Hangzhou cuisine can be traced back to the Southern Song Dynasty, more than a thousand years ago, when Lin'an as a prosperous Kyoto, the north and south of the famous chefs gathered together, all the merchants gathered here, Hangzhou cuisine has reached its heyday. It is understood that Hangzhou cuisine is historically divided into two schools, "Lake" and "City Hall". The former uses mainly fish, shrimp and poultry, specializing in raw and fried, stewed, tender and stir-fried techniques, pay attention to clear, fresh, crispy, tender taste, focusing on retaining the original flavor. The latter material to meat mostly, cooking methods to steam, braising, blanching, burning-based, pay attention to light oil, light pulp, light and tender taste, pay attention to fresh and salty together.

Hangzhou cuisine called "Hang Gang Cuisine", mainly because of today's Hangzhou cuisine, mainly from the "Lake" the development of this school. The popularity of this genre was in the urban area of Hangzhou, which is now the West Lake area.