Good morning from beautiful Hangzhou, China
It’s Trevor James
And I’m at the famous West Lake here
Today we’re going for a full on food exploration of this city
I’m so pumped
Let’s go check it out
Hangzhou was first described by Marco Polo
As the finest and most luxurious city in the whole world
So I came here to try the food
If you’re looking for amazing scenery
A vibrant nightlife
And delicious food
You definitely have to come check out Hangzhou
It’s one of the most modern cities in China
And people use their phones to pay for everything
Before breakfast
I started off my day with a scenic walk through West Lake
An ultra picturesque heritage site
Where locals enjoy dancing
Practice taiqi
And enjoy the numerous pagodas and gardens
And after some fresh air
I made my way to try some of Hangzhou’s famous goutie potsticker dumplings on the streetside
可以尝吗？ I can try them out?
你尝嘛，没事 Try them out, no problem!
这个是你们的锅贴？ These are your famous potstickers?
对，锅贴 Yep, potstickers
Look at this
They are all brown and crispy on the outside
Look at that
Oh yeah
很好吃的 They are really delicious!
可以吧？ You like them?
真的好吃 Yeah they are really good
Look at the juice drip from it
可以吃一个锅贴嘛？ Can I please have one more potsticker?
还有一个拌面加油渣可以吗？ And one banmian noodles with deep fried pork fat?
拌面加油渣是吗？ Banmian noodles with pork fat?
对 Yeah
还有一个锅贴 And one more potsticker please
再要一份锅贴是吗？ One more portion of potstickers?
对 Yeah
等一下给你哈 Wait a minute and we’ll get them for you
可以用支付宝吗？ Can I please use Alipay?
可以 No problem
多少钱？ How much is it?
12块钱 It’s 12 yuan
You just scan it and pay with the phone
And we got the food
The goutie are so good
And then I also have a bowl of banmian here
With these deep fried pork crisps
You gotta mix those banmian up
It tastes like soy sauce with some noodles
They are so juicy, packed with flavour
And that crispy brown layer is really to die for
And after breakfast
I made my way out to the source of some of the best tea in China
The longjing tea terraces
I got really lucky when a local lady offered to show me around the plantations
And how to pick the tea
我很期待看一看 I’m so excited to take a look
这里太漂亮 It’s too beautiful here
这里太飘亮 It’s really too beautiful
太漂亮了哦 Yeah very beautiful
很多茶叶! There’s so much tea!
这是杭州的茶？ This is all Hangzhou specialty tea?
这样采这样采 Yeah and you pick it like this
在那边可以采茶吗？ We can pick the tea over there?
采采采 Yeah let’s go pick some
太好了 Amazing
很多茶 There’s so much tea!
我没看过这么多茶! I’ve never seen this much tea before!
我没看过 I’ve really never seen something like this
你没采过啊？ You’ve never picked tea?
这里可以吗？ Can we pick here?
This is so fun
哦，这样？ Like this?
对 Yeah
这个是杭州特色的茶叶？ And this is all Hangzhou specialty tea?
对杭州的茶 Yeah this is our famous tea
杭州茶叶 Oh Hangzhou tea leaves
噢，这样采 Pick it like this
It’s beautiful
这个很好 This is really nice here
一会儿我们可以喝一杯吗？ We can try this tea out later?
喝一杯，到我家去喝茶 Yeah we can go to my home to have a cup
可以吗？ Really?
可以 For sure
太好了 That’s just great
到我家去喝茶去 Yeah let’s go drink some tea
现在是70？ How old are you now?
76
76真的吗？ You’re 76?
我还骗你啊 Would I lie to you?
还是有很多力气 And you have so much energy
没问题 No problem
你几岁了？ How old are you?
我28 I’m 28
28
对 Yeah
你当我儿子好不好？ Do you want to be my son?
这个不好这个不要采 Don’t pick that, don’t pick it like that
这个好，把这个采一下 This is good, pick this stuff
这个长大了，不好采 Those leaves are too big, don’t pick them
谢谢你 Thank you
这是我的家里 This is my home
你的家里很漂亮 Oh your home is very nice
解下来吧 Untie your basket
这个这个 Oh this?
解下来不要了 You don’t need it
不用了 Oh ok
这个是我的老伴 This is my life partner
噢，老伴 Oh your partner
请坐请坐 Please sit down
可以吗？ Is that OK?
