Volume 4: The World of Great Conflict Chapter 0443 Ask Again
"Any recommendations?"
"Cold shredded potatoes, spring rolls, Kung Pao chicken, and Mapo tofu."
"The ones you mentioned are what foreigners like to eat. Recommend a few that I can eat."
"Then look at the back. The chef here learned the salt style of Sichuan cuisine," Nan Yi introduced.
"Xiaohe Gang, then let's have Huobianzi beef, Li's fermented glutinous rice fish, the salt merchant's nine-inlaid dish, ants climbing trees, Nongtuan daughter dish, Zhangjiatuo..."
"That's enough. Five dishes are enough for you. It would be a waste if you order more." Nan Yi stopped Wu Zaisheng from ordering any more.
"As a restaurant owner, are you afraid that the diners will order too many dishes?" Wu Zaisheng closed the bamboo slips in his hand and said with a smile.
"Okay, the bamboo slips in your hand are not usually taken out when customers come. They are prepared for gluttons. The profit is not high and it is troublesome to make."
"Why, are you still worried about someone messing up the place? You're worrying too much. No one will mess up the place here. The days when someone would come over to weigh the goods when a new store opened are long gone."
In the past, merchants had their own guilds and chefs had their own guilds. If a businessman wanted to say that he was a Huizhou merchant or a Shanxi merchant, he had to join the guild and uphold the honor of the guild. Otherwise, he could not use the guild's banner and could not call himself a Huizhou merchant or a Shanxi merchant.
The same applies to opening a restaurant. Either don't use the name of a particular cuisine and just cook whatever dishes you like. If you want to use the name of a particular cuisine, that's fine, then just wait for the owners of nearby restaurants to come and weigh in. Since you're using the name of Sichuan cuisine, then just make a few signature Sichuan dishes so that people will be convinced after trying them and acknowledge that it represents Sichuan cuisine.
If the food you serve is a table full of shit, then your reputation won’t stand up.
Therefore, in ancient times, anyone who could open a restaurant and dared to say what cuisine he belonged to had his own unique skills and signature dishes. Otherwise, he would not dare to say what cuisine he belonged to and could only be a wild fox.
"That's not the case. I'm just preparing so that when colleagues come to visit, it won't be too embarrassing."
The Longmen Formation is an evil path in the eyes of orthodox chefs. It is like Guangmingding and Heimuya. Anyone can kill it. Sooner or later, chefs who want to stand out will come knocking on the door.
The best way to stand out is to step on those who are already famous.
For example, if Nan Yi wants to become a fake boxing champion, he can challenge Ali in two years. With his current martial arts attainments, he still has a great chance of defeating Ali, who already has severe Parkinson's disease.
Nan Yi went to the kitchen to place the order, and then came back to continue talking to Wu Zaisheng.
"Nan Yi, what do you think about what I told you last time?" Wu Zaisheng asked after chatting for a few sentences.
"I may disappoint you. I have just had a new idea these days. I want to run Longmenzhen well and turn it into a chain brand. I may have to apologize to Jardine Matheson Bank." Nan Yi said, taking a step back to advance.
"Chain restaurant? But you only have ten tables here. Do you want to expand your business?"
"No, you misunderstood. I don't want to open a high-end restaurant. I want to open a civilian restaurant of this scale, turn it into a chain, and then open it in every county in Eagle Country."
"It's a waste of your talent to work in the catering industry. In fact, you can treat it as a side job. Ayi, tell me the truth, do you think the conditions I offer are too low? If so, we can talk about it again." Wu Zaisheng said straight to the point.
"Yes, the conditions you offered did not impress me. I could even say they were too low."
"I told you, we can negotiate the conditions. Ayi, please make an offer."
Nan Yi pretended to think, then said: "I don't care about the salary, what you give is enough. I hope to clarify the proportion of project dividends and my authority. I need a certain degree of autonomy and don't want to be too restricted."
"Okay, let me think about it and I'll give you an answer later."
"Okay, you'd better discuss it with Mr. Wu." Nan Yi reminded kindly.
"I know."
"Sir, your dish." At this time, Dai Xiuxiu came over with a tray, picked up the dish with a plate clip and placed it on the table, "Please enjoy your meal."
"This clip is very good." Wu Zaisheng said after watching Dai Xiuxiu's actions: "Jinggexuan can also learn from it."
"I spent some time thinking about it. The dish bowls are too hot and some are very heavy. When the waiter holds the dish bowl, it is difficult to avoid sticking his thumb into the bowl. Using a tongs will not burn the waiter and it is also more hygienic."
"Very careful." Wu Zaisheng nodded, picked up a piece of beef with chopsticks and looked at it. "The thickness is even and the slices are as thin as paper. The chef has good knife skills."
After saying that, he stuffed it into his mouth and chewed it. "It's moderately spicy, the beef is very tender, and the crispy fragrance is long-lasting. The taste is very authentic. The cost of this dish is not low. It uses yellow beef. It must have taken some effort to get yellow beef into Eagle Country, right?"
"Don't even mention it. The cost of getting the beef from Wuchuan here is almost as much as its weight in gold." Nan Yi said exaggeratedly, "This dish will not be included in the recipe. Even if the cost can be reduced by using Angus beef, it is too troublesome to make."
"It's not suitable to be sold in a restaurant of your size. It's too expensive and no one will eat it."
"Yeah, so you've got it. By the way, would you like to have a drink? I got some Hakka wine and red rice wine."
"Forget it, I still have to work in the afternoon. I'll come over to drink in the evening another day ." Wu Zaisheng refused: "Give me a bowl of rice, I'll just eat something."
"Xiu Xiu, get a bowl of rice." Nan Yi ordered, and then said to Wu Zaisheng: "I won't accompany you anymore, there are guests coming."
