My food adventures in Hangzhou, China continued into the evening of my first day in the city. I had spent a good part of the day exploring the city, which is just 45 minutes south of Shanghai by bullet train. I loved the feel of Hangzhou, which reminded me a lot of European destinations I’d visited before like Bosnia and Switzerland.
I headed out to a popular local restaurant called Grandma’s Home, which is located in the Xihu Tiandi area on a canal not far from West Lake, the main attraction in the city. It looked packed, so I hoped I could get a table without reservations!
I was given an English menu and went with three family-sized dishes. While I waited, I sat out on the terrace. I ordered a West Lake crisp fish as an appetizer, bullfrog with a sauce, fried shell shrimp with dragon well tea, and a snow beer. My total came to 166 Yuan, or a little over $24 USD.
First up was the crispy fish, which looked and smelled amazing even though I could see bones in it. It reminded me of pork ribs. If I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn I was eating pork! I loved the sauce and how crunchy, tender, and juicy it was. The bones were tiny, so I could eat through them without any problems.
After a sip of my snow beer to cleanse my palate, I went with the fried shell shrimp with dragon well tea. They had a nice, white sauce on them that made them so slippery that it was hard to hold on to them with my chopsticks! The shrimp were very fresh and tasted amazing with the vinegar sauce on the side.
Next, I got to try some sweet and sour pork that was brought to me. It had a nice sauce on it with vinegar. Then I had bamboo shoots with peppers, green onions, and crab meat. It was so tasty I didn’t want to stop eating it…but I had to because I still had more dishes to try!
The final dish I ordered was the bullfrog soup with Shishido peppers. The bullfrog comes straight from the West Lake. There were lots of bones in it, but I really liked the spiciness of the creamy broth. I loved the peppers so much. There was also a water vegetable that tasted like celery.
The bullfrog meat was almost like chicken, but you have to hunt for the really meaty pieces! It was really tasty but super hard to eat. In China, you’re not supposed to eat with your hands, but I had no choice since I wanted to get as much of the meat as possible.
I went back to the fish after not being able to eat more of the bullfrog soup. I couldn’t get enough of how tasty and tender it was! The snow beer was very light, so I was hoping to find something stronger later!
I left the restaurant to explore Xihu Tiandi, the restaurant and bar row where Grandma’s Home is located. I saw a brewery called Pilsner and headed inside. I ordered a brown beer and was given 500 mL of a different beer for 68 Yuan, or about $10 USD. The beer was pretty good. While I drank, I enjoyed the live band for about ten minutes and left. It was a weird bar and felt very touristy.
I continued on to West Lake, which was stunning. From my vantage point, I could see the skyline across the flat water. I was so grateful for this experience. The West Lake is why I came to Hangzhou, so seeing it like this was perfect. It was so peaceful and seemed to be a popular spot for couples!
Then I passed through a moon gate and found a bar with live music and a path that went around the lake. There were beautiful lights up in the trees that lit part of the area with a soft, white glow. I love China so much!
I hope you enjoyed coming with me to Grandma’s Home and West Lake in Hangzhou! If you did, please give it a thumbs up and leave me a comment. Also, please subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss any of my upcoming travel/food adventures!
About Me: My name is David Hoffmann. For the last decade I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food, and history! Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have traveled to over 1,000 destinations in 73 countries, which I welcome you to check out on my YouTube Channel, travel blog, and social media sites.
I focus a great deal on food and historical sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning about the local history and culture.
P.S. Thank you for watching my videos and subscribing!
These are my friends from Malaysia. Hi. Wow. Nice? Crispy, right? And very juicy. I'm gonna take one more.
Good evening everyone. I hope you're all doing well. This is David Hoffman from David's Bin
here coming at you live from Hangzhou, China, the capital of the Zafang province. The city is
located only a 45-minute bullet train ride south from Shanghai and it's amazing. It reminds me of
European city. You know, lots of lights, wide sidewalks, beautiful buildings. And I'm staying
here in the center of the city next to Westlake and Hafang street. But tonight I'm gonna take
you to eat some amazing Hangzhou food at grandma's home. We're gonna eat some dishes like green tea
with shrimp, fish with pickled veggies, and beggar's chicken. Are you guys ready to go eat at
grandma's home? Let's go. And the restaurant is located here in Dixitandi which is like a restaurant
row with bars. It is right on the water and as you can see the restaurant is right here. It's like
on a canal actually. Not on the Westlake. Westlake is deeper in. But yeah, I can't wait to go. I mean
it looks so packed right now. Hopefully I can get a seat. I don't have a reservation so we'll see.
Ni hao.
Ni hao. One? Possible? Just one?
Just one, yeah. So my friend Jamie from Untalked Food Tours recommended I come here and the reason
she recommended it is because the food's amazing. They also have an English menu. So they have the
English menu as you see with pictures. The food looks outstanding. So many dishes but for me I'm
gonna get three dishes and that's like overkill because these are like family portion dishes.
