Hangzhou - Long Jing River Shrimps (龙井虾仁)

Picture taken at Jin Sha, the Chinese restaurant of the Hangzhou Westlake Four Seasons Hotel.

Quintessential dish of Hangzhou (the capital of Zhejiang province) which marries its renowned young tea leaves with the fresh sweetness of the river shrimps.  Apparently, the leaves must be harvested around the time of Chinese all souls’ day (清明节).  The result: a subtle dish that is fragrant from the leaves and appropriately textured from the sweet crunch of the shrimps, and a visual that is almost virginal. 

Folklore has it that the Qing emperor Qianlong fell in love with this dish on his “undercover” visit to the region in his time.  The dish was apparently an accident created by an anxious chef who mistook the tea leaves for scallions, scattering them over stir fried river shrimps for color and fragrance.

Jin Sha

Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake

5 Lingyin Road

Hangzhou

China

310013

Tel: +

86-571-88298888

浙江省杭州市灵隐路5号