Must-see restaurants in Jiangsu

Ever-trendy Element Fresh gives the iffy Nánjīng cafe culture a good kick in the pants. The setting is smooth, the ambient tunes funky, the lines clean,…

Upmarket Spanish restaurant and cocktail bar on the 37th floor of the W Hotel. As well as excellent food, drinks and service, this place also has a…

This hectic, fun and vast place, decorated like a Qing dynasty eatery, with waiters scurrying around in period garb and lanterns hanging overhead, is…

This institution has been serving up classic Suzhou-style soup noodles for 200 years. The delicious broth, which is made fresh each night from herbs,…

Downtown branch of this popular restaurant that specialises in dumplings but also offers a variety of tasty, locally inspired and classic Chinese dishes…

This restaurant is popular for its juicy and totally delicious beef 'potsticker' dumplings (牛肉锅贴, niúròu guōtiē). These golden, crispy wonders are easy on…

Cosy bakery located in the student area around Nánjīng University. As well as delectable baked goods like cakes and breads, they make their own nut…

Charming joint serving tasty western China style food, including roast lamb, kebabs, hotpot, and the standout Lánzhōu-style noodles (兰州牛肉面, ¥32). Located…

With great clouds of steam rising from the kitchen, this local icon has been flogging noodles since 1943, but its handmade shēngjiān bāo (生煎包, pan-fried…

Close to the Lion Grove Garden, this restaurant attracts a mix of locals and visitors for its subtly flavoured Suzhou cooking. The menu takes inspiration…

This noodle joint serves vast, steaming bowls of rice noodles with copious amounts of chicken, beef, pork or fish thrown in. The fish noodles (水煮鱼片米线,…

This place is reasonably elegant and certainly no dive, yet you can order up half a Peking duck (半只烤鸭; bànzhī kǎoyā) here for a paltry ¥39, including…

This boisterous, two-level Xinjiang restaurant has a sizeable lamb-packed menu that runs that gamut from kebabs (¥5 each) and fried-bread-and-lamb (¥48)…

The stab at a classy ambience doesn't quite succeed at Taj Mahal, but the menu's a winner. The spiciness of the mutton vindaloo may be slightly moderated…

Often busy, this seriously cute little teahouse is perched beside one of Suzhou’s most popular canalside streets, serving up excellent dumplings and…

Reasonably priced, upmarket restaurant offering a comprehensive array of local and classic Chinese dishes. The dumplings here are especially good,…

This small restaurant has a lovely setting overlooking the canal that runs alongside Pingjiang Lu, right next to a picturesque stone bridge and a…

Wagas is everyone's darling. The setting is all industrial chic: concrete floor, patchy and distressed white painted grey brick, staff in snappy but…

Come to this friendly Buddhist restaurant for a modest-yet-filling vegetarian buffet that, at ¥10, will barely make a dent in your wallet. Etiquette…

Popular with locals, this red-wood-furniture-bedecked eatery, with several branches across town, has a long history and wholesome, filling noodles – try…