It's never like for one person you know. They're very very big dishes. You usually have to share
them. We have to wait a little bit. Okay guys I'm number 87. It says 86 right now but I don't know.
I don't know what that really means because it's two different things. So it's A, B, and C. Maybe
I don't know. We'll see. We'll see when they call me. I mean there's a lot of people here.
Usually like 30 people waiting in line but these are a lot bigger groups you know. I'm just one
person. In the end the restaurant is too packed inside so they sat me outside on the terrace
which is great. I mean perfect temperature to be outside and I got three things because they were
like it's way too much. I get four or five. So I got what I got. I got Westlake crisp fish as an
appetizer. Then I got bullfrog with kuandao sauce and what is this? Fried shell shrimps with dragon
well tea and I got a snow beer. So and that all came out to 166. So we're talking about almost 30
bucks. Oh wow and that is the what? The crispy fish? Fish. Fish. Oh wow that looks amazing. Thank you.
So here we have the crispy fish. Look at this guys. It just looks incredible.
This is some bones in there. Smells amazing. Yeah yeah. And here's our beer. Snow beer.
And the reason why we're not eating the beggar's chicken is because this place is so packed and
it's really late. I mean they're closing in about an hour and they sold out. Very unfortunate. They
don't have a few things that I wanted but it's okay. So we're going to start with the fish right.
It's almost like the pork ribs but fish. The sauce. Very similar to that. Very crunchy.
Oh wow. This is a freshwater fish from the lake.
It's so juicy. I'm really enjoying the sauce.
You see the skin. A little bit of bones right there. A lot of meat.
The bones are very tiny though. You can chew through them.
Oh yeah. Nice and crispy. Lots of flesh. Finger food. This is so good. I can just keep popping them.
Now before I try the next thing, I'm gonna drink some of the beer to clean my palate.
Right here we have the freshwater shrimp from the lake and it has green tea and then also a
sauce on the side. Oh it looks like super in a way like slimy. Nice white sauce.
It's so good. And because I'm alone, I'm just gonna move my plates.
Grab my chopsticks and dive into this.
They're like too slippery. Like super slippery shrimp. I can't even get them.
What the? I think you need a spoon.
Super fresh shrimp. It is like a slimy sauce. Slimy white sauce. It's really good though.
And here we have a vinegar sauce. You just dip a little bit.
Really tasty. I'm really enjoying the freshwater seafood.
It's very different. Less salt. Almost no salt. And way less bones. Like the shrimp are tiny,
the fish have very little bones. And one thing that you have to know about China, if you hear
that, that's everywhere. Like them like announcing stuff everywhere. But obviously they're just
announcing the numbers right now. Like it's A, it's B, whatever. And remember, always use your
chopsticks. Never use your hands in China because they consider your hands extremely dirty. So if
you actually touch food with your hands, it's not good. So what do we have there? Sweet and sour?
This is sweet and sour. These are my friends from Malaysia. Hi.
Wow. Nice? Crispy, right? And very juicy. I'm gonna take one more. Just one. Just one.
It's so good. It's almost like honey chicken. Yeah. But the sauce is a little different.
This is because they put the vinegar. Yeah. This side is like the sugar and vinegar.
Is this pork? Pork. Bamboo shoots. That's some green peppers, some onions.
So grab a little bit. Fried meat. Crab meat? Yeah, this meat. Yeah.
Oh wow. Quite nice, right? Take it away because I'm gonna eat the whole thing.
Maybe one more tiny bite. Tiny bite. This is like a big noodle right here.
Or no, it's bamboo shoot. Yeah, it's bamboo shoot.
You guys are amazing. Thank you. Alright, this is the final dish we got and it's a massive one.
What the... Basically, this is bullfrog soup with like peppers. These are the shishito peppers.
Bullfrog. Okay. That's gonna be hard to eat. There's bones in there.
Super spicy. It's like a very creamy spicy broth.
And yeah, you got the shishito peppers in here. It's gonna be spicy.
I love shishito peppers. They're also in Spain. They call it peppers de padrón.
Like it's so big and this is not even $10 for this. It's massive. Grab that.
Oh, way too hot. That one's been down there for a while. Minuscule bones. Look at this.
A lot of flesh right here. Looks like it's leg.
Wow. Tastes like chicken. It's extremely spicy though. It actually has two peppers on the menu.
Really gonna be spicy. I just wanted to try it. You have to go for all the pieces of the leg
because that's where all the flesh is. It's really hard to get through anything else. I mean,
there's a lot of meat here and you're not really supposed to use your hands, right? So you're
supposed to go... tiny bones. Try to find like the pieces that are like really fleshy, you know,
like big balls of flesh. Just like that. The reason why bullfrog is special to here is because it
comes from the lake which is right here. That's really difficult. I love the spice here. I really
love it. That's why I got it. You know, starting to hit me. That's good. Yeah, it's like a big ball
of flesh. Bullfrog's pretty good. Not so bad. I thought it was gonna be weird but it does taste
like chicken, you know? Look at the chunks in here. The amount of bullfrog. Oh, and it also has like a
vegetable.
