If you want to have a banquet, Xianglian is an excellent choice. It is located in the old street of Xietang in the east of Jinji Lake, the garden-style scenery has the charm of the south of the Yangtze River, Xianglian is a single antique building, the hall is elegant enough, the peony wooden card, the lotus pond chandelier and other decorations are just right, quite attractive. Xianglian originally had two branches, and now the Moonlight Wharf store has been closed, and many old customers still make a special trip to the Xietang Old Street store to seek taste.
Different from the down-to-earth style of the top three small hibiscus Hunan restaurants in Suzhou, Xianglian not only has a distinct Hunan flavor, but also takes into account the fusion of taste and type, and does not capture the taste buds of customers with a single spicy taste. After all, it is opened in Xietang Old Street, and if you only let a table of people sweat and eat spicy fish heads, bullfrogs, fat intestines and other things, you will inevitably lose the elegant atmosphere of the banquet, and order some elegant soups, vegetarian stir-fries, and meat dishes, which will bring a good sense of balance.
To satisfy the banquet, heavyweight dishes are indispensable. Chishui spring bamboo shoot duck is a special dish developed by Xianglian, with dried bamboo shoots from Yong'an, Hunan, the meat is thick and dense, the texture is crisp and tender, wider than the dried bamboo shoots in Suzhou, cut into thick strips into the dish, the taste is solid. It is said that no duck is not fragrant, bamboo shoots are fresh, and after the soup is tightened, the thick soup is wrapped on the surface of the ingredients, and the taste is very mellow. Abalone roasted rooster, high-pressure stewed goose, steamed treasure fish draw on Cantonese cooking, the ingredients are not high-end, but the taste is good, and the plate also has an aura, in a table of finely chopped Hunan stir-fry, it is absolutely full of presence. Compared with other Hunan restaurants that "fry everything with chili peppers", the richer flavor of Xianglian is very competitive.
Interested diners, you can try the secret foie gras of Xianglian, cut into strips of foie gras to make cold dishes, after chilling, the taste is still relatively delicate and tender, the dense foie gras has a slight sweetness, although it is far less than the foie gras produced by high-end restaurants, but spend thirty or forty yuan to taste it, more fresh than cold dishes such as sour radish and cowpea.
However, according to the feedback of old customers, after the closure of the Moonlight Wharf store, the operation and management of the merchants may have changed, and the taste of the dishes is not stable enough, sometimes even the signature dishes such as chopped pepper fish head are not enough to taste, and the spiciness also goes up and down.
The dining area of Xianglian is very comfortable, the wooden tables and chairs are not old-fashioned at all, the indoor light is excellent, the scenery outside the window is pleasant, and the sight of each seat is good. The service is at the middle to upper level, and there are occasional cases of untimely response during peak periods.
