在人氣鼎盛的杭州清河坊歷史文化特色街區(qū)，近年新“冒”出了一條頗具特色的美食街——高銀街。高銀街緊挨杭州最著名的古街河坊街，并與河坊街呈東西平行走向，全長440米。在這條美食街上，散布著川、魯、閩、粵、浙以及素菜、海鮮、快餐等各種菜系和風(fēng)味餐館計(jì)22家。來高銀街落戶的不僅有老字號(hào)知味觀、王潤興、功德林分店，也有后起之秀天興樓、名源、好紹欣等酒樓，更有百家鮮、千番拉面等小吃店。在短短的三年時(shí)間里，高銀街不僅匯集了各地特色菜肴和風(fēng)味小吃，還成為各檔酒樓競(jìng)相入主的興旺地帶。

高銀街南宋時(shí)叫肉市巷，又稱灌肺嶺，以出售糯米灌豬肺出名，如今高銀街已演繹成人氣興旺的美食街，八方客人慕名而至，每日人群熙攘，熱鬧非凡。這里的菜館酒樓裝修很有特色，或飛檐翹角，古色古香；或金碧輝煌，舒適別致；或中西合璧，富麗堂皇，門面裝飾也頗具匠心，一眼看過就給人留下難忘的記憶。每當(dāng)夜幕降臨，高銀街流光溢彩，有的門前大紅燈籠高掛，熱烈喜慶；有的門前霓虹閃爍，溫馨怡人；有的門前亮著普通日光燈，顯得淳樸自然。因而你只要去過一次，下次再來肯定不會(huì)走錯(cuò)門。

作為菜館酒樓，對(duì)于客人來說靚點(diǎn)是特色，核心是口味。高銀街的菜館酒樓特色各異，口味不同，許多客人到了高銀街首先想到的是想嘗嘗正宗的杭幫菜，皇飯兒酒樓于是就成了他們的首選?！盎曙垉骸甭犉涿头峭话?，原來它是百年老店王潤興酒樓的分店。聽店主屠榮生介紹，“皇飯兒”店名還是乾隆皇帝親筆御賜的：那是乾隆第三次南巡來到杭州的一天，游吳山時(shí)突遇大雨，便到一農(nóng)家屋檐下避雨，此時(shí)他又冷又餓，進(jìn)入屋內(nèi)要求主人提供一餐便飯。主人阿興見來人饑寒交迫，十分同情，但家境貧寒，只得將中午留下的半爿魚頭加上一塊豆腐以及一些豆瓣醬在砂鍋中燉了又燉，并熱了剩飯招待乾隆。乾隆狼吞虎咽，片刻一掃而光，他感到這頓飯比皇宮御膳房的山珍海味還可口，連連稱謝，并拿出銀子給阿興，叫他開個(gè)飯莊。不久阿興在塌牌樓(今河坊街與中山中路交叉口西側(cè))租了間沿街房子開出了王潤興飯莊。五年后乾隆來到王潤興飯莊，酒足飯飽后乘興書寫了“皇飯兒”三字賜予阿興，這個(gè)店名便一直沿用至今。

“皇飯兒”作為2003年在高銀街開出的第一家酒樓，一直來生意紅火，顧客盈門。西湖醋魚、龍井蝦仁、東坡肉等杭幫菜，做得原汁原味，口味純正，深受客人青睞。尤其是當(dāng)年乾隆吃過的魚頭豆腐、鹽件兒等更是點(diǎn)擊率極高，幾乎每客必點(diǎn)。許多外地客人一下火車或飛機(jī)就打的到皇飯兒酒樓，為的就是品嘗一下魚頭豆腐和正宗地道的杭幫菜。屠榮生高興地說：也許是沾上了乾隆皇帝的光，在清河坊歷史文化特色街區(qū)近幾年我們相繼開出王潤興酒樓、皇飯兒酒樓、皇飯兒酒樓廚工坊，想不到開一家興旺一家。他認(rèn)為菜肴的質(zhì)量和口味是老字號(hào)長盛不衰的命脈，酒樓想要留住客人，在保持傳統(tǒng)的同時(shí)還必須不斷創(chuàng)新，不斷加入新鮮元素，近年來這家店不斷推出煎牛仔骨、金盞蝦球、培根雪魚卷等創(chuàng)新菜。

以家常菜取勝的天興樓大酒店則品種豐富，價(jià)格實(shí)惠，備受客人青睞。黑胡椒牛排、五香土干、天興東坡鴨等數(shù)十種家常菜如今都已成了天興樓大酒店響當(dāng)當(dāng)?shù)恼信撇恕７_菜單細(xì)細(xì)看，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)這里的菜價(jià)比許多菜館酒樓要便宜許多，即使同類菜的菜價(jià)，也要便宜15%左右。章瑛總經(jīng)理意味深長地說：“我的經(jīng)營之道是把實(shí)惠讓給顧客，吸引更多回頭客?！边@是一個(gè)“老餐飲”的肺腑之言。章瑛在餐飲行業(yè)摸爬滾打了二三十年，她在天香樓、杭州酒家做過服務(wù)員、領(lǐng)班；在開元、花中城當(dāng)過餐飲經(jīng)理。多年經(jīng)營使她具備了做好餐飲企業(yè)的素質(zhì)，2003年1月章瑛借得100萬元獨(dú)自開出了“天興樓”。由于她的精心管理，兩年多來以家常菜招攬客人，生意興旺，回頭客占了50%以上，杭州、香港的一些大旅行社也把團(tuán)隊(duì)餐訂在這里。

