The freshwater fish from Poyang Lake — silver carp (鲢鱼), mandarin fish (鳜鱼), and crucian carp (鲫鱼) — are prepared in Jiujiang's restaurants in ways that showcase the quality of the lake stock rather than masking it. Silver carp head soup, slow-cooked with ginger, tofu, and white pepper, is the local dish most worth seeking out: the broth is milky, rich, and deeply flavoured from hours of simmering. Mandarin fish is typically steamed with soy sauce and ginger, or fried to a crisp and served with a sweet-and-sour sauce in the provincial Jiangxi style.
The best places to eat fresh lake fish are the waterfront restaurants near Stone Bell Hill and the cluster of informal fish restaurants along the roads leading south toward Poyang Lake. Prices are modest and quality is high — this is not tourist food. The sealed-jar rice wine (封缸酒) is the right accompaniment.