Plum Garden, Jinling Hotel

Plum Garden (Mei Yuan) is the upscale Chinese restaurant on the second floor of the Jinling Hotel, 40 Hanzhong Road, in the Gulou District of Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. The Jinling Hotel is one of the city's landmark hotels, located at the Xinjiekou commercial centre, and its restaurant serves refined Jinling and Huaiyang dishes to hotel guests, business diners and local families celebrating occasions. There is no Michelin listing to cite; the restaurant's standing comes from its hotel setting, its polished service and a menu that presents the city's classic dishes in a more formal style than street-food houses. Signature dishes include Nanjing salted duck at about ¥98, a cured and simmered duck served cold; swamp eel prepared Ruandou-style at about ¥168, a Jiangsu specialty in which eel is cooked until tender in a savoury sauce; and duck blood vermicelli soup at about ¥58, the city's signature bowl presented in a more upmarket version. These dishes reflect a kitchen that focuses on local staples and presents them with careful plating. The dining room is quiet and elegant, with round tables, linen, attentive table service and private-style seating suited to business meals and family banquets; dress is smart casual, and a calm atmosphere with low noise levels is typical. Beverages include tea, spirits and a selection of wines, as is usual in a hotel restaurant, although the wine list is more functional than a destination programme. Reservations are recommended and can be made by phoning the Jinling Hotel front desk on +86 25 8471 1888, particularly for dinner, weekends and larger groups. The restaurant serves lunch from 11:30AM to 2PM and dinner from 5:30PM to 9PM. Prices are in the upper range at $$$, and a shared meal typically costs ¥200 to ¥400 per person, well above the city's street-food and tea-house prices. Its Xinjiekou location places it in central Nanjing, near the metro and major shopping streets, which suits visitors staying in the city centre.