noodles tightly like a wooden comb, put it in the soup, sprinkle some onions and garlic, and it will be a bowl of Yangchun noodles that can absorb soup and be hard to eat.

People who make noodles are particular, and people who eat noodles are unambiguous. Pick noodles first, then sip soup and eat noodles. Noodles suck soup, and the taste is inside. And it must be eaten within three to five minutes. This is the original flavor. If you don't eat it for a long time, the noodles will rot and taste different if you absorb too much soup. You will learn this knowledge about eating noodles next time, won't you?

The design and color of noodles are not simple. In the past, people in Suzhou were very particular about the seasons when eating, and there were four distinct seasons when eating Zhu Hongxing's noodles. Three shrimp noodles, shrimp noodles and fried noodles in spring; In summer, meat noodles and vegetable steamed bread in Fengzhen; Shrimp and crab noodles in autumn, steamed bread with crab powder and hoofed flower noodles in winter are all delicious and better. Nowadays, Zhu Hongxing has a complete skin color regardless of seasons, and timely introduces various seasonal new products to meet the tastes of different guests.

One more thing, don't forget. When taking noodles, the noodle manufacturer will ask you if you want to avoid green, and don't be at a loss, which means you don't want flowers like onions, garlic and parsley. Most of the foreign guests the clerk meets now will not let you encounter such trouble and embarrassment again.

Lvyang wonton store

Northerners like to eat jiaozi, while southerners like to eat wonton. Jiaozi just dipped in vinegar, one bite at a time. Wonton should have a soup bowl and complete seasonings, and you can only eat half a mouthful.

Suzhou's Populus davidiana chicken soup with crab powder wonton, thick skin, big stuffing, clear soup, and a few thin dried tofu shreds, is very attractive. The soup is clear as water, without a trace of flour turbidity, but it is fresh. The stuffing is soft and has a sauce flavor, which is a combination of southern and northern styles.

There is also a delicious food worth recommending in Luyang-a small cage of semi-tightly fermented crab powder. Semi-tight fermentation refers to slight fermentation, which is between dough and hard flour. It is tepid, very tough, not only keeps the taste, but also has a certain hardness, so the soup is not easy to flow out. When the mouth is lightly sucked, the freshness of crabs is transmitted through the teeth and tongue by combining the thickness of soy sauce and the sweetness of sugar, which is called lip and tooth fragrance.

Luchangxing noodles

Lu Changxing is a rising star in Suzhou noodle restaurant industry. 1992, inspired by foreign fast food, Lu and his son applied for registration of the trademark "Lu Changxing", and Lu Changxing became the first trademark of Suzhou catering industry. 1998, in the "Top Ten Bowl Noodles in Suzhou" selected by Suzhou Federation of Industry and Commerce, Suzhou TV Station and other units and Suzhou citizens, Lu Changxing's fried fish noodles with scallion oil and mushroom noodles both ranked among them, becoming the only noodle restaurant with two varieties. Lu Changxing's face is famous, not only for locals, but also for many tourists to the Soviet Union. Like Zhu Hongxing, Lu Changxing also opened chain stores such as Bifengfang Store, Wuzhong Road Store, Qinmen Store, Niujiaobang Store and Xiejiaqiao Store, and each store welcomed guests at 5 am. The unified distribution of raw noodles and various toppings in various stores has entered a new era of scale operation.

Babao porridge shop

Benedict. Sell sugar porridge, eat sugar porridge before swinging-the shouts sold in Suzhou Lane are still so clear and familiar. I want to know this beautiful girl with red clouds and white snow. I want to go to an "old shop" at the east foot of Xuanmiao Temple. That is, the "Jacky porridge shop" opened in the Qing Dynasty. When Emperor Kangxi went down to the south of the Yangtze River, he also tasted its delicious eight-treasure porridge, leaving Mo Bao with the "eight-treasure porridge", hence the new name "eight-treasure porridge shop".

"Eight-treasure porridge shop" not only sells nutritious eight-treasure porridge and cheap sugar porridge, but also stinky tofu with crispy outside, fresh spring rolls and imperial eight-treasure tofu ... absolutely delicious and cheap.

