Song He Lou

Occasion: Lunch after touring the Humble Administrator's Garden
Location: Song He Lou (The Pine and Crane), 198 Shantang Street in Suzhou (which is, confusingly, just a city and not a province)
Edibles: yin yang spinach and tofu soup (pictured above); lots of small dishes (pictured below left to right, top to bottom) - an unidentified vegetable, sautéed; another indentified vegetable, chopped, with mushrooms; honey-braised pumpkin; sautéed baby shrimp; marinated jellyfish; rice cakes with sweet and sour sauce; Chinese broccoli with soy sauce; bok choi with cured ham

Musings: As is common in the area, the meal started with a fantastic assortment of cold dishes. Mystery veg #2 (the bright green one) and the pumpkin were my favorites.

We came in at the tail end of their lunch service, after the head chef had already ended his shift, so they could only produce a limited selection of their hot dishes. I thought they over-sauced the rice cakes but I loved the bok choi, which was topped with the Chinese equivalent of bacon. Mmmm... bacon...

I enjoyed the meal and thought the food was pretty good. My folks, with their more educated Chinese palates, deemed it decent but rather primitive and rudimentary. I guess that averages out to about a "B"?