This restaurant is recommended on the Nanjing government website as one of the go-to restaurants for Huaiyang cuisine, and scored very high on the popular Chinese restaurant guide. I was so disappointed by all the hype once again.
Our last night in Nanjing, and we decided to go for a good Huaiyang dinner for change. Just a wall separates Nanjing’s Presidential Palace and Jinling Feast, so we had high expectations of the quality of the food they serve.
Everything looked fine as we were promptly led to our table which we reserved on the app. The decor was based on art decor style with a Nationalist period vibe to it, and the layout was quite spacious with open dining on one side. We were seated in one of the open dining rooms. Then the evening took a wrong turn.
The dining room was quite empty for a Friday evening during the dinner service period. There were only 3 tables occupied in a room that accommodated 9 tables (3×3 layout). Each of the other tables took one of each corner, and instead of taking us to the fourth corner, we were place between two tables. The customers on the our left were so noisy, and the child on our right table was throwing a tantrum. We asked to change table, which they reluctantly obliged. We decided to order less, finished our dinner quickly and get out of the noisy place.
Longevity Village Handmade Sausage 长寿村手作香肠
This sausage is Bama fragrant pig sausage from Bama Yao Autonomous County, Hechi City, Guangxi. The village has another moniker – Longevity Village- for the most number of elderly above 100 years old in China. I am not suggesting that they gain a long life for eating this fatty sausage. But I had to confess these sausages were really delicious; 50/50 fat to lean meat ratio, well salted and seasoned, moist and tender despite air-dried during the process.
Zhuqiao Turtle Soup 朱桥甲鱼羹
Zhuqiao Turtle Soup is a traditional dish from Huai’an, Jiangsu Province, belonging to the Huaiyang cuisine. Originating in Zhuqiao Town, this dish has a history of over 80 years and is known for its mellow, rich and delicious flavour. I find their preparation too peppery and there’s not much turtle in the soup.
New Huaiyang River Eel 新淮扬软兜
Huai’an River Eel is a representative Huaiyang dish. It uses fresh, live eels, about the thickness of a pen, as its main ingredient. The eel undergoes two blanching processes and is deboned. It gets its name from the fact that the eel segments curled naturally after being heated, resembling a child’s bib. A good “Soft Cover” 软兜 must fulfil three things: first, it’s held in a cloth bag to maintain its shape during blanching; second, the sauce is collected in the groove on the eel’s back during stir-frying; and third, the hanging ends are held in place with a spoon when eating. This version fulfilled all three criteria but the taste was not what I expected. The “new” version is much more peppery. In fact, I couldn’t differentiate the difference in flavour between the turtle soup and the eel.
Premium Four Seasons Lion Head 壹品四季狮子头
I frowned when I saw the seaweed in the soup for the lion’s head meatball. The soup was adulterated by the seaweed which contaminated the straight forward taste of the meatball is supposed to achieve. This is the worst lion’s head meatball I had for a very long time.
Old Nanjing Red Bean Glutinous Rice Balls 老南京赤豆元宵
Red bean glutinous rice balls are a traditional sweet treat from the Jiangnan region. The dessert uses a smooth red bean paste as its base, topped with handmade glutinous rice balls, and is often enhanced with fermented rice wine, osmanthus flowers, and other ingredients. The fermented glutinous rice 酒酿 is known to aid digestion and is a popular dessert in Jiangnan region.
Handmade Yoghurt Pudding 手工奶皮子
This cold dessert, aka milk skin yoghurt 奶皮子酸奶, is a smooth, creamy yogurt pudding topped with a custardy milk skin freshly made in store. Originating from Inner Mongolia, it has gained popularity among the ladies in China recently. It has a gentle natural sweetness and rich layered texture.
Only the appetiser (which is a processed food) and the desserts were good. The main dishes we ordered were quite poorly executed. The service was a letdown, and the overall dining experience did not justify the high cost of dinner (RMB 463). Not coming back again anytime soon.
Jinling Feast 好记·金陵宴1912总统府店
长江路288号南京1912街区5号楼1、2层
Visited Apr 2026
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