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