On Christmas Eve, I suddenly decided to go to Yangzhou. Before that, all the impressions of Yangzhou fried rice except Li Bai's words "fireworks come down to Yangzhou in March", there was only a bowl of yellow and oily Yangzhou fried rice. When I was in Chongqing, a friend from Yangzhou invited me to visit and said he would take me to taste Yangzhou cuisine all over the streets and alleys.

To be honest, there are no waves in my heart, no expectations or aspirations. After all, I was born in Chongqing and have never seen any kind of spicy and delicious food before. It's hard to believe that there are any other delicacies in the world that can compete with Chongqing's hotpot and martial arts cuisine~

If you do not come to Yangzhou, you will not know that Huaiyang Cuisine cuisine is one of the four major cuisines, and you will not know that Yangzhou was once a rich place. My first impression of Yangzhou is that it is gentle and dignified, with a slow and leisurely tone, and a leisurely pace of life. On the way to Changle Inn by car, I didn't see any tall buildings, and the ones standing on the street were all low rise houses. In my heart, I thought to myself that Yangzhou in the plain area is also vast and sparsely populated!

The Changle Inn is adjacent to a garden, and walking in the alley, the blue bricks and black tiles of the Huizhou style architecture are like an ink painting. Shanghai's alleyways and Yangzhou's alleys really carry the scent of time! Being among them, one unconsciously becomes gentle~

Yangzhou is a garden city, and this journey of seeking taste seems to be walking between mountains, waters, and gardens every day. The inns we stay in are also like this! Mr. Chen also smiled and said that people with poor sense of direction may get lost in the inn.

Although cloudy and rainy days are not suitable for travel, they can enhance the beauty of a garden city. The sky is green, the rain and fog are vast, and the night is hazy. Looking at flowers and trees, they look a different way. Yangzhou has a kind of magic that can make restless people quiet and soothe their busy hearts.

Yangzhou Three Knife Culture

It is said that the life of Yangzhou people is "skin wrapped in water in the morning and water wrapped in foreskin at night". Skin wrapped in water refers to the morning tea culture, while water wrapped foreskin refers to the foot soaking and bathing culture at night. A leisurely slow life is probably about the comfort from morning till night! The three knives refer to a hair cutting knife, a foot trimming knife, and a kitchen knife. Among them, kitchen knives are the most famous, giving rise to famous Huaiyang dishes~

There is also the Huaiyang Cuisine Cuisine Master Studio near the Fun Garden, where you can watch the masters cooking on the spot. The cutting of textured tofu is really amazing. The Yangzhou fried rice cooked in three minutes smells delicious. Behind Huaiyang Cuisine is more the spirit of craftsmen. It is the tireless pursuit of these inheritors to make the food more exquisite and delicious.

Fun Garden Tea House has breakfast tea

As for morning tea, people like me who always eat noodles in Chongqing actually don't have much concept! So when I first arrived in Yangzhou, I was arranged to have morning tea~In my opinion, morning tea is no different from breakfast. The difference is that compared to breakfast, the word 'morning tea' seems more comfortable and leisurely. The scenery of Quyuan is good. Sitting in a private room, you can see the garden outside through the window.

Morning tea can be eaten casually or with a sense of ceremony. In order to fully experience the morning tea culture of Yangzhou, we chose a private room and tasted all the favorite breakfast dishes of Yangzhou people~Yangchun noodles, chicken soup boiled in shreds, crab roe soup dumplings, jade roasted wheat, and fine sand buns

It has to be said that there are many things to eat for morning tea. However, no matter how many Noodles in soup you eat, you can't forget to order a "Kui Long Zhu", which is a special recipe for tea scenting that Yangzhou people have explored. It has the flavor of Longjing, the fragrance of Zhulan, and the color of Kui needle. It is thick, delicious, and resistant to foam. It doesn't lose color even after four times of rinsing. Due to the fact that this tea comes from three provinces, it is also known as "Kuilongzhu" or "Three Provinces Tea".

Kuilongzhu "is made from Zhejiang Longjing, Anhui Kuizhen, and Yangzhou Zhulan. It is brewed with Yangtze River water and blends famous teas from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui into one pot. The tea color is clear and fragrant, with a soft and refreshing taste that soothes thirst and eliminates greasiness. The first tea bead has a fragrant orchid aroma; The flavor of Er Dao Cha Longjing is strong; The color of the three tea leaves remains unchanged, and tea lovers must savor a cup carefully~

7 Eat 8 Sunshine Restaurant

This restaurant is located on the first floor of Hongqiao Fang Hotel, facing Shouxi Lake across the bridge! The name "7 eat 8" may not be easy to remember at first glance, but if it sounds like "go eat baba" in Chinese, will you immediately remember that the name is quite trendy, but the restaurant's decoration still adheres to the classical beauty of Chinese style.