Other snacks

(1) sweet potato with sugar and oil tap

Suzhou's sweet potato with sugar and oil is strictly selected, and the sweet potato must be purchased from Yixing. It is said that Yixing sweet potato is delicate and crisp, which is incomparable to other sweet potatoes. White sugar is the top grade, and the cooking process strives to be coarse and fine, which is extremely serious. When processing, the sweet potato is washed first, baked with slow fire in a large pot, and when it is half crisp, white sugar is added to collect the paste, which requires the sugar taste to penetrate the heart, and then the boiled sugar oil is poured, so that it can be served. Sweet potato, sugar and oil tap, bright and shiny. When it is cut, you can see that it is full of red and rich fragrance. The population is crispy and sweet. It is especially loved by Suzhou people, and overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia also like it very much. This used to be the trump card of a century-old shop in Huang Tianyuan, but now it seems to be rare.

(2) Sweet-scented osmanthus chicken head rice

Chicken-headed rice has nothing to do with chicken, but a rare aquatic product in South Pond, Fengmen, Suzhou, also known as Euryale ferox. Chicken heads are also related to chickens. Because the degenerated part of the calyx on Euryale ferox looks like a chicken beak, everyone gave it a kind and appropriate common name "Jitoumi". Its flesh is jade white in color, and its particles are like beads, which are sweet, moist, soft and waxy, that is, it is called chicken head meat, which is peeled off from the shell by farmers. Because it is labor-consuming, chicken head rice itself is a tonic comparable to tremella, so the price is relatively expensive. Sweet-scented osmanthus chicken head meat, with chicken head meat, sweet-scented osmanthus sugar and soft sugar as the main auxiliary materials, is sweet and delicious after making, and is a favorite dessert of local people. In the past, chicken's head rice was only eaten when it came into the market in autumn. Now, some dried chicken head rice can be bought in some southern commodity stores to facilitate tourists to continue their journey.

(3) Begonia Cake-Plum Cake

The two most beautiful snacks in Suzhou belong to Begonia Cake and Plum Blossom Cake. Now, I'm afraid it's still hard to find them in big stores. In the past, they were often bought by shoulder vendors in the streets. The shapes of plum blossoms and begonia flowers are pleasing to the eye without eating them. They are baked in a special mold, with a flour shell outside and a bean paste filling inside. Because there are molds like plum blossom and begonia flower, it is natural to make such beautiful embryos. The freshly baked plum blossom and begonia cake is brown, with caramel color on the surface, and it tastes particularly sweet. It is also decorated with five colors, such as shredded fruit, melon seeds and sesame seeds, to make the flowers bloom completely. Therefore, it is interesting to eat Haitang cake, and it is also interesting to watch the chef in the store make Haitang cake. There is a vendor in Shenxian Street in Suzhou who stands there all the year round to make plum blossom and begonia cakes. Give it a try!

(4) Fried cooked lotus root with osmanthus flowers

Osmanthus fragrans and mature lotus roots in autumn are the best seasons in Suzhou. Sugar lotus root in Suzhou in Tang Dynasty was famous all over the country. Suzhou people use local materials, and use Suzhou's unique glutinous rice and autumn-blooming osmanthus flowers to get this sweet, glutinous and crispy delicacy. The method is to take the middle part of lotus root, put glutinous rice into the hollow part of lotus root, recombine the cut head and middle part into strips with chopsticks or bamboo chopsticks, and then put them in a pot with white sugar, osmanthus fragrans and brown sugar for cooking. Finally, you will see the red sauce of sweet-scented osmanthus boiled lotus root, juicy juice like honey and sweet and waxy entrance. You can also dip in rose sweet noodle sauce, osmanthus sweet noodle sauce or other flower dew.

⑤ Glutinous rice

Xuenuo is a valuable Redmi variety in Changshu since ancient times. Because of its high nutritional value, it can strengthen the body and was once regarded as a special "royal rice" to pay tribute to the court. Changshu people use it to brew winter sweet wine and make desserts. Blood glutinous rice, also known as fried blood glutinous rice, is a unique variety of restaurants in Wang Si and a famous restaurant in Changshu. Fried glutinous rice with blood is purple, full and nutritious, and it is a famous feast. The production method is quite special. Duck blood glutinous rice and fine glutinous rice are specialties of Changshu, which need to be soaked in advance, then steamed with white glutinous rice at a ratio of 3: 7, fried with sugar and oil, and sprinkled with osmanthus flowers, which are full of color, flavor and taste.