可以可以，坐坐坐 Please please sit down
谢谢你 Thank you
这个是？ This is?
龙井茶 Longjing tea
请喝茶 Please have some
谢谢你的茶 Thank you for the tea
绿茶 It’s longjing green tea
好茶 Great tea
很好很好 This is great
你中文讲得很好嘛 Your Chinese is really good
还好还好一般 It’s just alright
我听得懂 I can understand
你听得懂吗？ You can understand?
听得懂 Yeah, I understand
那就好 Well that’s great
他的中文讲得满好的 His Chinese is really good
这个很好喝的很好喝的 This is so delicious
这个对眼睛好明目 This tea is good for your eyes
It really was special to get to drink tea with this local lady from Hangzhou
And after chatting for another hour
I explored the green streets of Hangzhou by bike
In search of one of the most famous Hangzhou restaurants in town
Waipuojia, AKA Grandma’s Home
I got so lucky and I even had a chat with the chef
你好 Hello
你好你好 Hello Hello
很高兴认识你 Nice to meet you
很开心来到这里吃杭州菜 I’m really happy to come here and try Hangzhou food
杭州菜主要是什么味道的？ What are the main flavours of Hangzhou cuisine?
杭州菜主要注重的是清淡一点 Hangzhou cuisine is relatively clear and light
清淡一点 Oh it’s light?
对，因为我们是个旅游城市 Yeah, because we are a travellers city
外地来的游客也比较多 And there are many outsiders
外地人来这里尝尝杭州菜? Oh so the travellers all come here to taste Hangzhou food?
对，所以注重比较清淡点 Yeah, so we make it fairly elegant and light
那我应该吃什么菜？杭州的特色菜,应该吃什么？ So what shall I try? What are Hangzhou’s special dishes?
西湖醋鱼 Vinegar Xihu lake fish
叫化鸡都是我的特色菜 And beggars chicken
我听说还有红烧肉？对吗？ I also hear your braised pork belly is good?
对，还有红烧肉 Yeah that’s really good
四川的是麻辣花椒，杭州菜有什么特别的？ If Sichuan has peppercorns and chilies, what does Hangzhou have?
杭州菜的话就糖醋吧 Hangzhou mainly has sweet and sour
糖醋？ Sweet and sour?
对，糖醋味比较多 Yeah, sweet and sour is a main flavour
有点甜 A little sweet
有一点偏甜，还有一点醋味，酸酸的味道 Yeah it leans a little bit towards sweet than it does sour
酸和甜的 Oh a little sweet and sour
对对对 Yeah
That sounds great
Right here this is the beggars chicken
It’s cooked overtop of a lotus leaf and it’s infused with a lot of spices
And it looks so tender
Over here, this is red braised pork
This is a Hangzhou specialty
Look at that
Look at that fatty layer of pork
With the lean layer underneath
And they give you these dried salted lake fish slices
This is doufupi
Tofu skin with vegetables
There is carrots
There is sprouts
There is mushrooms, wood-ear mushrooms
That looks good
This is cuyu, a Hangzhou specialty
Vinegar lakefish
This one is called Grandma’s little beef
I really just want to go right in for this hongshaorou
Look at how fatty that is
Look at how fatty that is!
That red braised sauce
Oh wow
This is delicious because you have the fat mixed with the lean meat
And that red braised sauce is just bursting with flavour
你好帅哥，味道怎么样？ Hey handsome bro, how’s the flavour?
味道很好吃的 The flavour is really nice
味道很好吃是吗？ Yeah, it’s delicious?
嗯，这个红烧肉真的好吃 Yeah this red braised pork belly is awesome
真的好吃啊？ You really like it?
有一点肥，有很多汁 Yeah it’s a little fatty and it has so much juice
那个红烧为什么这么好吃？用什么香料做的？ Why is the red braised sauce so good?
这个里面是我们直接用黄酒炖出来的，香料是没有的 We stew it in mulled rice wine and don’t use a lot of spices
没有放香料 We don’t use many spices
黄酒 Mulled rice wine?
对，用黄酒炖出来的，里面放了笋干和清鱼干 Yeah we stew it in mulled rice wine and add bamboo shoots and salted lake fish
噢，真的很好吃的 Wow, it’s really good
And after chatting with the chef
I took a little walk around town and found another super special street food snack
Known locally as the pangzi shaobing
AKA the fatty flatbread
It’s stuffed with fatty pork, chilies, and pickled mustard greens
Then rolled out flat and thrown in the clay oven
你好 Hello
这是你的特色的胖子烧饼对吗？ This is your specialty fatty flatbread?
