如意酒店 苏州独墅湖月湾

Situated right on the Grand Canal, this restaurant, furnished in traditional Chinese style, specialises in authentic Suzhou cuisine at sensible prices. The chef’s team excels in no-frills dishes that require solid skills. Suzhou style deep-fried eel is crispy in texture, coated in a sweet and sour sauce and sprinkled with sesame. Claypot rice with Suzhou braised pork, bamboo shoot, potato and extra chopped leeks is buttery and satisfying.

This restaurant in a conveniently located shopping mall serves modern Chaozhou dishes alongside live seafood from Guangdong and Cantonese barbecue dishes grilled in-house. The angled luffa with Chaozhou beef balls, fish balls and pork sausage has a bouncy texture and the sweetness of cucumber. The sachima with olive kernels is an exclusive sweet with fluffy egg-fried batter bits. The set menus are great value. Booking recommended at peak times.

A whitewashed two-storey building with a tiled roof is home to this reincarnation of a noodle stall founded in 1931. The delightfully ornate interior pays homage to traditional Chinese decor. Suzhou noodles are either served in a soy-based or clear broth, or tossed in sauces. There are tens of toppings to choose from – if in doubt, go for any of the popular combinations. The shrimp trio with shrimps, their roe and tomalley is too good to be missed.

Behind the name – a nod to Suzhou's famous Zhuozheng Garden – an eclectic decor melds traditional Chinese and bold modern aesthetics. At lunchtime, it's all about Suzhou noodles: the soy-based broth is packed with deep flavours, thanks to the condensed base of chicken and pork bone. At dinner, prix-fixe menus, tailored in advance, feature cuisine that fuses Jiangzhe, Suzhou and Cantonese styles, and may include the signature crispy-skin squab.

The elegant room has an airy feel thanks to picture windows that overlook a water feature. The veteran Shanghainese chef, who boasts a stint in an iconic Hangzhou restaurant, imbues Jiangsu classics with novel twists to keep the menu fresh and exciting. Inspired by the Qing Dynasty gastronomic bible, Recipes from the Garden of Contentment, he reinterprets heritage dishes in line with the seasons. The handcrafted dim sum lunch is another highlight.

Inspired by the Classical Gardens of Suzhou, the decor sports slatted floor-to-ceiling windows, pendant lanterns and a view of a koi pond. In addition to cuisine from his hometown, the Yangzhou chef deftly prepares Suzhou dishes and roast duck. His original creation, ‘Lotus in southern pond’, consists of sweet pea-studded chicken patty as a pod, bamboo fungus bound by hairy moss as a root and a flavourful broth. Suzhou style dim sum is also worth trying.

Breathtaking lake views form the backdrop to this generously proportioned room, which sports a modern art installation. It serves the same menu as its Beijing and Shanghai counterparts, showcasing meticulously crafted Cantonese and Jiangzhe dishes. Robust flavours, firm meat and the perfect ratio of fat make the poached chicken a hit. The braised oxtail in brown sauce melds Cantonese and Jiangzhe influences, while the fall-off-the-bone beef is tender and flavoursome.