The restaurants along the Yangtze riverfront and around the Haohe River serve what Nantong does best: fish and shellfish from the estuary, cooked with the light, clean flavours of Jiangnan cuisine. Mandarin fish (guiyu) steamed with ginger and spring onion is the dish most restaurants lead with; river crabs in autumn, when the hairy crab season peaks, are the highlight of the year.
The riverfront restaurants vary from polished establishments with set menus designed for banquets to plain canteens where ordering means pointing at what other tables are eating. The latter are often better — the fish arrives faster and the crowd is local. For the hairy crab season (September through November), booking ahead at any serious restaurant is essential, as demand significantly exceeds supply.