Hangzhou food, like the lake area it comes from, is similarly well known for its freshness. This cuisine is quite strongly flavoured, but never greasy.

Too busy to make it to the famous Louwailou Restaurant in Hangzhou, I recently visited the Louwailou Festival in the Hotel Sofitel Hyland on Nanjing Road.

As I tasted the famous steamed fresh water fish with sweet and sour sauce, I could almost smell the fresh soil - though I didn't taste any - in the fish.

"That's the essence of this fish that makes it such a favourite with Hangzhou people," said one friend. "It tastes so light, not as sweet as Shanghai food, so it keeps all the freshness that fresh water fish should have."

But my favourite was baked baby chicken in lotus leaf, said to have originated from the dishes cooked by beggars in Hangzhou and other cities.

They didn't have cookers and had to pack the chicken they had begged for, or even stolen, in lotus leaves and mud.

They then baked the packaged chicken in a fire which made the meat very crisp.

Dong Po pork, both fat and lean meat, was the strongest tasting dish in the meal. The fat, however, did taste a little greasy.

"It is much to the taste of ladies, because fat generally is good for the skin," kidded my friend.

What interested me was the origin of the dish's name.

Su Dongpo, a great poet of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) from whom the dish takes its name, was quite thin in my imagination. "Perhaps he just really liked meat" I thought to myself."Or maybe the rich nutrients in this dish helped him with inspiration for his poetry."

Time: January 10 to 24

Place: 3F, Hotel Sofitel Hyland Shanghai, 505 Nanjing Road E.

Tel: 6351-5888 ext 4395