A drone wings a food delivery to Wangchen Pavilion. [Photo/Tide News]

Hangzhou has unveiled its first "air-drop restaurant", where drones deliver coffee, milk tea, and hot meals dispatched from a shopping mall directly to the summit of Banshan National Forest Park.

In the ongoing trial runs, drones take off from a mall near the mountain and land at a platform beside Wangchen Pavilion, 280 meters above sea level, completing deliveries in about 30 minutes. Orders range from coffee and milk tea to rice dishes and fast food, with items arriving warm and securely packaged.

People dine at an outdoor restaurant near Wangchen Pavilion. [Photo/Tide News]

The service, now in a pilot operation on weekends and holidays, averages around 260 orders per day. It peaked at 317 orders on Jan 3. Full operations are scheduled to begin in February. They will run from Tuesday to Sunday, weather permitting.

Designed to solve the "last-mile" challenge in high-altitude scenic areas, the project turns malls into kitchens, drones into waiters, and mountain viewpoints into dining spaces — highlighting Hangzhou's growing push into low-altitude economy applications.

Items ranging from coffee and milk tea to rice dishes and fast food are delivered by drones. [Photo/Tide News]