Why come here
A place worth making time for
No confirmed Michelin listing for this branch. Known instead as the lakeside garden restaurant of Zhiweiguan, a Hangzhou China Time-Honoured Brand founded in 1913, and as the standard one-stop for the city's classic dishes.
The house favourites
What to order
Point at the Chinese. Staff will understand it even where the menu has no English at all.
What it actually tastes like
A fair warning drawn from local diner reviews: dishes here are frequently served only lukewarm, which is normal practice rather than a mistake, and the fish soup and vinegar fish both arrive with small bones in. The braised pork is strikingly sweet, the vinegar is the heavy sweet black kind, and some dishes taste under-salted to a foreign palate. Nothing on the menu is spicy.
Allergens in this kitchen
fishshellfishsoygluten/wheatsesameegg
This is the kitchen, not one dish. Woks, fryers, blanching water and utensils are shared in almost every Chinese restaurant, so for a serious allergy treat the whole premises as the unit rather than ordering around it.
Get to know the menu
Local specialities to try here
West Lake fish in vinegar sauce →西湖醋鱼Sour first, then sweet, then salty, with a delicate flavour said to recall crab meatDongpo pork →东坡肉Deeply savoury-sweet, caramelised, rich but not cloyingStir-fried river shrimp with Longjing tea →龙井虾仁Very delicate — sweet shrimp against a grassy, slightly astringent tea noteBeggar's chicken →叫化鸡Mild, fragrant and herbal from the lotus leaf, with very soft meatSister Song's fish broth →宋嫂鱼羹Sour-savoury and warming, with a silky, slightly gloopy body Before you head out
Maps, photos & reviews
Restaurants move, close and change hands. These show the live picture.