Walk and eat — one at a time
The two canal streets (Pingjiang Road + Shantang) sit at opposite corners of the old town, while Taijianlong is right in the centre — so split them across the day however suits you.
1
Let's be straight: this is Suzhou's most celebrated canal street, running about 1.6 km along the 800-year-old Pingjiang Canal. One side is a stone street lined with shops; the other is a row of white waterside houses, with arched stone bridges crossing at intervals. It's beautiful to walk day or night — but the main street leans into cafes, souvenir shops and snacks made for visitors.
What's worth tasting along this canal (pick the stalls with a queue): 海棠糕 haitang gao — a batter cake griddled in a begonia-flower mould, filled with red bean and finished with a crisp caramel top · 梅花糕 meihua gao — a sweet, plum-blossom-shaped cake with red-bean or fruit filling, scattered with sugar and dried fruit · 糖粥 sugar porridge — silky glutinous-rice porridge with red bean and osmanthus sugar, an old city sweet sold from small carts by elderly vendors · plus little cups of Jiangnan-style desserts you can eat as you stroll the waterside.
2
Shantang is a 3.6 km canal street the locals call "Seven-li Shantang", first built in the Tang dynasty by the poet-governor Bai Juyi. The core old-town block — about 360 metres near Changmen Gate — is the busiest and prettiest stretch, where red lanterns light up at night and reflect the whole length of the canal. It's lovely enough to stop you in your tracks, with craft shops, souvenirs and clusters of food stalls.
What to hunt down: sheng jian bao (生煎包) — pan-fried pork-and-shrimp buns with crisp bottoms, a specialty of the century-old Xin Zhenyuan (新震源) · fried stinky tofu (臭豆腐), pungent but crisp outside and soft within · grilled skewers (烧烤) · jiuniang bing (酒酿饼), a fermented-rice cake fried golden (a springtime treat) · and plenty of roadside sweets along the way.
Here's the card most guidebooks skip. Taijianlong is a short lane running parallel to the Guanqian Street shopping strip (观前街) in the heart of the old town. It was developed into Suzhou's "eat street" in the early 1980s and has been one ever since — a different world from the canal streets. There are almost no souvenir stalls here, just sit-down restaurants, several of them legendary city institutions, where Suzhou families come to eat.
The names and dishes to know: 松鹤楼 Songhelou (founded 1737, at No. 72) — the 250-year-old home of squirrel mandarin fish (松鼠鳜鱼) · 得月楼 Deyuelou, an old Su-cuisine house right beside it · 功德林 Gongdelin, a time-honoured vegetarian restaurant · and nearby on Guanqian are the legendary sweet shops 黄天源 Huangtianyuan (rice cakes, 糕团) and 稻香村 Daoxiangcun (fresh-pork mooncakes and marinated duck to take away). Order a squirrel mandarin fish, or a bowl of Suzhou's clear-broth soup noodles — the flavours that define the city.