The restaurant we had for lunch had a table full of people ordering a lot of dishes. I have to admit that Huaiyang dishes are rich in variety, elegant in taste, and salty for all ages. Here I recommend some dishes that I like personally!

Salt water goose is a household dish of Yangzhou people and one of the representatives of Huaiyang Cuisine cuisine. Salted salt goose does not require much seasoning and has a slightly salty taste. The goose meat is fresh, tender, and has a unique flavor. Goose feet are the most expensive part of daily weighing and selling

Jiaoxiang Mao Dao is the favorite home cooked dish of Yangzhou fishermen. The big fish caught by fishermen will be sold in the market, while the small fish will be marinated and eaten by themselves. With the passage of time, the preparation of the hairy knife fish has also varied, and its crispy taste is very strong.

The radishes on this side of Yanghua Radish really amazed me. It's the first time I've seen yellow and green fruit radishes so big. This plate of cherry sized Yang Hua radish is a cold dish with a sour and sweet taste that has some greasiness relieving effects

Scallion roasted opium fish is one of the main signature dishes in the restaurant. The meat of opium fish is very tender and smooth, without any greasy feeling. The fish itself has no thorns, making it convenient and worry free to eat. My personal favorite is the fish skin part, with an endless aftertaste!

In addition, the flavors of drunken crabs, braised beef tails with mushrooms, stir fried rice cakes with shepherd's purse, steamed and savory dumplings, Huaiyang braised four treasures, braised radish with shrimp seeds, and braised pepper clams are also not bad!

Overall, 7 Eats 8 Bar is a great place for out of town dining, offering both local specialties and fusion dishes, as well as a chance to catch a glimpse of Slender West Lake!

Da Chao Huai: A New Style Huaiyang Fusion Cuisine Restaurant

Spring Tide Huai "is a new style Huaiyang Cuisine, which is a fusion restaurant based on the traditional Huaiyang Cuisine and the taste of the new era. The decoration here has a bit of forest style, and there is also a drinking honey parrot called 'Cai Fa' in the store!

In addition to Huaiyang Cuisine, you can also eat grilled fish, barbecue and Sichuan cuisine in Spring Tide Huaihe. You can not only taste Huaiyang Cuisine here, but also meet the different tastes of tourists from other places.

Its three signature dishes are: roasted durian, King's hand torn sauce bone, and wooden bucket fish soup beef brisket

The top ten recommended must order dishes are iron plate small steak, wooden pot prawn, mutton kebabs, Italian barbecue roll, gingko Shrimp balls fried lotus root, grilled pig brain with charcoal fire, jumping cheese, sweet scented osmanthus crispy rice cake, chicken soup with crab meat in Ming furnace, fried dried silk, bullfrog legend~

I personally think that the government's five spice smoked fish, the big tide Huai Hua Diao drunken crab, the cloud shadow lotus root slices, the small yellow rice boiled fat beef card, the Carmen rice steamed sausage, and the big tide Huai Five Treasures Health Soup are also quite distinctive

If friends from other places cannot get used to the light taste of traditional Huaiyang Cuisine, they might as well try Dachaohuai, which has the characteristics of Huaiyang cuisine and also takes into account the taste of foreigners. It is spicy, fresh, fragrant and salty.

Zhongshun and Huaiyang Traditional Restaurant

Zhongshunhe is a mid to high end restaurant here, with a Chinese style decoration and a grand classical atmosphere. More importantly, the food is delicious, with each dish having a visually appealing appearance and a delightful taste. Focus on the following dishes that left a deep impression on me!

Yangzhou fried rice: the birthplace of egg Fried Rice, the egg pudding of Yangzhou fried rice here has a brushed feeling. The rice grains are clear, soft and hard, shiny and full, and the taste is fragrant and chewy.

Jade chicken slices, whether in appearance or taste, can mislead people, looking like tofu and eating like fish. In fact, it is a divine combination of chicken breast meat and egg white. The method used is extremely traditional, with very high requirements for fire and oil temperature

Delicious raw roasted shrimp, this dish is made with live shrimp, and the shrimp served will still move. I probably won't forget this delicious shrimp once I take a bite. The taste is incredibly tender and wonderful

Huaiyang Ancient Ding Lion Head, Lion Head is undoubtedly a staple dish in the north. It is made by mixing pork with chopped scallions and cilantro, which is both fat and lean. Eating one will make it incredibly delicious, but eating another will make it slightly greasy!

