What? No MSG? Little oil? So they say, though we find it hard to believe. What we do know about the food at Crystal Garden is that it doesn’t disappoint. Walking into the mammoth restaurant might leave you a bit uneasy – pianos playing by themselves always freak us out. But, it’s not just the piano that is disconcerting. As you ascend, which you most often do since the tables are usually full on the first floor, you might feel that you’ll be plunking down the dough. Once you get to your table and are handed the menu, your mind will be put at ease. When we first visited this place four years ago, there wasn’t a picture to be found, and the menu was much shorter. Now, what you’ve got is a wide array of dishes from Hangzhou, Shanghai and all over China. And you can’t go wrong with a single one of them. On top of all that, the prices are mighty reasonable. You can get out of there for around 50 kuai a head.
With reasonable prices comes predictable chaos, however. It’s always a tradeoff. Crystal garden is big, well tall. And while you aren’t sitting on top of each other, the noise level is still pretty high, so this is definitely not the place to go if you’re looking for a little after-dinner lovin’. It’s gotta be the open space in the middle of the second and third floors, which while it lets you to look down on the first floor and across the way to the second and third floors, does inevitably allow the building to fill up with the noise. Sure this seems like a flawed designed, but like we said, it’s open and there’s a certain energy that comes from such a space.
Though it’s almost always packed, the service is good here, and the food comes fast. Very fast. We got the Smoked Fish Shanghai Style. Sweet and meaty. You really can’t go wrong with the freshwater fish dishes here either. And, of course, you’ve got your standard Hangzhou fare. The Beggar’s Chicken is a cheap 88RMB. The Drunken Shrimp are squirmy but excellent. The Crab in Rice Wine is a more expensive dish (128RMB), but well worth the price. Our favorite of the evening was the Fried Rice with Beef and Black Pepper. The menu is packed, and all of the dishes are mouth watering. Definitely a place that will keep you coming back. English and Picture menu available.
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