Zhen Bu Tong

Zhen Bu Tong is the flagship house of the Luoyang Water Feast. Tracing back to a late-Qing eatery and given its present name in 1947, it has carried on for well over a century. Rooted in the rich culinary tradition of this ancient capital, it has preserved the full Tang-court banquet down to the present day and become a household name in Luoyang.

Its fame rests on a full twenty-four-course Water Feast: built around soups and served dish after dish like flowing water, crowned by the celebrated 'peony yan cai'. For decades a table here has been a dignified choice for hosting guests in Luoyang.

The feast turns on broth-making and timing: cold openers, anchoring dishes, the eight mains and closing courses come in strict sequence, alternating hot and cold, meat and vegetable. The signature yan cai shreds radish, dresses it in starch, steams it and bathes it in stock — homely in look yet demanding in knife work and broth craft.