New York has no shortage of Chinese restaurants and a real shortage of Jiangnan ones — the delicate, sugar-and-soy river cooking of Hangzhou and Huaiyang rarely gets its own address here. Xi Hu takes its name from Hangzhou's West Lake and builds the menu around that region: Huaiyang eel, the slow-braised pork belly named for the poet Su Dongpo, and a long seafood section. If you have been ordering Sichuan by default, this is the corrective, and it is new enough that you can still get a table.
What to expect
A full-length regional menu that rewards ordering across it rather than defaulting to the familiar section — the eel and the dongpo pork are the dishes the kitchen is signaling with. It runs midday through late evening, with later closing on weekends, so it works for both a long lunch and a proper dinner.
Good to know
- Order from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang section — the regional dishes are the reason to come, not the crossover menu.
- It is at 175 East Houston Street on the Lower East Side, close to the Second Avenue F stop.
- The menu is seafood-heavy, which is worth knowing if you are booking for a mixed group.
- Kitchen hours run later on Friday and Saturday than earlier in the week.
- Still new enough that walk-ins are realistic, though that will not last.
- Dongpo pork is a slow-braised dish — plan for it as a shared centerpiece rather than a solo plate.
Planning Sep 11–13, 2026 in NYC?
This list keeps changing as events are verified. We'll send you the final version the Thursday before — and you can unsubscribe right after if that's all you need.
Common questions
What kind of Chinese food is it?
Eastern Chinese — specifically Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai cooking, with a seafood-heavy menu covering regional specialties like Huaiyang-style eel and dongpo pork.
Where is it?
175 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002, on the Lower East Side.
Is it open this weekend?
Yes. It runs midday into the evening Monday through Thursday and stays open later on Friday and Saturday.
Also in Manhattan
