Octie Appetie: Food in Suzhou

23 May 2025

Food in Suzhou

Previously:

Shantang Street, Suzhou

This restaurant's got the whole Chinese vibe going on - red pillars, tiled roofs, lanterns, and most importantly awesome noodles. Tong De Xing specialised in Suzhou style noodles and the broth is the key. Their clear broth has somehow managed to cram in a crazy amount of umami and depth of flavour. A rich broth accompanied with al dente cooked noodles and served with your choice of toppings. You can order plain noodles with individual meat toppings or choose from their set menus. Classic toppings are including braised pork, stir fried shrimp and deep-fried fish or more luxurious item like crab roe sauce.

For their set menus, it comes with a few side dishes, some's got fruits, sweet and stir-fried greens or some with pickles and cold chicken. There is no English menu available, but if you have Alipay apps, you can view menu in English and order food from there. Waitresses here are also very nice and helpful although they speak minimal English.

At night, we were randomly gone into this bread shop. The shop looks different from most of standard Chinese shops. This bakery shop gave a modern bread shop feeling and they serve appetising looking breads and cakes as well. I mean this kind of shop is pretty normal in the metropolitan city like Shanghai but very unexpected to see one in Suzhou.

We bought a few items here but didn't get to eat them until the next morning. Honestly, the bread still soft and tasty. We also got a few cookies from them. If I tried and knew how good they were, I will definitely buy some more things from them.

Notably, Suzhou is also famous for its deep-fried mala. You can literally stumble upon mala stalls on every street corner. It's a choose-your-own-adventure kind of deal - pick your faves, toss them in a basket and hand them over to the seller who will fry them to a golden brown and sprinkle some magic spices on top. The best part? They are inexpensive and satisfying.