Xiang Ge Restaurant Changzhou Cuisine 香閣餐廳 常州菜 (Changzhou, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

We only have time for one proper meal in Changzhou (常州) on this trip, and I really wanted to make it count. The bad news was that most of the highly rated local restaurants were a little further away from the subway station. Since my team doesn’t travel by hired cars (sigh), it was pretty clear that I had to choose something within easy proximity.

Located just a stone’s throw from Olympic Sports Center Station (奧運中心站) — a station from where we’ve been hanging around this morning, Xiang Ge Restaurant Changzhou Cuisine (香閣餐廳 常州菜) is a local favorite for simple, homestyle dishes Changzhou style. Its sparking 4.7 rating on Dianping (大眾點評) caught my attention initially, although a quick look at the food photos quickly reset my expectations.

Xiang Ge offers a wide selection of local specialties, including braised pig intestines, stir-fried pigeon, and more but this afternoon we were aiming for some straightforward, hearty dishes instead.

Changzhou-style sesame puff (常州小麻糕) — A classic street snack from Changzhou. The puff pastry was seriously flaky, and it worked really well with the minced meat filling. A pretty solid welcome dish to start the meal.

Braised goose in supreme soy sauce (鹵味貢鵝) (¥68) — The goose was big and meaty. My team thought the texture was a little rough but I thought it was spot on. That said, I just wish the sauce had been a bit more intense to bring out the very best of the goose.

Stir-fried pig’s kidney and liver (八秒火爆腰肝) (¥47) — This was served in their homemade chili oil. I thought the thin slices of kidney and liver were very tender but I would much prefer that they were not sliced into such fine pieces.

Traditional Yan du xian (傳統醃篤鮮) (¥49) — One of my favorite Shanghainese-style soups.

I love that it came with a boatload of bamboo shoots, gourd (瓜), cured pork (咸肉), and bean curd knots (百頁結). Unfortunately, the broth was a tad too diluted and not quite milky and thick enough for my liking.

This pretty much did it for us in terms of experiencing the local cuisine. We’re leaving the rest of the afternoon for sightseeing and our rapid train leaves for Shanghai at 5pm. 

Food Rating: 5.7/10

Price: ¥¥

Address: 1267-10 Longjin Road, Xinbei District, Changzhou, China

常州市新北区龙锦路1267-10号

Closest Metro Station: Olympic Sports Center (奥体中心)

Tel: +86 (0519) 8958-8277

Opening Hours: 10:30am - 2:00pm, 5:00pm - 9:30pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/f4/U6hM

Makkee Culture Plaza 麥記牛奶公司 文化廣場店 (Changzhou, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

We arrived in Changzhou (常州) pretty late last night and didn’t get much of a chance to eat before crashing at midnight. After waking up the next morning, we decided to explore the city early and there was no better starting point than Wonder World (藝象天地), which sits right underneath the structure that houses our hotel.

Wonder World isn’t a particularly large mall, so it wasn’t surprising that there weren’t many shops open for breakfast. Instead of grabbing something quick like KFC, little nugget suggested having Chinese dessert at Makkee (麥記牛奶公司). But at 10am?

Makkee is a dessert brand available in many shopping malls in Shenzhen, but we never had the chance to visit before. So we didn’t expect that we could finally cross it off our list in Changzhou instead of Shenzhen.

Black glutinous rice with mango and vanilla ice cream (芒果白雪黑糯米) (¥20) — Little nugget wanted the vanilla ice cream even though he really hated the black glutinous rice. I guess when you haven’t eaten for more than 10 hours, you get a little desperate.

Taro and sago with coconut milk (香芋椰汁西米露) (¥20) — This came with large pieces of poached taro and a long ribbon of taro purée that, according to my team, looked like 💩. Yeah, it definitely affected my appetite a bit. Thought the sweet potato flavored mochi was also a little on the hard side.

Overall, it wasn’t a very satisfying sweet breakfast. I’ve had much better ones before.

Food Rating: 4.1/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: 867 Jinling Middle Road, Hongmei Subdistrict, Tianning District, Changzhou, China

常州市天宁区红梅街道晋陵中路867号

Closest Metro Station: Citizens' Square (市民广场)

Tel: +86 18118342319

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

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/ff/KfhM

WenPu Hotel 常州文璞酒店 (Changzhou, CHINA)

WenPu Hotel (文璞酒店) is a luxury landmark in the heart of Changzhou's Culture Plaza (文化廣場), known for its striking “arch bridge” theme. Opened in 2020, the hotel blends modern design with traditional Jiangnan bridge culture featuring a unique cantilevered structure that serves as a dramatic visual centerpiece in the city’s new cultural and commercial district.

Its location is ideal for exploring the city as it's right besides the Changzhou Library and Art Museum, and only a short walk from Citizens’ Square Metro Station (市民廣場站).

With less than 24 hours in town, choosing WenPu Hotel was an easy decision for us since we wanted to experience Changzhou’s heritage and energy as effortless as possible. That’s why I made this booking the first one for our Jiangnan trip.

When we arrived in Changzhou, it was already around 10pm. Not surprisingly, the lobby wasn’t busy. 

Our room looked almost exactly like the photos online — very spacious, with two comfortable double beds. 

The décor mainly in beige and light wood tones, created a calm and warm atmosphere.

The bathroom was also impressively spacious. Unlike some of the modern designs we’ve seen lately, both the shower area and the toilet are within the main bathroom space.

Shower room

Toilet

This guy didn’t care that it was nearly midnight. He wanted more game time and he wanted it now.

We woke up early the next morning to explore the area around the hotel. Besides the library and museum, Wonder World (藝象天地) — a shopping, dining, and entertainment hub sits directly underneath the hotel. There’s also plenty of open space for kids to run around, making it a great spot to spend a relaxed afternoon.

With Citizens’ Square Metro Station directly connected to Wonder World, we decided to grab lunch there instead to avoid the crowds. More on that later.

Rating: ❤❤❤❤

Price: ¥¥

Address: Building 5, 2 Jinxiu Road, Changzhou Cultural Plaza, Tianning District, Changzhou, China

常州市天宁区锦绣路2号常州文化广场5号楼

Closest Metro Station: Citizens' Square (市民广场)

Tel: +86 (0519) 8567-8888

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/fa/-ihM

The Spoon Pasta Bar (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

The Spoon Pasta Bar and its freshly handcrafted pasta had been on my mind for quite some time. It was an itch I was more than happy to scratch before the Easter holidays officially kick off this weekend.

There were plenty of dining options in Soho that caught my eye, but I was determined to check this one off my list. At around 3pm, the restaurant was still accepting guests, and not surprisingly, it wasn’t a full house.

Seafood brown butter tomato rigatoni ($168) — The homemade rigatoni was extra long, which made it even more special.

I really enjoyed the al dente rigatoni that was perfectly cooked with a slightly chewy bite. It did an excellent job soaking up the flavors of the tomato sauce, seafood jus, and brown butter. And then there were the shrimp, squid rings, and baby scallops each one adding to the richness and texture of the dish.

If I’m being picky, I thought the dessert menu could have been more extensive. Without a tiramisu or other classic Italian sweets, I decided to settle the bill and hunt for my sweet treat somewhere else.

Food Rating: 6.8/10

Price: $$$

Address: 24 Gough Street, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central / Sheung Wan

Tel: +852 5187-3842

Website: https://www.instagram.com/thespoon.pastabar

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 10:00pm daily