Songhe Lou 松鶴樓 @ Suzhou

They started as a noodle shop, but became the symbol of Suzhou and Jiangnan cuisine. I finally made it to the 270 year old restaurant’s founding place in Suzhou to give it a try.

Songhe Lou 松鶴樓 is a very famous Suzhou restaurant that is over 200 years old. To be precise, the year of the opening of the restaurant was the 22nd year reign of Qing Emperor Qianlong (1757). Many culinary creations were associated to this gourmand emperor during his many visits to Jiangnan during his long reign.

As a backdrop, Songhe Lou appeared multiple times in Louis Cha’s (aka Jin Yong 金庸) martial arts novels. But at that time of writing those novels, Jin Yong had never been to Songhe Lou. It was not until 2007, when 84-year-old Jin Yong stepped into Songhe Lou in Suzhou for the first time. While tasting the Suzhou-style dishes, he realised that he had made a “common sense mistake” when writing Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils: he mistakenly placed the restaurant in Wuxi.

I am not sure which shop was older, but I am pretty sure the honten in town moved to that location and was rebuilt only recently. This shop was opened in the 50s. Despite in a tourist attraction, the restaurant turnover was very quick, and I didn’t have to wait more than 30 minutes during the peak dinner hours.

At this location, one can imagine the characters of Jin Yong’s novel walking along the Seven Mile Shantang, crossing the numerous bridges over the meandering streams in this typical Jiangnan backdrop.

糟香一品江南 Jiangnan Wine Marinated Appetisers

Zaohuo 糟货 (literally “bad goods”) is a way to make an appetiser in Jiangnan region by marinating them in wine lee. Generally, the food is cooked and cooled, and then soaked in the marinade overnight or longer to impart the intoxicating flavours onto the ingredients, which included edamame, chicken feet, duck tongue, baby abalone (a modern luxury) and shrimps. A must-have dish in Jiangnan during the summer.

古法爊鵝 Blanched Goose in Traditional Method

I am familiar with the Cantonese roast goose 燒鵝, the Teochew braised goose 滷鵝, but this is the first time I tried the Suzhou blanched goose 爊 (“ao”) 鵝. The technique requires the goose to be blanched with the braising liquid, reaching the right internal temperature outside before poaching like Hainanese chicken. This results in a very flavourful skin and moist, just cooked flesh.

松鼠桂鱼 Sweet and Sour Fish with Pine Nuts

Well-known for its nickname of the Squirrel Fish 松鼠鱼, the sweet-and-sour dish is made of mandarin fish 桂鱼 and sprinkled with pine nuts. It’s a Suzhou classic invented in Songhe Lou and has more than 200 years of history. It is prepared by deboning and carving a mandarin fish into an ornamental shape similar to a pine cone, and then deep-frying it in batter before dousing it in sweet and sour sauce. Every table ordered this, and so did I. It felt different ordering this in Suzhou, like a tick off the bucket list.

蟹粉灌汤小笼 Soup Dumplings with Crab Roe

Jiangsu is famous for these soup dumplings called xiaolongbao 小笼包. And each region in Jiangsu claims a different style and the origin of the same. Although our gourmand emperor was again associated with this delicious dim sum, it did not appear until his grandson Emperor Daoguang’s reign (1820-1850). The style here is Suzhou/Wuxi style xiaolongbao – larger in size and sweeter in flavour. No wonder Jin Yong was mistaken about Songhe Lou’s location!

霸王花燉老鴿 Double-Boiled Pigeon Pitahaya Flower Soup

It became really popular during the pandemic. 霸王花 Pitahaya flower is the flower of the Pitahaya plant, more commonly known as dragonfruit. Before the fruit becomes popular, the dried flower was used as an ingredient in soup for its cooling properties and relieves coughing and lung inflammation. I ordered it because of the pigeon, which I have always loved as a double-boiled soup since I was young.

Now that I have ticked this off my bucket list, would I come back again? Not really, as this commercial, state-owned restaurant is not the best Suzhou style restaurant anymore. But for the first-timers and when your sightseeing time is limited, Songhe Lou is a great place to start getting to know Suzhou cuisine.

Suzhou Songhe Lou Shantang Branch 松鹤楼苏州山塘店 
苏州市金阊区山塘街198号
Tel : +86 (0512) 6532 1398 

Visited Jun 2024

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