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