Other dishes such as Crystal Meal, Yangzhou Salted Goose, Yogurt Organic Purple Potato, Wensi Tofu with Jade Barbecue, Crispy Tomato Beef Brisket Cup, Black Bamboo Charcoal Dumplings, Osmanthus Peach Oil with Guilinggao are also good. You can try them when you come

In summary, Huaiyang cuisine, as one of the four traditional Chinese cuisines, is well deserved.

Huai Shi Xi Shi Lou

The last meal of the Yangzhou Taste Seeking Journey was the high-end Huai Shi Xi Shi Lou (Wanda Store). It is said that this store spent 30 million yuan on decoration alone, with a kitchen of 1500 square meters. Its wall decoration and lighting arrangements were all carefully crafted

Lion's head is a must-have, and the yellow braised green vegetable lion's head at Xishilou is well-known in Yangzhou. The proportion of lean meat and fat inside is even, and the taste is smooth and not greasy. It is indeed worthy of being a famous dish in Huaiyang

Sand pot fish head meatballs, fish head soup is very delicious. Add some cilantro and scallions, and drink a bowl in the middle of winter. It's warm and comfortable.

Crab meat and chicken head rice Fried Rice is the only staple food comparable to Yangzhou fried rice in my opinion! The rice with vegetable juice mixed with chicken head rice looks like peas at first sight. The Fried Rice has the smell of seafood and tastes particularly good

Others, such as the traditional braised red crisp chicken, the secret sausage oat kernel, the thick soup Huaiyang boiled dry silk, the stone pot beef ribs potato, the Xishi jade stir fried emperor, the spring onion fried the Taihu Lake shrimp, the hand-made shepherd's purse big rice dumpling, the dry fried spontaneous black bean sprouts, are all very delicious~

In addition to these famous Huaiyang Cuisine stores, I also punched in two local coffee shops with distinctive characteristics, and by the way!

Dingjiawan Shiqingshan House

My friend said, 'Shanghai's alleys, Yangzhou's alleys.' The winding and narrow streets and alleys are the flavor of the old Yangzhou city, and Dingjiawan in the southern city can be considered the best preserved ancient streets and alleys in Yangzhou city. Dingjiawan is located near Heyuan and is an old street in the bustling city. The old houses inside are all in the style of blue bricks and black tiles, giving people a sense of time travel as they walk through them.

There is a coffee shop called "Shi Qing Shan Fang" here. The owner is a beautiful woman who studied landscape design and also enjoys illustration and tea ceremony on weekdays. Chatting about it, she learned that she had acquired a residential building here and personally designed and renovated it into a place of relaxation. You can order a cup of coffee or brew a pot of good tea!

The specialty coffee here may not be available elsewhere, with a slightly bitter taste, but it is particularly delicious when paired with Yunnan pound cake

Kung Fu tea is delicious, both white peony and cinnamon are good. White peony can be used with Japanese Dim sum apple stew and fruit; Cinnamon is served with Chinese Dim sum, lotus cake and walnut cake.

Riverside Sky City Sky City Store

Recommended Riverside Sky City by a friend! This is a popular online store recommended to me by a local friend in Yangzhou. We went to the Sky City store in Xingyao Tiandi together for afternoon tea. This store is hidden in an office building and has a nice environment. Riverbank Coffee perfectly integrates music performance, Western cuisine, afternoon tea, and cocktails!

We ordered papaya prawn salad, fruit salad, finger sandwich, Zhixin Shrimp balls, Spanish seafood stewed with Italian rice, and Australian Angus filet steak. It looked good, and the taste did not disappoint me~

Their personalized cocktails and master cocktails have a taste that surpasses the mixed drinks I drank before! Yayoi Kusama's gift is truly unforgettable

Also, I want to say that both the bartender and the singer are very stylish! I don't know what attitude local people in Yangzhou hold towards riverbank coffee

Yangzhou to me is like a dignified noblewoman, hiding too many beauties that I don't know about! This taste seeking journey is like flipping through a page of a book and only reading the preface. Its profound and extensive food culture cannot be fully understood by outsiders. However, the picturesque scenery and beautiful gardens of Yangzhou were not even seen in the preface, which is a pity!

Seriously, in Yangzhou for 3 days and 2 nights, Huaiyang Cuisine was always served. I really missed the taste of hot pot noodles! But I still remember to affirm that Huaiyang Cuisine is powerful, elegant, authentic, inclusive, and suitable for both young and old people. Yangzhou, fireworks in March, we'll meet again