Tastes very similar to celery but it's actually like a water vegetable.
I don't know. I don't know how much of this I can eat. It's really difficult. I might just
go back to the fish and the shrimp. Let's finish that off. This is like hard. Oh,
this is it right here. So much flesh on this one. See? Big ball right there.
Take a part of that.
Very difficult to eat and very spicy.
My nose is dripping and I don't even... That's the one thing I gotta say that I don't like about
this restaurant is that there's no napkins anywhere. The thing is that you're not supposed
to be eating with your hands so that's why they don't give you napkins. I'm done with the bullfrog
It's spicy. It's complicated. Get another piece. One with less bones. Oh, wow. If you didn't tell
me any better, I would have thought that was pork. For real. That's how like tender and like
nice and yummy it was and it does taste like a like a nice day back rib pork from China.
I need to relax. I've had a long trip. Nine days in. It's really not bad. It's no beer.
It's no beer. I mean it's very light but hopefully I can drink some better beer next door.
We'll see. What I really enjoy about the Hangzhou food is it's so freaking good and it's authentic
and it comes like everything comes from the lake. That's what I like about this area.
By in the morning, you know, the fisherman catches it, go to the market, you buy it, cook it and you
eat it. So it's super fresh. I don't know about the bullfrog. I mean if you want to be very adventurous,
try the bullfrog but I think I'm done with the bullfrog. I'm touching that again. This area where
the restaurant is is like a mini restaurant bar row. Very nice. Lots of trees. Here it says like
they have Costa coffee. They have a lot of different brands and right here they have like a brewery.
I mean I wanted to check it out so I could just get a beer and see what they got. See if they have
any good beers. Let's see. Is there anybody in there? Yeah, this is called Pilsner beer. That's
the bar's name. Pilsner. Yeah, it's called Pilsner. That's pretty cool. Oh, they even have a live band
right now. Let's go inside. Let's get a beer. This bar is really interesting. They have like brown beer.
They have wheat beer. They have like dark beer but I asked for a brown beer. They gave me this.
It's 500 milliliter. It looks like something else. I don't think they say brown beer.
And it costs 68 so it costs like 10 bucks. 10 bucks for this beer.
The only thing I like about this place is the live music. Everything else is,
I mean it's locals but it feels very touristy.
Something crazy is happening behind me. Something crazy.
I spent like 10 minutes there. Drank the beer. That was such a weird bar.
It was just so different. I mean I walk in just like a lot of guys just smoking cigarettes,
drinking beer. Then you have like three like models there at the bar and they're like the owners.
I mean they couldn't really talk to me but they like they own the bar. And then I'm like okay okay
I'm gonna drink my drink, get out of here. This area is very very nice. You walk along this path,
pass a few restaurants, some bars, close to the coffee and then you get here to this beautiful
lake. West Lake. It's gorgeous. I mean as you can see just stunning. Over here to the right we have
like the skyline and then over here to the left you just see like trees and just super peaceful.
The water's super flat right now. Wow what a great way to end the night because this is really what
I came here to see. I wanted to see the West Lake. I mean I heard so many good things about it and
that's why people come over here. Wow I'm really really loving the view here. I'm gonna keep
walking around a bit. Let's see what else we see. All I'm seeing here are tons of couples making
out by the water. I mean it is a really nice place, really romantic. It's nice and cold, very chill
and now we're gonna enter like some temple. We have a moon gate right here. Let's go through it.
I don't think this place is a restaurant. I think it's a bar because you can see a lot of people are
drinking. Basically everybody's drinking. The tables are lit up with these eggs that are lit
up in different colors. You have live music and you have this path that goes along the entire
lake. It goes all the way around. It's sort of like their central park right. I mean sort of because
it's not so big. It's on the water so it just gives it a whole different feel right and you have like
a lot of lights, a lot of Christmas lights like everywhere. Look what is this? This bridge is like
it's lit up a little bit. It's not so lit up. It's pretty dark and there's no railings. I mean you
could like literally just stumble off of this into the water. China, I love you China. This is so freaking
cool and yeah I mean tonight we had an incredible meal. Grandma's home. Wow the bullfrog, the shrimp
and the fish. I think the fish is my favorite. The fish was really good. The fish was like crispy,
nice sauce. It's all about the sauces here in China. They always throw sauce at something. I mean
usually the sauce and then the shrimp. Shrimp are like a little slimy. Good vinaigrette. I rather
have soy or spice with that and then the bullfrog. Not my favorite. I mean spicy sauce. I actually
rather have had just the sauce and no bullfrog because the bullfrog was a little difficult to
eat you know. Actually really difficult to eat. Like extremely difficult and yeah and then we
explored the west lake a little bit right there in that area. Very nice area as you can see. We're
like in a little park here, a little square and guys if you like this video give me a thumbs up.
Leave me a comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content.
I highly recommend coming to Hangzhou. You will love it. Peace.