Food street and famous restaurants

fenghuang street

Phoenix Street borders Ganjiang Road, which runs through Suzhou in the north, and Shiquan Street, which features hotels, teahouses and handicrafts in the south, with a length of less than 1000 meters. In the past two years, with the completion of neighborhood reconstruction, nearly 20 large and small restaurants have been opened from north to south.

The scale of restaurants is generally small, ranging from a few tables to a dozen tables. The dishes are mainly Soviet-style dishes, with the characteristics of Zhejiang cuisine, Sichuan cuisine and other cuisines, especially paying attention to the side dishes and production characteristics of home-cooked dishes. On this basis, seasonal dishes with small containers, meticulous knife cutting and fresh taste are introduced, which are superior to home-cooked dishes in all aspects and make diners feel familiar and cordial.

The west entrance of the restaurant is Phoenix Street Civic Square. In the evening, the brightly lit restaurant is in sharp contrast with the scattered, quiet and leisure civic square. After drinking all night, walk out of the hotel, take a few steps in the public square, or sit for a while, and enjoy the splendor and passers-by in this street with friends in silence.

Zhen Shan Mei Taoyuan

Shanghai Xintiandi, located on the east side of Humble Administrator's Garden in Northeast Street, has become an international fashion place integrating catering, commerce, entertainment and culture. There is also a new world in Suzhou, with a particularly beautiful name-Zhenshanmeigouyuan.

The east area of Humble Administrator's Garden was originally a residential area with dilapidated buildings, which was extremely out of harmony with the external environment of Humble Administrator's Garden. As a practical project of the municipal government, it has been transformed into a quaint garden-style tourist commodity market with an area of 65,438+05,000 square meters, with two main floors and three local floors, thus forming a big environment for tourism, leisure and shopping. The "True, Good and Beautiful Food Garden" jointly built by the catering industry in Hong Kong and Taiwan was also completed here, forming a "new world" of Suzhou cuisine.

In Dingtaifeng, you can taste the famous authentic Dingtaifeng steamed buns in Taipei, and the "Red Chef" who specializes in pure Italian dishes is a well-known senior western restaurant in Taiwan Province Province. Now it is unique in Suzhou with its bright decorative style and open kitchen layout. Cantonese cuisine focuses on "Emerald", and chefs from Guangdong will let you taste authentic Cantonese cuisine. Fumantang Teahouse, Fang Jing Cafe and Ouba Lounge allow people to have their own leisure time. Chinese and western food, snacks, dinner, fragrant tea, coffee and drinks, and different styles and types of leisure catering come together to become a good place for people to relax.

Eunuch Lane-Bifeng Square

In Guanqian Street, the most prosperous street in Suzhou, there is a eunuch alley more than 200 meters long, named after the eunuch of Suzhou Weaving Bureau lived here in the Ming Dynasty. Now, it has become a famous food street in Suzhou.

Here, there are more than 65,438+00 famous restaurants and restaurants in Suzhou. To taste the famous Suzhou cuisine Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish, you can go to Songhelou Restaurant, which was founded in the Qing Dynasty. Across the street from Songhelou is Deyuelou Restaurant, which is famous for shooting three films: Satisfied or Unsatisfied, Little Moon Tower and Gourmet. Adjacent to Deyuelou is Wang Si Restaurant, which is famous for cooking Changshu dishes, such as Changshu beggar chicken. Eat the famous Qiao Feng series noodles in Jiangsu, jiaozi with fine sand and lard, and Wufangzhai, which is famous for making snacks. Diagonally opposite is Zhu Hongxing, the pastry king. ...

"Heaven is Suzhou, eating evil eunuchs" is a folk proverb in Suzhou, which really shows the advantages of this food street.

Walking through eunuch lane, you can't make more mistakes than Bifengfang, which is a delicious and steaming food upstart street. In the past, I liked to look from east to west. Wang Si Restaurant, Songhe Building, Deyue Building and Laozhengxing are all made by eunuchs. Now I should look from west to east. Zhu Hongxing, Lvyang Wonton Restaurant, Good People Folk Snacks, Chuanfulou, Haolunge Brazilian Barbecue, Tongrun Hunan Restaurant, Han Song Garden Korean Cuisine, one room ... Looking at the shops all over the street, many shops came from behind.

