Hangzhou's famous Longjing tea is used as the ingredient for Longjing shrimps (Longjing xia ren), a well-known dish. Young tea leaves are cooked with freshwater shrimps, releasing a lingering fragrance and the freshness of the shrimps.
The dish is said to have been invented by Emperor Qianlong (1735-1796) of the Qing dynasty. After a tour to Hangzhou, he brought back to the palace some high-quality Longjing tea. He liked the tea so much that he asked the imperial cook to prepare a dish using the tea and shrimps.
Hangzhou dishes are representative of Zhejiang cuisine, one of China's eight major cuisines. Hangzhou dishes are best known for their refreshing taste and colourful, elaborate presentation. Chicken, pork, fish, shrimp and crab are common ingredients.
West Lake vinegar fish (Xihu cu yu) combines sweet and sour flavours. It has a thick sauce made of rice wine, sugar and vinegar. Traditionally, a grass carp is kept in a tank and starved for two or three days to clean its bowels and get rid of the mud smell.
Beggar's chicken (jiao hua ji) is said to originate from an interesting story about 400 years ago. A beggar stole a chicken, but he was so poor that he had no cooking equipment. So he wrapped the chicken with clay and put it on a fire. After a while, he broke open the clay and the chicken turned out to be very tender and delicious. Today, cooks stuff the chicken with various ingredients.
Dongpo pork (dongpo rou) is said to have been invented by So Dongpo, a famous poet in the Song dynasty who became governor of Hangzhou. Streaky pork is cut into five-centimetre cubes and braised inside a clay pot until the pork is sufficiently tender to be cut into small pieces with chopsticks. Dongpo pork is red, a little fatty but not too oily.