Royji Nishimura 西村良集 (Hangzhou, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Continuing my journey through Xiaohe Historic Cultural District (Xiaohe Zhijie 小河直街), a preserved waterside neighborhood along the Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal, I took a series of staircases beneath a bridge and eventually reached a street lined with cafés and restaurants.

This part of the historic district retains the traditional layout of a late-Qing and early-Republic canal town, with white-walled, dark-tiled two-story houses, shops on the ground floor, and residences above. It was a shame it was too dark to take any meaningful photos.

I headed straight to Royji Nishimura (西村良集), a Basque cheesecake specialist known for its innovative takes on the Spanish burnt cheesecake.

Original Basque cheesecake — Judging by the Japanese name, I was expecting some kind of Japanese twist. The first thing I noticed was that the texture was a little more custardy than I’d prefer. It was still reasonably soft and fluffy, but the cheese flavor didn’t really stand out.

Pistachio Basque cheesecake — While the texture remained slightly custardy, this was much than the original flavor in the sense that there was the rich pistachio nuttiness to complement the light cheesiness. Not bad.

The texture was again slightly custardy, but this was much better than the original flavor with the rich pistachio nuttiness complementing the light cheesiness nicely. Not bad.

I was hoping to try the salted egg yolk and pork floss flavored cheesecake tonight, but unfortunately, it was all sold out. The staff member was very friendly and told me about a bargain deal on Dianping (大眾點評) — two slices for ¥27.9, with a choice of seven selected flavors. Great deal!

Food Rating: 5.4/10

Price: ¥

Address: No. 46 Xiaohe Road, Xiaohe Subdistrict, Gongshu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China 

浙江省杭州市拱墅区小河街道小河路46号

Tel: +86 19526218584

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/26/HMNM

Sette Gelato (Hangzhou, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

After our group dinner, we spent some time wandering around the area near the Grand Canal of China (中國大運河). There were a handful of interesting shops along the streets, but eventually I decided to explore on my own.

My exploration took me to Xiaohe Zhijie (小河直街), a charming historic neighborhood along the canal in Hangzhou. The neighborhood sits at the junction of the Grand Canal, Xiaohe River, and Yuhangtang River, and the view was spectacular, especially under the illuminated lights.

AMap estimated the walk would take around 25 minutes, but I just didn’t believe it. How could a straight walk south along the Grand Canal take so long? As it turned out, it took me about half an hour to reach Xiaohe Zhijie’s canal-side quarter, home to trendy coffee shops, traditional teahouses, creative studios, and craft workshops.

I headed straight for Sette Gelato, an artisanal gelateria that had come highly recommended on social media.

Like most artisanal gelato shops, Sette offered only a small number of flavors, made in small batches. Tonight, there were six gelato flavors and five sorbets on the menu.

The building that housed the gelato shop had pitched roofs covered in small, overlapping dark gray tiles. It looked like a restored traditional structure, but it was too dark to tell for sure.

I went with a mix of persimmon and wasabi (柿子山葵) and Jiuqu Jin Gui (九曲金桂), hoping for a balance of fruity and tea flavors.

Persimmon and wasabi (柿子山葵) — The fruity persimmon paired nicely with the earthy, herbal notes of fresh wasabi. Shredded persimmon compote in the middle added a little more texture and flavor. Good thing that it wasn’t overly sweet too. Not bad.

Jiuqu golden osmanthus (九曲金桂) — I expected this gelato, made with Hangzhou’s traditional scented black tea, to have a lovely fragrance and more importantly, to contrast sharply with the fruity persimmon. It fell well short of my expectations, though, as the tea flavor was very much muted.

I still have another dessert place to visit at Xiaohe Zhijie. Hopefully, it won't take another 30 minutes to walk there.

Food Rating: 5.2/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: No. 149-5, Hushu North Road, Gongchenqiao Subdistrict, Gongshu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China 

浙江省杭州市拱墅区拱宸桥街道湖墅北路149-5号

Tel: +86 13336047022

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 8:30pm (Mon - Thu), 11:30am - 9:00pm (Fri - Sun)

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/eb/vILM

  

957運河家宴 沈半路店 (Hangzhou, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

957 Yunhe Family Banquet (957運河家宴) was our dinner venue tonight. As I understand it, we were here mainly because of its proximity to our evening activity — a walk along the Grand Canal of China (中國大運河).

Opened in December 2021, the restaurant specializes in authentic Zhejiang cuisine and is a pretty popular choice for family gatherings and formal banquets. Its signature Qiantang River Eel features tender, steamed pieces of fresh river eel with a rich, delicate flavor. Of course, there were also other hearty, home-style dishes on the menu.

As with every meal on this trip, the dishes arrived in rapid succession.

West Lake lotus root stuffed with glutinous rice (西湖糯米藕) — I missed out on this dish on our first night, so there was no way I was passing it up again. I thought the osmanthus-honey sauce was a tad too sweet for me, but the lotus root stuffed with glutinous rice was delicious.

Braised chicken with chestnuts (栗子炆雞) — I was surprised to see not one but several Cantonese dishes tonight. Perhaps our host thought we might be feeling a little homesick after spending the past three days in Hangzhou.

Radish braised in meat sauce (肉汁蘿白) — One of the heartier, home-style dishes of the evening. It was perfect with steamed rice.

Shredded pork with water celery and dried tofu (水芹菜香干肉絲) — The thin strips of water celery and dried tofu were the stars of this dish.

Duck casserole with dried bamboo shoots and ham (老鴨煲筍干火蹱) — Everyone was curious about what was hiding beneath the yellowish broth. As it turned out, it was duck and bamboo shoots. The duck was a little tough tonight, but the bamboo shoots were spot on.

River prawns with soy sauce (豉油皇河蝦) — My colleague had been asking when we’d get to try river prawns smoked with Longjing tea. Could this be the night? Well, obviously not!

 
Steamed grouper (清蒸石斑) — Another home-style Cantonese dish that made some of us miss home even more.

Loofah with shrimp paste (絲瓜蝦滑) — Another vegetable dish, this one served with shrimp-paste balls.

Dessert was a homemade sweet soup made with osmanthus and bean curd, served with sweet dumplings wrapped in dough of different flavors. I was too full to enjoy much of it, but my colleagues were impressed by the sweet soup which has been enhanced with local rice wine.

That was a very quick meal. Before I could put my camera back into my back pack, the team already took off for the bus which has been waiting downstairs. I guess we were on a very tight schedule even after dinner time!

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: No. 218, Shenban Road, Gongshu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China 

浙江省杭州市沈半路218号

Closest Metro Station: Gaotingba (皋亭坝)

Tel: +86 (571) 8891-8957

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 2:00pm, 4:30pm - 9:00pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/97/cHLM