Suzhou is famous for its delicious food, so this time we will go to an alley with many treasures and delicacies—— Shuyuan lane.
Take Suzhou rail transit line 4 to sanyuanfang station and come out from Exit 1, which is Shuyuan lane. Shuyun goes deep into the courtyard to find Qingying, and Shuyuan lane is named after Heshan academy founded by Wei liaoweng in Song Dynasty. Suzhou middle school, one of the most famous and oldest middle schools in Suzhou, is located on the south side of the Shuyuan lane. The sound of books is around my ears when you walking in front of the school gate, which reminds me of the beautiful student days.
In addition to the sound of books and the fragrance of books, the Shuyuan Lane in the morning is more of a busy atmosphere of city life. Pancakes, fried dough sticks, egg cakes, wonton, cakes, zongzi those delicious breakfast spread from the street to the alley. When the heat rises, people on the way to work and school gather here to fill their stomachs with a big breakfast and drive away sleepiness.
Laowang egg cake
From Xiaowang’s egg cake in 1999 to Laowang’s egg cake today, this egg cake shop located along Jinshi River in Shuyuan lane, and it has accompanied Suzhou people for more than 20 years. In the past, Xiao Wang who used to be green and astringent, has gradually become a well-known old Wang in Suzhou’s “egg cake world”.
Every day he gets up at 5 o’clock and ushers in the first group of guests at 6 o’clock. He keeps busy until 7 o’clock in the evening and makes nearly 1000 egg cakes a day. This is Lao Wang’s daily life for more than 20 years. Whenever you come here, there is a long line in front of the door. The line has to turn around the corner if business is good, and patience is the only secret if you want to eat a hot and fragrant old king’s egg cake.
Wang’s Linji
Wang’s Linji next door to Laowang’s egg cake, a pair of fried dough sticks and a cup of soybean milk, is a standard breakfast for many Suzhou people. Big cake has salty and sweet, salty inside there are chives and pig oil residue, eat up particularly fragrant. The sweet taste is black sesame sugar. When chewing, you can feel the crispy cake skin contains tiny sugar particles, which is very rich in taste. Wrap the cake with oil absorption paper and put it into a bag. Many people buy five or ten, take them back, and all families like to eat them.
Mingyue Lou
In the pastry circle of Suzhou, there are many time-honored brands with many branches, but there are also some small shops, such as the Mingyue building in the Shuyuan lane. Compared with the century old brand, mingyuelou has only a short history of more than ten years, but his pastry group is very popular in Suzhou. Lard cake, muffin, pull cake, cimaotuan, double stuffing group, and all kinds of cake groups that are ready to be listed at any time are of good quality and low price. People who come here to buy cake groups every morning will line up at the door.
Aijiaolou wonton
Suzhou people pay attention to not eating from time to time, but that bowl of wonton is indispensable throughout the year. Aijiaolou wonton, which has been open in Shuyuan lane for many years and also carries the memories of many students’ time. Sanxian wonton is a special sign of aijiaolou. It is made of fresh meat, Kaiyang (dried shrimps) and pickled mustard. It is called “Sanxian”. It tastes like home and has a kind of “wonton made by mother”.
Pan Jilong Shaobing
At the westernmost end of Shuyuan lane, there is a pan Jilong pancake restaurant. What’s most surprising is that there are some pancakes that are rarely seen today. This cake is the flavor that many Suzhou people used to eat when they were young.
The round cake body, the thicker the surrounding area, the thinner the inner surface, and the thinnest part will be exposed once it passes through the oil. The thick part is soft and delicious, and the thin part is fragrant and crisp. Beat an egg and oil on the pasta, which is better.
Zhao Ji zongzi
Go to the west end of Shuyuan lane, and then walk about 250 meters north along Siqian street to Zhaoji zongzi, a most famous zongzi shop in Suzhou.
Aunt Zhao, the owner, she has been in the zongzi business for more than 20 years. Each rice dumpling contains 2 pieces of fat meat and 1 piece of fat meat. Lean meat is chewy, while fat meat is blended with glutinous rice grains in the cooking process, which makes glutinous rice very greasy and fragrant. Another brand of egg yolk meat dumplings, each dumpling contains a golden and clear salted egg yolk. It tastes thick and oily, and tastes rusty, which is richer than ordinary meat dumplings.
Every shop in the Shuyuan Lane carries many stories about you, us and them, accompanying people through their carefree school days, and then starting a busy working mode. When feelings are integrated into delicious food, every egg cake, cake and bowl of wonton carries memories of the past and prospects for the future, encouraging us to move more firmly into a new life.
