"Hefei's time-honoured Anhui house has cooked stinky mandarin fish since 1925 — come for a Hui banquet with a big table."
If you only eat one dish in Hefei, make it the stinky mandarin fish, and eat it where it has been cooked the longest. Tongqing Lou is a China Time-Honored Brand that has served Anhui cuisine since 1925, and its Huaihe Road house in Luyang District anchors the pedestrian street that defines old Hefei dining. The brand has since opened banquet halls in Beijing, Nanjing, Wuhan and Wuhu, but the Hefei rooms are where the local crowd books for weddings and family feasts.
There is no signature celebrity chef; the kitchen is the institution, cooking Hui banquet dishes the same way for generations. The defining plate is chou gui yu, stinky mandarin fish, lightly fermented until the skin turns whiffy and the flesh stays firm, sweet and boneless under a thick sauce. Around it sit braised river dishes, soy-stewed meats and the rich, oil-and-heat Anhui style. Dishes are built for sharing across a round table, and a full banquet runs roughly ¥80 to ¥150 a head depending on the spread. Its take on stinky mandarin fish is a reference point in our guide to Chinese restaurants.
The Huaihe Road house is a large, multi-floor banquet hall with private rooms upstairs for groups, which is how most locals use it. The main floor is bright and busy, loud with families and lazy-Susan turntables, and the private rooms are the quieter option for a business meal. Service is brisk and dish-by-dish, not coursed. Dress is unfussy; this is a working institution rather than a special-occasion-only room, though the private banquet rooms dress up for celebrations.
Book Tongqing Lou for a banquet because it is built for the round table: order the stinky mandarin fish, a braised river dish, a soy-stewed meat and a clay-pot, and let the lazy Susan do the rest. Take a private room upstairs for a group or a business meal, which keeps it quiet enough to talk. It works equally as a midday business lunch or an evening team dinner, the two occasions this kind of banquet house was made for.
Not for an intimate two-person dinner or a Western-style coursed meal. Tongqing Lou is a large banquet house built for groups around a shared table, and the dishes arrive family-style rather than plated per person.
Yes, for Anhui cuisine with history behind it. Tongqing Lou is a China Time-Honored Brand that has cooked Hui banquet food since 1925, and its stinky mandarin fish is a benchmark version of the dish. A full banquet runs roughly ¥80 to ¥150 a head. Go with a group and a round table to eat it the way it is meant to be served.
Book ahead for a private room, especially on weekends. Tongqing Lou's Huaihe Road house is a multi-floor banquet hall, and the private rooms upstairs are where groups and business meals go, so reserve those in advance. The main floor takes walk-ins but gets loud and busy. For a wedding-sized group, arrange the banquet menu with the restaurant ahead of time.
The signature is chou gui yu, stinky mandarin fish, lightly fermented until the skin turns whiffy while the flesh stays firm, sweet and boneless under a thick sauce. It is the defining dish of Anhui cuisine and the reason most people come. Order it alongside braised river dishes and soy-stewed meats for a proper Hui spread.
A full banquet runs roughly ¥80 to ¥150 per person, depending on how many dishes and which proteins you order. Because the food is served family-style across a shared round table, the per-head cost drops with a bigger group splitting more dishes. Private banquet rooms for celebrations cost more once you add a set menu and drinks.
Yes, in a private room. The upstairs private banquet rooms are quiet enough for a business lunch or dinner, away from the loud main floor, and the round-table format suits hosting a group of guests. Order the stinky mandarin fish and a balanced spread of braised dishes, and let the host order for the table as is customary.
Tongqing Lou takes group bookings for its private banquet rooms; reserve ahead for weekends and for a private room.
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The city's time-honoured Anhui banquet house sits among Hefei's best tables in our occasion-ranked guide.
Hefei dining guide →
