Longjing Shrimp (龙井虾仁) — Hangzhou's Tea-and-River Dish, and Where to Eat It

Q: When is Longjing shrimp at its best?

Around the Qingming festival (清明, early April) through to late May. This is when the new Longjing tea (新茶) has just been picked — the leaves are tender and aromatic, and the fragrance is at its fullest. Tea picked before Qingming (明前茶) is considered the finest, and spring river shrimp are fresh and at a good size too. Good restaurants serve the dish year-round using dried leaves, but visit Hangzhou in March to May and the tea fragrance is noticeably fresher.

Q: How should Longjing shrimp taste when it is done right?

Done right, it is light — no thick sauce, no greasiness, not overly sweet. The shrimp should be fresh, springy and a glossy pinkish-white, and the main flavour should come from the shrimp itself, with the Longjing tea drifting in behind as a soft, grassy-sweet fragrance. The tea leaves on the plate are edible. If it arrives swimming in a dark, thick sauce, or so sweet-savoury that the shrimp disappears, the kitchen has missed the point. This dish is judged on restraint, not on bold flavour.

The tradition

龙井虾仁 — the dish that weds Hangzhou's two treasures

Hangzhou has two things the whole city talks about endlessly — West Lake and Longjing green tea, grown on the hills that ring it. There is one dish that puts both on a single plate: 龙井虾仁 (lóngjǐng xiārén), Longjing shrimp — small peeled river shrimp quick-fried with fresh Dragon Well tea leaves and a little of the tea it's just been brewed in.

Picture a white plate piled with tiny, translucent pinkish-white shrimp, a few bright green tea leaves scattered across the top. No thick sauce, no deep red colour — that is what the dish looks like when it's done right. The flavour is exceptionally light: the shrimp arrive first, springy and clean and faintly sweet, and then the Longjing fragrance drifts in behind, soft and grassy, like new growth in early spring. You finish a plate and your palate is clean rather than coated. This is the essence of Hangzhou (Zhejiang) cooking — light, clean, ingredient-forward — the opposite of Shanghai's sweet, oil-heavy braises or the fire of Sichuan.

The shrimp are small freshwater river shrimp (河虾) from the lake and the Jiangnan waterways, much smaller than sea prawns and sweeter for it. The tea must be fresh Longjing leaves, tender and aromatic. The dish is not technically difficult, but it is genuinely hard to do well, precisely because there is no sauce to hide behind. Everything has to be fresh and the timing exact. The pleasure here comes from how little is on the plate, not how much.

Longjing shrimp — small pinkish-white peeled river shrimp piled on a white plate, scattered with fresh green Longjing tea leaves, with no heavy sauce

龙井虾仁 — clean white shrimp, fresh Longjing leaves, no sauce to hide behind

This is what "done right" looks like

Look at the plate in the photo: small, translucent pinkish-white shrimp gathered together, a few fresh green tea leaves scattered over the top, no pool of sauce, no dark red or brown glaze. That restraint is the signal that the kitchen understands the dish.

The shrimp are coated in egg white and a thin film of starch, then poached briefly in warm oil (not deep-fried) until the flesh turns jade-white and springy. They are then stir-fried fast in a hot wok with a pinch of fresh Longjing tea leaves, a splash of the brewed tea and a little Shaoxing rice wine. The whole thing takes seconds. Speed is everything.

Many restaurants serve it with a small dish of vinegar for dipping, but a version cooked well barely needs it — the fresh shrimp and the tea fragrance are enough on their own.

The legend & the flavour

An emperor's accident and the taste it should have

👑

The Qianlong legend

A popular story traces the dish to the Qing-dynasty Qianlong Emperor (乾隆) on one of his southern tours of Hangzhou. As the tale goes, a cook dropped Longjing tea leaves into a plate of shrimp by mistake, thinking they were spring onion. The pearly pink shrimp against the bright green leaves, with the Longjing fragrance rising up, won the emperor over. It is only a legend — but it captures how tightly this dish is bound to the city and its tea.

🌿

The taste it should have

Light, delicate, no thick sauce, no grease, not overly sweet. The shrimp must be fresh and springy, the main flavour coming from the shrimp itself, with the Longjing tea drifting in behind as a soft, grassy-sweet fragrance. The leaves on the plate are edible. If it arrives in a dark, thick sauce, or so sweet-savoury that the shrimp vanishes, the kitchen missed the point. The dish is famous for being "light yet deep" — and that balance is exactly what makes it hard.

🍃 The best window — around Qingming (清明, early April): the new Longjing tea (新茶) is picked from late March through Qingming, when the leaves are tender and aromatic and the fragrance is fullest. Tea picked before Qingming (明前茶) is considered the finest, and spring river shrimp are fresh and at a good size too. Good restaurants serve the dish year-round with dried leaves, but visit Hangzhou in March to May and the tea fragrance is noticeably fresher — with whole hillsides of bright green tea terraces thrown in for free.

How to order & eat it

龙井虾仁 is one dish in a meal, not a meal on its own

What to eat it with

Longjing shrimp is a light dish within a shared Hangzhou meal. Locals usually order it alongside something heavier to round out the table — Dongpo pork (东坡肉), rich and meltingly sweet; West Lake vinegar fish (西湖醋鱼) in its sweet-sour glaze; or beggar's chicken (叫化鸡) — then bring the shrimp in as the light, palate-cleansing plate. Eat it with plain steamed rice.

Portion: a small-to-medium plate, good for sharing among 2–3 people. Price: ¥68–108 per plate at a neighbourhood restaurant (~฿340–540); ¥128–188 (~฿640–940) at a classic lakeside house or where premium-grade shrimp are used. The price moves mainly with the quality and size of the shrimp.

