Four Seasons in Hangzhou day 2: ode to mountains and seas

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For our lunch at Song (颂) inside the Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at Hangzhou Centre (杭州中心四季酒店), we were hosted inside one of the restaurant's private rooms. It wouldn't be a meal with Mr. Chichi without a long menu, and today the menu went all the way down the back of the menu card... The poetic title was Ode to Mountains and Seas, A Summer Feast of Ningbo (山海颂•甬浙夏宴), as the restaurant specializes in Ningbo (寧波) cuisine. This was a deliberate choice to avoid direct competition with Jin Sha (金沙厅) at the other Four Seasons in town. Chef Neil Zeng (曾东海) - who was previously the head chef at Jin Sha - would be taking good care of us today.

We were meant to have started with something else that served as the first stanza, but the kitchen had other ideas... So let's go with the second stanza, entitled Terroir (越溪风物):

Marinated crab | ginegar | vinegar | soy sauce | liquor (招牌宁式十八斩) - I tasted more ginger and less chili. I also think this was less savory, maybe because the soy sauce-based marinade had just been poured tableside.

Four Seasons in Hangzhou day 2: journey to the Centre

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It's Saturday morning, and despite waking up in the luxurious, tranquil surroundings of my room at Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake, my first order of business was to do some work. Thankfully there were still some berries left on my fruit platter from yesterday, so I nibbled on those while staring at the screen.

Given all the calories I took in last night, and am due to consume later today, I honestly didn't need any hotel breakfast. However, we were told to try the dim sum items coming from the kitchen at Jin Sha (金沙厅), so I went down to West Lake Bistro (西湖餐厅) to check out the spread.

Hangzhou is well known for two things - Longjing tea (龍井茶) and osmanthus flowers. I've long loved the combination of both into osmanthus Longjing (桂花龍井), and happy to see it on offer here.

Four Seasons in Hangzhou day 1: back at the lake

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A couple of months ago Mr. Chichi asked whether I would be interested in joining him on a trip to Hangzhou (杭州). Well, I had missed the opportunity to revisit the city 2 years ago during my self-imposed travel ban, and I've been wanting to tick a few restaurants off my list. Of course I said "Yes" immediately. Later on I discovered that beyond visiting a few restaurants represented by the local PR contact, the trip was also sponsored bythe two Four Seasons properties in the city, so we would be immersed in luxurious surroundings during our stay.

My morning started with meeting The Great One at the airport, where she waited for me to check-in for our flight together. Then it was a trip to the CX lounge for some breakfast. It's been a while since my last bowl of the dandan noodles (擔擔麵), and I swear they've diluted the sauce. I also took a bowl of biang-biang noodles (𰻞𰻞麵) for variety. After all, this would be better than anything I would get onboard during the flight.

We landed in Hangzhou and were whisked to Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake (杭州西子湖四季酒店) by hotel car. As I would tell everyone repeatedly over the next couple of days - including the Four Seasons team who welcomed us - Four Seasons didn't exist in Hangzhou when I last stepped foot in the city. In fact, the only international hotel brand operating in Hangzhou in 1998 was Shangri-La.

Seafood and bongwater

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I got a message a couple of days ago... my friend Vlad would be in town for a couple of days. I am always looking to spend more time with him, so we made plans to meet up for dinner tonight - just after he lands. We figured they would appreciate some casual, local Canto fare, so I booked us a table at our new favorite neighborhod joint Lucky Ship (船嘉•福).

The owner behind this joint also owns a seafood supply business, so this is one of their strengths. Foursheets and I love this place for a variety of reasons. Besides the fact that they are very pet-friendly with their outdoor seating, We also love the daipaidong (大排檔) atmosphere as well as the classic dishes.

Chaozhou cold threadfin with rice (潮式凍馬友魚飯) - one would think that with the majority of Chinese in Thailand descended from Chiuchow immigrants, the cold "fish rice (魚飯)" would be more familiar to our visitors. I was wrong. But happily this turned out to be well-received. I do love it when they do it the new style, cut into pretty, bite-size chunks instead of having the fish served whole.

Birthday in the summer

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It’s no secret that Mr. Chichi is a superfan of Chef Vicky Cheng’s, and he’s been to both VEA and Wing (永) countless time… although I’m pretty sure he actually does keep count. He recently asked me to join his dinner table at Wing, and since I was kinda curious about how much more food Vicky gives him on top of a “standard” menu, I said yes.

We started, as usual, with a seasonal drink to suit the 24 seasons. Currently we are in Summer Solstice (夏至).