Wei Zhuang, Lingyin Branch /知味观味庄, 灵隐店

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Now it’s our goal to make you hungry by reading these reviews, but with some places it’s easier to do than others. This is one of those places. We’ll start with what came out on our table first which was the Mixed Vegetable Salad in Fried Tofu. It was superb with vegetables that looked and tasted like they had just been picked from the garden. Simply perfect on one of those days when the sun is out. Though nothing we ordered this afternoon was less than great, the greatest of the great had to be the Smoked Mandarin Fish French Style (sic.). Though, we weren’t sure where the “French Style” was, it was certainly delicious little cuts of boneless fish served in a tower of goodness. The only thing we could complain about, and we always have to complain about something, was the order in which the food came out, but the waiter did warn us, so we’ll leave it at that. Next up strangely, were the Steamed Buns with Crab Meat and Pork. They actually put Din Tai Feng to shame—a feat in its own right to say the least. Though we do have to admit that their Dongpo Pork and Bamboo Shoots served with Pancake weren’t as good as they are in the Hyatt, they did come damn close—another feat not easy to accomplish. My mouth is watering as I think about the next dish, the Stir-fried Tea Tree Mushroom. It was done to perfection. Our bill for three starving men and a woman—I can see a movie happening as I write this—came out to 658RMB, and it included a beer, a coke, and two bottles of apple juice plus a variety to other dished that I’ve run out of superlatives in order to describe. As this spot is right next to Lingyin Temple, we expect that it gets hopping busy on the weekends. We were lucky enough to find a parking spot a stone’s throw away from the front entrance. English and picture menu available.