A few things to know before you order

The famous lakeside restaurants like Louwailou get extremely busy at weekends and over public holidays — book ahead or go outside peak hours. Several of the heritage houses have long queues at lunch and dinner.

Payment is mostly WeChat Pay and Alipay; link a Visa or Mastercard to Alipay's international mode before you arrive. The larger lakeside restaurants usually have a pictorial or English menu to make ordering easy. If you want to point, just show the staff the characters "龙井虾仁".

Where to eat it

Longjing shrimp at the houses locals know

Classic restaurants that have cooked this dish for generations and are still operating — status verified.

Louwailou (楼外楼)

The classic lakeside institution · foot of Gushan Hill · open since 1848

If you want to eat a plate of Longjing shrimp in the most quintessentially Hangzhou setting possible, the whole city points to Louwailou first — a 170-year-old restaurant on the shore of West Lake at the foot of Gushan Hill. Longjing shrimp is a signature here, served alongside West Lake vinegar fish and beggar's chicken, with the lake spread out beyond the windows. It is the rare place that locals and visitors recommend in the same breath. Busy; book ahead, especially on holidays.

Address: 30 Gushan Rd, Xihu (West Lake shore, near Gushan Hill)
Hours: 11 am–2 pm / 5–8 pm · Price: Longjing shrimp ¥128–188/plate · meal ¥150–300/person (~฿750–1,500)

Zhiweiguan (知味观)

A Hangzhou heritage name · Hubin area by West Lake · founded 1913

A more accessible, easier-on-the-wallet heritage option. Zhiweiguan has been going since 1913 and has several branches around the city; the Hubin branch by West Lake is the most convenient. The Longjing shrimp here is cleanly done — springy white shrimp, fresh green leaves — and it's a good choice if you want to try the dish without booking ahead or queuing for a high-end table. Open from morning to night, with Hangzhou snacks and dim-sum-style bites alongside.

Address: Hubin area, West Lake lakeside · multiple branches across the city
Hours: 9 am–10 pm (typical) · Price: Longjing shrimp ¥68–128/plate · meal ¥80–150/person (~฿400–750)

Green Tea Restaurant (绿茶餐厅) — original branch

Right beside the Longjing tea terraces · 83 Longjing Rd

To eat this dish among the tea fields themselves, the original Green Tea branch on Longjing Road is the answer — it sits right beside the Longjing tea plantation on the hill, with windows looking out over layers of green tea terraces, and during the picking season you can watch the farmers at work. The Hangzhou cooking is well-priced and the shrimp come out fresh and springy. It fills up at weekends because it delivers both the food and the view. A rare place that pairs the flavour with its own landscape.

Address: 83 Longjing Rd, Xihu (beside the Longjing tea fields)
Hours: lunch–evening (check before you go) · Price: meal ~¥80–130/person (~฿400–650) · this dish around ¥78–128

Frequently asked

FAQ · Before you order Longjing shrimp

What is Longjing shrimp (龙井虾仁)?

Longjing shrimp (龙井虾仁, lóngjǐng xiārén) is tiny peeled freshwater river shrimp (河虾) quick-fried in a hot wok with a pinch of fresh Longjing (Dragon Well) green tea leaves and a splash of the brewed tea. The flavour is very light and delicate, with a faint grassy-sweet tea fragrance arriving after the clean sweetness of the shrimp. No heavy sauce, no strong colour. It brings together Hangzhou's two great products — river shrimp from West Lake and Longjing tea from the surrounding hills — on a single plate.

Why is Longjing shrimp so closely tied to Hangzhou?

Because it unites the two things Hangzhou is proudest of in one dish — small river shrimp from West Lake and the Jiangnan waterways, and Longjing green tea from the hills around Longjing and Meijiawu villages. Both have to be fresh and good for the dish to work, so it has become a kind of definition of the Hangzhou (Zhejiang) palate: light, clean, ingredient-forward, never masked by seasoning. That sets it apart from spicy Sichuan cooking or the sweet, oil-rich braises of Shanghai.

When is Longjing shrimp at its best?

Around the Qingming festival (清明, early April) through to late May. This is when the new Longjing tea (新茶) has just been picked — the leaves are tender and aromatic, and the fragrance is at its fullest. Tea picked before Qingming (明前茶) is considered the finest, and spring river shrimp are fresh and at a good size too. Good restaurants serve the dish year-round using dried leaves, but visit Hangzhou in March to May and the tea fragrance is noticeably fresher.

How should Longjing shrimp taste when it is done right?

Done right, it is light — no thick sauce, no greasiness, not overly sweet. The shrimp should be fresh, springy and a glossy pinkish-white, and the main flavour should come from the shrimp itself, with the Longjing tea drifting in behind as a soft, grassy-sweet fragrance. The tea leaves on the plate are edible. If it arrives swimming in a dark, thick sauce, or so sweet-savoury that the shrimp disappears, the kitchen has missed the point. This dish is judged on restraint, not on bold flavour.

Where can I eat authentic Longjing shrimp in Hangzhou?

The classic lakeside institution everyone in the city points to is Louwailou (楼外楼, 30 Gushan Rd, open since 1848), where Longjing shrimp is a signature alongside West Lake vinegar fish. Zhiweiguan (知味观, Hubin area by West Lake, founded 1913) is an easier, more affordable heritage option. To eat it among the tea fields themselves, try the original Green Tea Restaurant (绿茶餐厅, 83 Longjing Rd), which sits right beside the Longjing tea terraces. Expect roughly ¥68–188 per plate depending on the quality of the shrimp and the restaurant.

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