对 Yeah
叫做胖子因为你要吃胖吗？ Is it called fatty flatbread because it makes you fat?
为什么叫作这个名字？ Why is it called fatty flatbread?
等一下胖子老板来了再说胖子老板马上过来 You can talk with the fatty owner in a minute and understand
胖子老板，胖子的老板 Oh the fatty owner, I see
谢谢你 Thank you
很烫 Oh it’s so hot
好吃？ Is it good?
真的好吃 Yeah it’s so nice
That is good!
Oh it’s actually very spicy
这个是我们中国的特色 This is a true specialty from China
好吃胖子烧饼 The delicious fatty flatbread
好吃，胖子烧饼 It’s really a nice fatty flatbread
It actually tastes a little bit like pizza
Quite spicy and fatty and crispy
No cheese but that is super delicious
That is ultra good
很开心认识你 Really nice to meet you
胖子烧饼，特别好吃的 The fatty flatbread was so good
好吃吧？ You liked it?
我刚吃了，很好吃的 Yeah I just tried it, it was great
为什么叫胖子烧饼？ Why is it called the fatty flatbread
胖子烧饼啊？因为人长得胖，难看，所以就胖子烧饼 Mainly because I’m so fat and a little hard on the eyes, so I called it the fatty flatbread
真的吗？ Really?
你在这里几年？ How many years have you been here?
做了很多年了，20多年了 I’ve been here a long time, more than 20 years now
20多年吗？ more than 20 years?
哇，那个味道很特别 That flavour is really unique
很特别啊？ Unique flavour?
对 Yeah
It was super nice to hear the owners thoughts on the fatty flatbread
And after a good walk
I made my way out to a pre-dinner meal
Enjoying Hangzhou’s must try soup dumplings
At the famous and packed our zhiweiguan
It’s so busy here
There is nowhere to sit
We have some beautiful beautiful Hangzhou xiaolongbao
These are soup dumplings
Packed with soup
And the secret is
You gotta take a little bit out first
那个是醋吗？ Is that vinegar?
醋醋 Yeah it’s vinegar
噢，醋，我加一点，谢谢你 Oh, vinegar, I’ll add a little
You gotta add vinegar to your xiaolongbao
These are so beautiful I think I don’t even need to take the soup out
Just go for a little vinegar
And go right in for the kill
And it pops in your mouth
These are hundun
Basically like wontons in soup
Looks like there is some seaweed in there and egg
Looks very clear and hearty
These are cats ears
Noodles shaped like cats ears
Let’s try that out
It’s in a really clear broth
Chewy noodles
Really, the flavour is simple
There’s not much to it
And to finish off the night and get completely full
I went to the famous Shenglihe food street
And found one of the most unique things I’ve tried in China
Firewood local lake fish
这个是你们的鱼？ So this is your famous local fish?
嗯，千岛湖鱼 Yeah, right from Qiandao lake
噢,很大! Oh it’s so huge!
可以 Let’s eat that one
我拿去称了啊 OK I will go weigh it
好，谢谢你 Great, thank you
That’s crazy
Look at this
That’s awesome
The concept of firewood fish is simple
You have a firewood heated wok
Filled with garlic, ginger, and oil
And then you throw a fish in it and let it cook
Adding in a bottle of beer
Some mushrooms, herbs, and onions
A special chili sauce
And a bowl of stock
Then, stick a bunch of corn and buckwheat dough to the side of the wok
And let them crisp up
The resulting meal is unbelievably delicious
可以吃了啊 You can eat it now
谢谢你 Thank you
不客气 No problem
Look at this
Steaming pot of bubbling fish in a spicy broth
Just look at this
It’s full of tofu
Huge slices of fish
Oh yeah
That fish is tender
And this broth is really smooth
Not too spicy
Quite garlicky
You can taste the ginger in there
It’s just pure pure joy
好 Great
这个太好吃了柴火鱼 That firewood fish was delicious
噢，成功了 Oh, it went through
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Hangzhou has been amazing
Completely delicious food
Friendly people
And it’s so modern and beautiful
I’ve had a great time
I’m going to keep exploring
Thanks again