The rising Bifengfang never wanted to compete with the eunuchs in the old gourmet street, only thinking about the characteristics of all rivers in the world and the ideal of all food in the world. In the west, there are big dishes waiting, and in the east, there is a world food festival for civilians. This block with a width of 12 m and a length of 300 m has not only Suzhou elites such as Zhu Hongxing and Luyang Wonton, but also smart Sichuan snacks. Guangdong and Hunan also came in a hurry, and even Japanese, Korean and Brazilian cuisines traveled across the ocean. It's too noisy. Spend a little money, but you can enjoy the delicious food in the world. This is the biggest dietary feature of Bifengfang, and it has also become its vibrant sunshine concept.

Deyuelou

Address: No.27 eunuch lane

Tel: 226969

One of the most famous restaurants in Suzhou, divided into two floors, is a classical and exquisite building as a whole, which is very superior to Suzhou gardens. You can enjoy food and architecture.

The color of dishes changes at any time due to different seasons, such as cherry juice meat in spring; In summer, there are steamed shad, Fengxiang hoof, steamed meat with lotus sauce powder, etc. Famous dishes in autumn include yellow chicken, chestnuts and oily meat; In winter, there are Babaoji bones, boiled herring and assorted warm pots.

Besides, the four seasons are very good, and everything is available.

the pine crane tower

Address: Guanqian Street 14 1

Tel: 227923

Founded in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, it has a history of more than 200 years, and Songhelou has long been the representative of traditional Subang cuisine. Suzhou is close to the shore of Taihu Lake and is rich in aquatic products, so the dishes are mainly fish and shrimp. Songhelou is no exception. The famous representative dishes are sweet and sour mandarin fish, lobi shrimp, braised pork and tofu.

Wang Si restaurant

Wang Si Restaurant was founded in Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty. Weng Tonghe, the teacher of Emperor Guangxu, once drank in Wang Si Restaurant and wrote a couplet for Wang Si Restaurant, which is famous for its franchise named "Flower Tube Chicken".

Eunuch Restaurant, headquartered in downtown Suzhou, runs a "food street" featuring authentic Subang cuisine and North-South flavor.

This branch is located in Xishan Tianlong Hotel, a branch of Suzhou Xishan Scenic Area. It is located at the north end of Shigong Mountain in Xishan, with elegant scenery and Suzhou cuisine. It also provides the three treasures of Taihu Lake with local characteristics: "whitebait, white fish and white shrimp".

Aozao noodles restaurant

Aozao noodle restaurant was founded in Xianfeng for three years (1853) and has a history of 147 years. The Ministry of Internal Trade awarded the Chinese time-honored restaurant. The predecessor of Aozao Pavilion is Tianxiang Pavilion in the north of Banshan Bridge. Due to poor management, the shopkeeper abandoned the museum and left. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Mrs. Zhao San, the creditor, gave it to Chen Xiuying, the embroidered mother, and renamed it "Yan Fuxing". Chen Xiuying is ingenious and good at making exquisite snacks. She listened carefully to the opinions of the diners, and the carefully cooked red oil noodles were really unusual. This small noodle restaurant with only three and a half tables suddenly became full of customers and became famous. Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Aozao Pavilion has restored its traditional characteristics, which has made this century-old shop glow with the brilliance of the Spring Festival, gained a great reputation and attracted a large number of customers. With China's opening to the outside world, the Austrian Furnace Museum is famous at home and abroad.

There have always been different opinions about the word "Aozao". It is said that Emperor Qianlong tasted this kind of noodles when he went down to the south of the Yangtze River, and Jinkou named him "Aozao". This is a legend, there is no evidence. A more credible statement is that Yan Fuxing's noodle restaurant is small and old, dark and long, while Chen Xiuying is old, slow-witted and careless, but he is often crowded with diners, so he is jealous of his peers and calls red oil noodles "bad noodles", which means it is not very clean. Who knows that this strange name actually ruined its reputation and increased its mystery, and then it was called "Aozao Pavilion" with the homophonic name of "Yan Bad".