One restaurant making a spectacular show on the inaugural MICHELIN Guide Jiangsu Province Awards ceremony in April this year was Dingshan·Jiangyan (Xiangcheng), for having prestigious recognitions of one-star accolade and MICHELIN Young Chef Award under its belt.
Prior to that, it had earned a positive word-of-mouth, of which the seasonal banquets all the year round enjoyed high prestige. In a nutshell, they’re celebratory feasts centered on seasonal ingredients, including river shrimp (aka three-shrimp) in summer, hairy crab in autumn and black carp in winter.
The success of Dingshan didn’t happen overnight, but went through a long period of time instead. It all started in the 1990s when Xiaomen Chen, who was a businesswoman in foreign trade, set up a restaurant. The brisk business sustained, giving her a boost to deeply cultivate the mass market.
A scene of prosperity in her restaurant business was maintained albeit with twists and turns. Then, with time changing thus was born the idea of opening up a new horizon – fine dining, and followed by the official launch of Dingshan·Jiangyan in September 2021.
It’s well-placed for easy access from Shanghai – about 20 minutes, owing to being an inch away from the Suzhou North railway station. Sitting atop an official tower, it commands a breathtaking panorama of the city, complete with a pleasant quaintness arising from the interior design imbued with time-honored cultural heritages and civilizations.
With Chef Jie Wang at the helm, this young chef in the post-1995 generation in a spirit of Chinese cooking has acquired a knack of staying true to what’s essential to the genuine Suzhou cuisine when revolving around ingenuity.
Now, the time of the rainy season in East China – late spring and early summer – is the best time for three shrimp. Instead of a variety of shrimp, it’s the three parts of the plump freshwater shrimp in a fleeting spring season: flesh, roe and brain.
To portray the ultimate freshness of Three Shrimp and seasonal delicacies showcases a scroll of an 18-course menu, among which many sources of inspirations are born out of Suzhou culinary traditions. The menu starts off with the in-season water shield that is settled with jelly made from chicken broth, shrimp roe and brain, seemingly like a placid lake on top.
For Suzhou local citizens, none may be more peculiar than slurping three-shrimp noodles with toppings consisting of eggs, shrimp roes and flesh. Accordingly, a whimsical idea of taking shredded soft-shelled turtle as noodles topped with fat shrimps and touched with a hint of sour-hot sauce lifts up the meaty, chewy, spongy and tender texture, as well as tickling your palate.
Over and beyond the seasonal banquet menus , both the classic menu and a la carte menu are in service.
Dingshan·Jiangyan (Xiangcheng)
Address: 33F, Tiancheng Times, 58 Qinglonggang Rd, Xiang Cheng District, Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China
Tel: +86 512 6563 0333