Suzhou cuisine and Huizhou cuisine form the backbone of Nanjing's food culture, and Suzhou cuisine presents a pattern in which Huaiyang cuisine dominates and Jinling cuisine follows closely. In addition, some restaurants began to introduce "Republic of China cuisine", that is, some dishes that appeared in Nanjing during the Republic of China. Nanjing is not only the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, but also an inclusive provincial capital, where various cuisines influence each other. Huaiyang cuisine is a state-level cuisine, with an unshakable status, and it is also the first choice for banquets of Nanjing locals.

Shangri-La Hotel's Jiangnan Stove Chinese Restaurant is a benchmark restaurant in Huaiyang cuisine, and the restaurant is so popular that it is hard to find a table. In 2016, Jiangnan Stove was selected into the "World's 1000 Best Restaurants List" published by LA LISTE, and became the only restaurant in Nanjing to make the list at that time.

Chef Hou Xinqing has appeared in "A Tip of the Tongue", and has also studied under Master Zhou Xiaoyan, the inheritor of Chinese Huaiyang cuisine, with more than 20 years of work experience. Hou Xinqing won the title of "Huaiyang Swordsman" for his superb knife skills, and many diners came for him.

Jiangnan stove's specialty dishes abound, among which Cicheng rice cake and roasted yellow croaker are not to be missed. Cicheng rice cake is made of high-quality late stem rice, which has a soft and glutinous taste, and is suitable for steaming, cooking, stir-frying and frying. Although the yellow croaker used in Jiangnan Stove is not an expensive wild yellow croaker, it is also large and tender, and the quality is good. The yellow croaker itself has few spines, it is braised and cooked again after frying, the fish skin is fried yellow, the meat is delicious, although the dish is called the rice cake roasted yellow croaker, the rice cake is quite gaudy and presses the yellow croaker, the noisy and dominant, the sticky and glutinous rice cake fully absorbs the yellow croaker soup, the salty and fresh taste, the sauce is rich but not greasy, and the soup in the dish is very good for rice.

Huai'an area likes to eat yellow eel, the famous Huai'an soft pocket (dialect, referring to yellow eel) is a classic Huaiyang dish, in the Jiangnan stove, and Huai'an soft pocket is the same as the yellow eel dish, there is also a big roasted saddle bridge, its selection rate is far less than Huai'an soft pocket, but the same performance. The big roast saddle bridge is cooked with pork and eel segments, and is named because it resembles a saddle bridge. Different from the slender eel used in Huai'an soft pocket, the eel used in Da Roast Saddle Bridge is thicker, and the eel section in the dish does not have a head and tail, all of which are 5 cm long. After being roasted with the pork belly, the eel segment is fresh and firm, leaving no fishy smell, and the pork belly is fat and solid, not greasy, both of which are extremely flavorful. The big roasted saddle head does not appear on the menu, and diners jokingly refer to it as a "hidden dish", but it does not prevent diners from ordering.

Braised pork is the signature of Jiangnan Stove, and Jiangnan Stove is prefixed with the name of the restaurant in the name of the dish, which shows that it is valued. Huaiyang cuisine pays attention to the seasonality of the ingredients, and the side dishes in the braised pork are also changed according to the season, with spring bamboo shoots in spring, potatoes in summer, chestnuts in autumn, and radish in winter. Compared to other restaurants, the braised pork in Gangnam Stove doesn't look special, but it's actually a lot of talk. Taking the winter side dish radish as an example, when making it, the Jiangnan stove does not braise the radish and pork together, but cooks the pork and radish separately, then uses the gravy to burn the radish, and finally puts the previous radish when the pork is juiced. The radish absorbs the gravy, which is sweet and refreshing, and the meat is also soft and glutinous, fat but not greasy.

Even the lion's head, which is the most common in Huaiyang restaurants, Jiangnan Stove has added some unique ideas to the dishes. The lion's head is fat and thin, the meat is not loose, the ingredients are very solid, and the entrance is soft and smooth. The soup is a clear chicken soup, and Jiangnan stove adds bitter gourd and other side dishes to the soup to neutralize the oiliness and balance the aroma. In addition to the above, Jiangnan Stove also has many dishes to try, such as Wensi tofu soup, Li Taibai drunken crab, smoked fish, etc.

Located on the first floor of Shangri-La, Jiangnan Stove has a simple and elegant restaurant environment, with private rooms and hall seating. The waiter's business ability is passable, but compared with Meiyuan, Jiangnan Stove is not patient and enthusiastic enough. When the attendance rate is extremely high, the dishes will occasionally be missed, but fortunately, the probability of this mistake is extremely low, and Jiangnan Stove is still a trustworthy restaurant. It should be noted that Jiangnan stove is extremely popular, if you have a dining need, it is recommended to call in advance.