Hangzhou culinary experience: Dragon Well Manor

Timeless Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province Photo ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Cookbook author Fushcia Dunlop, specializing in Chinese cookery has written an article in The New Yorker about a special restaurant in Hangzhou, the Dragon Well Manor. (Read it online.) She begins the article with an interesting earful about the Chinese food industry and the art of food-foraging (sounds ominous but means everyday berry, mushroom-picking etc but in China more likely bamboo-shoot hunting). Her food guide in Hangzhou is Dai Jianjun, owner of the said Dragon Well Manor, committed to serving his guests only "natural ingredients, untainted by pesticides or melamine, and with no added MSG". This means buying only the best ingredients out in the countryside, handpicked and closely inspected.  Along the way we get a discourse on Hangzhou and Zhejiang cuisine, seasoning, MSG, food-safety, green food and much else. Just like when you read between the recipes in Fushcia's excellent cookbooks.

Dragon Well Manor, address:

龙井草堂
地址：西湖区龙井路龙井399号
电话：0571-87888777