Tourists may feel this way, and most of the time when searching for food in Suzhou are directed to Pingjiang Road. The restaurants dotted on this old street are indeed extraordinary, and the old taste of Suzhou in Tingxiangtang has been regarded as a classic by countless locals.
Lao Hong, the "hall owner" of Tingxiangtang, was not a professional chef, but he was good at cooking, and after retirement, he simply opened a private restaurant in his own home. Therefore, Tingxiangtang is different from the nearby Companion Garden and Zaoyuan Ji, it lacks the order and discipline of the latter banquet, does not deliberately arrange the order of various flavors and the overall fusion, and only tastes the most down-to-earth, unimproved Subang cuisine here, which is a solid old Suzhou taste, and the taste is homely but not mediocre.
The sauce recipe is one of Lao Hong's most proud dishes. Nowadays, almost all Subang restaurants use red yeast rice powder to color, although this food coloring is harmless, the color of the sauce made is bright red, and there is also some lack of flavor. Tingxiangtang insists that each piece of sauce is colored with soy sauce, and after two days of slow simmering, a piece of fat and thin pork belly has soft edges and corners, and the glutinous pork skin is cracked with a knife, and the shiny dark red meat is indeed worthy of the reputation of Gusu cherry meat. This dish shows the culinary charm of Subang cuisine stewed and simmered to the fullest, and even guests who usually don't eat fatty meat are conquered by it. The red oil duck pot and the three fresh hoof tendons also have a wonderful taste that has been boiled for a long time until they are rotten, and they are worth trying.
Lao Hong personally goes to the vegetable market every day to buy vegetables, and has a strict grasp of the quality control of ingredients. An indispensable dish every day is the shredded eel, only the thin small eel will enter Lao Hong's eyes, which is more delicate and flavorful than the coarse yellow eel. This eel silk is a sound dish, poured boiling oil on the table, the eel silk sizzles, the taste comes up at once, there is no fishy smell, it is a level that many time-honored Subang restaurants can't reach.
Lao Hong's family was responsible for serving the dishes, patiently explaining the raw materials and preparation methods of each dish to the guests, and also specially introduced how the Suzhou practices of certain dishes differ from those in other Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. For example, Tingxiangtang's tender fried shrimp is not the crispy shell taste cooked in heavy oil in Hangzhou, but after blanching, put it in the oil pan and fry it slightly and immediately out of the pot, and then add a little sugar to enhance the freshness, the taste is crisp and refreshing, and the shrimp meat is moist. Knowing which chef cooks for you, introducing you to the dishes, and reminding you what is best to eat is also one of the great benefits of eating private dishes.
In Suzhou, a city where every household eats with the season, the seasonality of private cuisine is more obvious. Listen to the seasonal dishes of Xiangtang are done well, eat snails before the Ming Dynasty, water eight immortals in early summer, eat Taihu Lake June Yellow in midsummer, eat lotus pond stir-fry in autumn and winter, and the four seasons are all in one basket. In the sweet-loving Suzhou, Tingxiangtang's desserts are naturally not inferior to the main dishes, such as the cold Su's mung bean soup, the warm red bean balls, the fresh osmanthus sugar taro, the osmanthus chicken head rice soup, and even the red bean popsicle will be presented to the table. However, many diners feel that the dumplings are not glutinous enough, and the core is a bit hard, so diners who like soft flavors can ask the kitchen to stew softer when ordering.
Su Xi cuisine also likes to use sake lees seasoning, so there are often dishes such as sake lees fish fillet and sake lees duck tongue on the table, the taste is light, fresh and sweet, this flavor is also a must in the south of the Yangtze River. Coupled with the home-cooked tastes such as salted pork and vegetable rice and snow green that are made by everyone, you can appreciate the solidity and fineness of Suzhou people after eating more than ten dishes.
After eating a meal in Tingxiangtang, the appetite is definitely very satisfying, but because the dishes are not as rich as the taste level of the companion garden, it may be difficult for guests to have a clear impression of each dish, so some old Suzhou after eating, only feel good, but it is difficult to be amazed. Listening to the incense hall opened by the river, pedestrians are comfortable, the restaurant courtyard has been renovated, it is more comfortable, if you want to taste the taste of old Suzhou, and have certain requirements for the environment, you can choose here.
The restaurant only accepts reservations for dining, does not turn over the table, and does not accept temporary arrivals, generally with a minimum of two people and a private room for six people.
