Return To 1977 Chapter 413: Ethnic Restaurant

lnmao.org, the fastest update to return to the latest chapter of 1977!

To celebrate this great event in the family, the Hong family did not cook on the evening of January 23.

Taking advantage of their excitement, Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin announced that they would take everyone to a restaurant, and directly booked dinner at the "National Restaurant" in Wangfujing to eat hotpot mutton.

The so-called "ethnic restaurant" is actually "Shundonglai", a well-known time-honored restaurant in Beijing.

This Muslim restaurant, which has been located in the "Dongan Market" in the capital, opened in the 28th year of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1903).

At the beginning, "Dongan Market" was just an abandoned 30-acre military training ground of "Shenji Camp". "Shun Dong Lai" is just a porridge shop opened here by Ding Ziqing, who sells loess.

It wasn’t until the third year of the Republic of China (1914) that Ding Ziqing hired red-faced chef Zheng Chunrong from the Zhengyanglou Restaurant, which was famous in the capital for its mutton-shabu-shabu business, and built three green brick and gray rooms on the same site. Tile paved house. "Shundonglai" then changed its name to "Shundonglai Mutton Restaurant", which specializes in fried, grilled and boiled mutton.

Although Master Zheng has the skills to cut a pound of mutton into eighty pieces, four inches long, one inch wide, and as thin as paper, the mutton restaurant has a prosperous business.

However, because the Hui people in the capital at the beginning of the 20th century were characterized by a large number of poor people, the merchants in the "religious sect" were also particular about adhering to the teachings, doing charity, and "writing what they wanted". "Shundong Lai" has not become a high threshold for only entertaining wealthy customers.

(Note: Niyah, the term for "religion". Arabic transliteration, the original meaning is "wishes" and "intentions". It refers to "religion" believers' worship, fasting, almsgiving, pilgrimage, slaughtering animals, hosting banquets and entertaining guests, Before holding a ceremony to commemorate the deceased, the wishes expressed from the heart or verbally. In some areas, "sect" believers specifically refer to alms and religious donations for various reasons)

Not only does it operate high-profit catering, but it has also not given up its original high-quality and low-priced mid- to low-end food. It still entertains those old patrons and poor friends who were not very respectable in the past.

As the business continued to develop, the mutton restaurant's business flourished. By the 19th year of the Republic of China (1930), "Shundong Lai" had been expanded to a three-story building. It has completely surpassed the declining "Zhengyang Tower" and become the leading restaurant in Beijing featuring hotpot mutton.

After liberation, "Shundong Lai" has been deeply loved and praised by the leaders of the Republic. Prime Minister, Mr. Chen, and great men have all hosted banquets for many foreign leaders here.

At the end of 1966, the "Dongan Market" was facing transformation. "Shundong Lai" moved to the "Xinqiao Hotel" for business, and was renamed "Ethnic Restaurant" due to the renaming trend during the "Movement".

It was not until the new building was completed in 1969 that "Dongan Market" became "Dongfeng Market", and "Shundong Lai" moved back to its original location for business, and the store name was changed again to "National Restaurant".

When the Hong family visited together today, it was actually the time when the "National Restaurant" had the largest number of employees and the largest business area.

Although it is still a three-story building, it has reached 2,700 square meters.

There is a popular restaurant on the first, second and third floors each for hundreds of people. There is a snack bar on the first floor, which serves butter fried cakes, cheese, sesame pancakes and various sweets. There are nine single rooms on the second floor. There are two high-end banquet halls on the third floor.

Needless to say, given the Hong family's quiet temperament and non-ostentatious demeanor, and the fact that they have just won the title and are carrying a huge fortune, they are still a little uneasy. Then you must want to dine in the private room on the second floor.

Only for leaders?

Don't be afraid, Hong Yanwu has experience. Two boxes of good cigarettes, one in the front hall and one in the kitchen can be solved in one hand.

But his little move was not hidden from his father. When Hong Lucheng saw it, he gnashed his teeth and shook his head.

Hong Yanwu saw this and thought that his father disliked him again, but after careful questioning, he found out that Hong Lucheng was not targeting him and lamented the poor service in today's catering industry.

Hong Lucheng kept mumbling, "In the past, restaurants paid attention to the three treasures: kitchen workers, waiters and waiters. In addition to good chef skills, the waiters' attentive service and the waiters' courtesy and etiquette were equally important. I remember that after the public-private partnership, there were still Otherwise, why do you have to bribe the waiter if you want a suitable seat? Isn't this their duty?"

Actually, it’s not surprising that the old man thinks this way, mainly because cooking is the Hong family’s specialty. These problems are nothing in the eyes of others, but in his eyes they are a big deal.

Besides, it has been too long since he went out to a restaurant. The Hong family has always been very poor. In so many years, the last time Shou Jingfang entertained Wanyan Yuntai for a roast duck meal, he had only been with him once. To put it bluntly, it is a lack of correct understanding of the social environment and a bit out of touch with the times.