“小紹欣”和“好紹欣”兩家酒樓開在同一條高銀街上，相隔不到百米，這是同一個(gè)紹興籍的老板經(jīng)營，以紹興菜見長。進(jìn)入店堂，雪白的墻壁、漆黑的桌椅，墻上貼著幾幅石拱橋、烏篷船的水墨畫，具有濃郁的江南水鄉(xiāng)特色。兩家酒樓的服務(wù)員、廚師、廚師長大都是正宗紹興人，酒樓供應(yīng)的都是紹興菜，如肉末臭豆腐、干燒神仙本雞、干菜臭豆腐等。干菜河蝦被稱為紹興菜一絕，品嘗過的客人沒有一個(gè)不稱贊此菜味道特佳。為確保證紹興菜口味純正地道，他們做菜的許多原料都是直接從紹興運(yùn)過來的。

坐落于高銀街東面的名源酒樓擅長海鮮，這里的海鮮有一種精細(xì)、清淡、典雅的味道，其中一絕就是雞湯氽海蚌。一碗清澈見底的清湯，兩片宛如白玉的海蚌尖，恰似美人的溫柔，趁熱喝下仿佛有一種至清至純的溫暖徐徐在身體里展開。你再在此漫步，不意闖進(jìn)百年老店知味觀分店“味宅”，古樸典雅的裝修，美味可口的菜肴、精致細(xì)巧的點(diǎn)心，你又會(huì)覺得這里別有一番天地!這家百年老店的分店何以能一枝獨(dú)秀出現(xiàn)在高銀街上?原來它的經(jīng)理孟敏青是一位“中國宴會(huì)大師”，她的烹飪技藝，不能不讓人紛至沓來!

游走在高銀美食街，給人感受最深的是那些走出菜館酒樓的客人臉上露出的燦爛笑容，從他們的臉上看到了客人對(duì)菜館酒樓菜肴質(zhì)量和服務(wù)態(tài)度的首肯，他們不僅是在品味這座城市的美味，更重要的是在這里經(jīng)歷一種文化的熏陶和洗禮。但愿在清河坊歷史文化街區(qū)的護(hù)佑下，高銀街的美食香飄萬里，杭幫菜更加發(fā)揚(yáng)光大!

Features

A Street of Food Delicacies

By Xiao Yin， Ying Hao

Qinghefang， one of the most popular tourist attractions in Hangzhou today， provides modern visitors with an opportunity to glance into the past commercial prosperity of the ancient city. In parallel with the bustling tourist paradise is another huge mouth-watering attraction for epicures: the 440-meter-long backstreet is fully flanked with restaurants.

The tasty reputation of Gaoyin Street can trace back to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) when the street was known as the Meat Market Street， where the best known alluring delicacy was the pig lung stuffed with sticky rice. Today， restaurants there still allure diners with the traditional dishes， but which vary remarkably.

In order to make themselves stand out， all these restaurants are decorated in a special way. A restaurant is styled in an ancient double-eave roof; another restaurant sports red lanterns cascading in the front. A restaurant flares a neon light at night. A restaurant just uses ordinary fluorescent lamps to signify bedrock-priced yet tasty snacks.

But what’s most important is not the appearance of a restaurant， but its essence: how tasty their dishes are.

Emperor’s Meal is the restaurant that first came to the newly restored street three years ago. But its history goes back to a folk tale set against the background of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Like many other similar folk tales， this one is about how the emperor came to an ordinary farmer’s house for a meal， how the poor farmer cooked the leftover for the emperor， and how the emperor， so exhausted and so hungry at the end of the day， found the leftover so tasty and so wonderful. But this particular tale does not end here. It goes on to say that the emperor gave the farmer some cash and said he could set up a restaurant with it. Five years later the emperor came to Hangzhou again and patronized the farmer’s restaurant. The emperor liked what he enjoyed there and reminisced about their first encounter. This time， the emperor did not give the farmer-turned restaurateur money. The scholarly emperor gave the restaurant a title: Emperor’s Meal.

Today， the Emperor’s Meal offers traditional Hangzhou flavored dishes. The fish head braised with tofu， the legendary dish prepared by the poor farmer and loved by the emperor， is a must for diners. Some non-Hangzhou epicures come all the way and head straight for the restaurant.

Emperor’s Meal is only one of the dozens of restaurants on Gaoyin Street. Though not all of them have some tale to tell about their origins， each offers something special. For example， Tianxinglou Restaurant offers home-cooking dishes. A restaurateur from Shaoxing even runs two restaurants on the same street situated only about 100 meters from each other. And the two offer the Shaoxing-styled dishes. Mingyuan Restaurant offers seafood. Even Zhiweiguan Restaurant， a tasty presence in Hangzhou for nearly a century， has a branch restaurant on Gaoyin Street. One chef at the restaurant is a “State Banquet Master”， an honor that chefs at other restaurants can only admire.

If you take an evening stroll along Gaoyin Street， you would be greatly impressed by the different styles of these restaurants. But all of them have at least one thing in common: after-meal epicures leave with a contented smile.

(Translated by David)