Tian Xiang Lou 天香樓 (Hangzhou, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I'm off to Zhejiang (浙江) this week on a short business trip. It's my first trip back to Hangzhou (杭州) since 2024. We are staying very close to the West Lake (西湖) and with the hotel's proximity to the lake, it was only natural to kick things off with a boat tour. Watching the sun set from the water made it extra special. A lovely start to the trip.

Afterwards, we were taken to Tian Xiang Lou (天香樓) for dinner. While most Hongkongers should be familiar with the name, not everyone knows that this legendary restaurant renowned for its Hangzhou cuisine, actually started in Hangzhou. According to my AI assistant, it first opened its doors here in 1927 before expanding to Hong Kong and Taipei, where it became an iconic, award-winning name in both cities.

Tian Xiang Lou’s Hangbang cai (杭幫菜) is all about fresh, crisp, and tender textures, with a “light on oil (輕油), light on soy sauce (輕醬)” approach. It’s quite different from the Shanghainese cuisine we’re used to back in Hong Kong.

By the time we reached our tables, some of the cold appetizers were already waiting for us. The servers soon started bringing out the hot dishes, too — and before long, they were stacking them up to make room.

Apart from the ever-popular Dongpo pork (東坡肉) and chili prawns, there were plenty of local delicacies for us to try.

Tianxiang Soy-Braised Duck (天香醬鴨) — The duck was coated in a very intense soy-based sauce. Not bad, but for a duck of that size, I expected it to be a lot meatier.

Stir-fried eight-treasure vegetable (八寶如意菜) — This came with thin strips of soybean sprouts, carrots, spinach, wood ear mushrooms, dried tofu, winter bamboo shoots, and dried lily buds. My colleagues thought shiitake mushrooms were the eighth ingredient. As expected, the seasoning was very light.

Hangzhou-Style Smoked Fish (杭州燻魚) — The texture and flavor were exactly like those served in Hong Kong. Not bad.

Stir-fried beef fillet (小炒黃牛肉) — This reminded me of Hunan-style stir-fried beef, with a little spicy kick.

Stir-fried shredded pork with dried tofu (香乾炒肉絲) — The thin strips of dried tofu were the highlight here. I was hoping for some serious "wok hei", but that was nowhere to be found.



Beef tenderloin with mushrooms and greens (碧綠山珍牛柳) — The tenderloin was disappointingly bland and not nearly as tender as the stir-fried beef fillet.



Tianxiang-style mandarin fish (天香桂魚) — This turned out to be the crowd-pleaser of the night. The fish was really succulent and, most importantly, didn’t have too many bones!

We were finished off with a couple more vegetables, including this stir-fried potato ball dish.

And this one, we called it the Hangzhou-style vegetarian poke bowl. It came with slices of pumpkin, tomato, and gourd, along with green peas, fish puff (魚腐), and mei cai (梅菜), all beautifully arranged in a large bowl.

Everyone was itching to get back to the hotel for some rest, so it wasn’t surprising that we left quite a bit of food behind. Tomorrow will be an early start so let's hope that the check-in at the hotel would be a breeze.

Food Rating: 5.6/10

Price: ¥¥

Address: No. 447 Yan'an Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China 

浙江省杭州市延安路447号

Closest Metro Station: Fengqi Road (凤起路)

Tel: +86 (571) 8707-6789

Opening Hours: 10:30am - 1:30pm, 4:30pm - 8:30pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/3e/ehLM