Vance Hotel - East Railway Station

This restaurant on a shopping street, with a main dining space on the lower floor and private rooms upstairs, can be tricky to find. Diners come for authentic Ningbo cooking, such as drunken mud whelks, braised vegetables and stir-fried clams in board bean paste with salted potherb mustard greens. Live fish and seafood shipped daily from Zhoushan, Ninghai and Wenzhou are also popular; the steamed river eel in ginger juice has to be pre-ordered.

Always jam-packed at mealtimes thanks to tasty dishes at bargain prices, this dinky shop is a favourite with the locals! Wonton and shao mai are the main draws, available in an array of fillings and served in soup or tossed in sauces. Examples include shao mai with juicy pork, diced bamboo shoot wrapped in a paper-thin skin and an exquisitely folded, oversized wonton with salted egg yolk and pork filling. The menu also features tossed noodles.

This shop may lack a snazzy decor, and nobody gets a table to themselves, but there are always queues eager to be cooked for by the self-proclaimed "noodle king". The signature tomato sauce noodles with scrambled eggs are tangy and appetising, best enjoyed with a sprinkle of pork cracklings. All made-to-order, the delicious toppings are served piping hot – try the deep-fried carp. Those with a big appetite can even get extra noodles for free.

With exquisite glass lanterns, glass screens and panoramic windows that welcome in river views, the high-ceilinged room is perfect for banquets and business dinners. The menu is dominated by Zhejiang classics, alongside some Cantonese dishes. The poetically named "Sinking Fish, Falling Geese" consists of white fish balls stuffed with bird's nest. The classic braised pork belly is thinly sliced and styled into a pagoda. Reservations recommended.

The high-ceilinged room is lavishly furnished with elegant chandeliers, ceiling fans and elaborate trims. The kitchen team excels in fusion Chinese cooking that creatively mixes and matches influences and techniques from various regional cuisines. Thinly sliced air-dried mackerel steeped in a special briny-sweet sauce is loaded with umami. The slow-cooked veal in a truffle sauce literally melts in your mouth. The curated tea list is intriguing!

The dimly lit space on two levels feels modern and chic, with its mix of bare concrete, glass, and metal structures. The food, meanwhile, is very much in keeping with Fujian tradition. Seafood from the province features heavily on the menu, alongside other Fujian produce. Signatures include honey-glazed grilled river eel with crispy skin and oily, velvety flesh. The raw oysters from Xiamen Harbour dressed in speciality sauce are zesty and summery.

Fast food