Of course Hong Yanwu understands this. He was also quite good at talking, and he explained clearly to his father the shortcomings of the "iron rice bowl" and "planned economy" in a few words.

At the end, he said, "You are in old business. This is a monopoly operation and hoarding goods. It's not surprising! These days, good things and bad things are the same. If you don't give me some benefits, who will do their best to you? Are you doing something? But don’t be impatient and take your time. Didn’t Shan Tianfang say that everything will come together again and again? "

Hey, Hong Lucheng was stunned now. Not for anything else, but for the insight revealed in his son's words.

Whether it is business theory or understanding of the world, according to him, even the eldest and second eldest brother who have read a lot of books cannot understand it. It really shouldn't be something that Hong Yanwu can have in his head.

The old man naturally stared at Hong Yanwu and pondered it. There was no words this time, because Hong Yanwu had experienced similar anomalies several times. He no longer believed his son's nonsense.

Although I still didn’t figure out what happened in the end, the hot copper hotpot was served. But anyway, for the first time, Hong Lucheng felt that Hong Yanwu was really his biological son. Perhaps, he is the most like him among all the children.

So the old man didn't even move his chopsticks, but instead made a point of correcting Hong Yanwu.

"Third brother, what you said just now is wrong. Remember, our family used to do business, not business. Buy and sell, buy and sell, the goods are genuine. Business, business, ideas, deception People are confused. You have to understand this clearly. Don’t talk nonsense in the future.”

This was said very abruptly, and people who had not heard what they just talked about would inevitably be a little confused.

But Hong Yanwu rolled his eyes and responded seriously, "Yes. Dad, I remember."

This made Hong Lucheng even more gratified.

He really felt now that he might have been wrong about his son. Apart from being naughty as a child, this third child is probably not useless at all.

He is capable in interpersonal communication and smart enough. He knows some things very well and understands them very clearly...

The reverse is similar to Hong Lucheng. In fact, this meal made Hong Yanwu become more fond of his father and admire him quite a lot.

But what convinced Hong Lucheng to conquer him was not that the old man showed any foresight that could determine the world's major events, or that he had a high-level philosophy of life. But it is a knowledge that everyone knows but may not understand, eating!

To be honest, Hong Yanwu has eaten "Shun Dong Lai" many times.

Don’t mention it after the 1990s. Apart from the high price, I really don’t think there’s anything good about it.

He would rather eat at "Four Seasons", "Laowu", "Yaotai", "Fumanlou", "Nengrenju", and "Jubaoyuan". , go to fast food "Xiabuxiabu" and "Haidilao", go to the creative hot pot "No. 35 Yard" and Hong Kong-style hot pot "Pufferfish Soup" with an average per capita consumption of more than 1,000 yuan, and even eat poppy shells As the base, the Sichuan style hotpot "Shu Wang" is guaranteed to be spicy the next day. I also don’t want to go to this authentic time-honored restaurant in Beijing to eat hot pot.

Even if he couldn't avoid it, and occasionally accompanied foreign customers and officials who specially ordered this name to have a taste, he rarely used chopsticks and actually went to eat something.

It's not about money. Not to mention the service was terrible, the food was also unsatisfactory, even the bowl of condiments was not as delicious as other restaurants. It gave him the feeling of sharpening the knife in his hand, relying on a century-old reputation, sitting in a prosperous business district, and being a rip-off store that only attracts foreigners!

As for this new life, he felt much better.

Because these days there are not many choices for eating hotpot mutton, and secondly, restaurants still adhere to some old traditions these days.

First of all, sheep are not fed with feed. The meat is really good, bright red, and it is all the essence of the small-tailed sheep bred by nature.

"Shangnao", "Big Sancha", "Little Sancha", "Mocrotch", and "Cucumber Strips" are cut so that you can see the background of the blue and white plate through the slices of meat. There is no such thing as fooling people with frozen meat.

Secondly, the hot pot is really made of copper, using silver charcoal to heat up the fire. It’s not just a matter of using brass stoves, alcohol stoves, or electric stoves. This traditional way of shabu-shabu mutton is naturally fragrant. If you use your chopsticks, the meat slices will be cooked as soon as they are heated in the pot. Not boiled at all, tender and fragrant.

Besides, the stock these days is good. The mutton-shabu pot is filled with dried shrimps and real Mongolian "mushrooms". The taste is so fresh.

The sugar and garlic are all homemade, and it takes three months to prepare the altar for entertaining guests. Although it is marinated with real sugar, it does not turn yellow in appearance, is white, tender and bright, crisp and sweet.

(Note: Trichosanthes is a white toadstool wild mushroom that grows on the grasslands of Mongolia. It usually grows in places with sheep bones or sheep dung. It tastes extremely delicious. Because Mongolian Trichosanthes native products used to pass through Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province It is exported to the mainland, and Zhangjiakou is the distribution center for Mongolian goods, so it is called "Mushroom" because of its small output and large demand, so it is expensive. It has always been the most expensive mushroom in the domestic market. "Already extinct, this word only refers to a type of white mushroom. It is not the same as in the past.)