"Okay, go ahead and get busy."
At 11 o'clock, customers started to arrive at the store from time to time. At 11:30, only the two largest round tables among the ten tables in the store were empty. However, half of the customers were the owners of the two neighboring stores, who came to show their support.
Even without any publicity, an occupancy rate of more than 30% is sufficient.
However, all the people who came were Chinese, and he hadn't seen a single foreigner. Nan Yi was not in a hurry, as it was not yet lunch time for the American people. If he still didn't see any foreigners by 1 p.m., he would be anxious.
When it reached half past twelve, foreigners started to come in, and Longmenzhen also welcomed a peak in customers, with an occupancy rate of 70%. Individual customers began to share the two round tables, and some tables had been turned over for the third time.
Nan Yi sat at the cashier counter and carefully observed the facial expressions of the foreigners at each table. If anyone frowned after eating a certain dish, he would walk over and ask the reason and why it did not suit the customer's taste.
He would not ask the Chinese. Firstly, it is difficult to get true opinions from them. Even if Nan Yi asks, they will answer very implicitly. Secondly, he does not attach much importance to the opinions of the Chinese, as the Chinese are not among Longmenzhen’s main target customer group.
For now, Longmenzhen is going to make "Chinese food" that suits the tastes of foreigners and make their money.
For lunch, no customers came until 3:30 in the afternoon. Nan Yi's original estimate of the peak time was wrong. Since the Longmen Formation was originally just a tool, he did not pay enough attention to it and did not do any market research before opening.
At four o'clock, the four people in the restaurant were able to sit down to eat. The food was very simple, a pot of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and a pot of stewed beef brisket with potatoes.
There is one thing that surprises outsiders: the incidence of stomach problems among restaurant owners, cooks, and waiters is very high, which can almost be said to be an occupational disease.
Nan Yi and his friends had breakfast at around nine in the morning, and didn't have their second meal until this time. The next meal would have to wait until at least nine o'clock, so they could only have dinner when most of the guests had left.
It is impossible to have a fixed meal time every day . It all depends on the business situation. With irregular diet and the food usually not being very good, it would be strange if you don’t have stomach problems.
Cooking is a chef's job. He will try his best to make the food for the customers. But when it comes to cooking for himself, the only word left is "muddling through". He makes whatever is simple and only ensures that the food is cooked, not delicious. He doesn't even have the mood to stir the spoon a little more.
"Lao Luo, according to the eating habits of the Eagles, they tend to eat casually for lunch, the simpler the better. I plan to see how things go in a couple of days and introduce a dish of rice, um, a rice bowl. Let's give it a more upscale name, Chun Ao, Zhou Tianzi Chun Ao."
Nan Yi then told the three people about Chunao's story, and then asked Street, "Which emperor in ancient China do you know?"
"There are a lot, Li Shimin, Genghis Khan, and a few others, I forgot, Boss, I dropped out of school in my first year of high school, and didn't learn much history." Street said apologetically.
The history elective textbooks for junior and senior high schools in the United States include a chapter on East Asia. The description of China is not very long, but there is a general introduction from the Shang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. It says that the actual control line of the Tang Dynasty extended to the Indochina River Valley, and Chang'an was the largest city in the world at that time; it also talks about the navigation technology of the Song Dynasty.
The article about Mongolia is the longest, probably because Mongolia almost raided their lair, and they think Mongolia is very powerful.
Well, the Opium Wars weren't mentioned.
"OK, when introducing Zhou Tianzi Chunao, it can be said that this is Genghis Khan's favorite food. Once, his servant knocked over his Chunao, and he was furious and massacred 13 people in the servant's family. Oh, no, let's change the number to 12.
Penny, do you think 12 is too little? Should we change it to a larger number? "
Nan Yi said this and asked Streeter for his opinion.
"I think 12 is a lot."
Street was a little dumbfounded by Nan Yi's fabrication of historical allusions.
"That's 12. When Genghis Khan was seriously ill and dying, he always wanted to eat a bowl of the most authentic Chunao. Before he died, he left a message to Borjigin Tolui: 'Conquer Wuchuan and find a chef named Luo, and ask him to make a bowl of Chunao and put it in front of my tomb.'
And you, Lao Luo, are the descendant of the chef that Genghis Khan never forgot. "
"Boss, are you just going to arrange an ancestor for me?" Luo Kun said with a smile.
"Not happy?" Nan Yi shook his head and said, "Forget it, just say he is your ancestor. This chef's surname is not Luo, but Liu. I remember there was a female imperial chef in the Song Dynasty named Lady Liu, so just say he is the descendant of Lady Liu."
"This Madam Liu cooks Sichuan cuisine?"
"Who knows? The books I read didn't say that. Since there is no clear record, the allusion can be attributed to her at will. You see how busy Qianlong was. There are dishes he had eaten all over the country, and they are often named by him.
Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River six times. On the fifth time, he went to Wuchuan and found the descendants of Liu Niangzi. After eating a bowl of Chunao, he was so excited that tears filled his eyes and left two lines of poetry - Enjoy Chunao in front of Longmen, sit... in front of... immortals..."
Nan Yi waved his hand and sighed, "Forget it. I haven't thought of the next sentence yet, so let's not talk about this for now."
"Madam Liu cooked Xiaoyao." Dai Xiuxiu said.
"Enjoying the pure boiled rice in front of the Longmen battle array, the lady of the Liu family cooked delicious food." After reciting it once, Nan Yi said, "It's still not good enough. Forget it. This is at most a doggerel. Although Qianlong's poetry skills are not very good, they are definitely better than this.
Let's change it to say that Qianlong ate Cheng Huaixiu, and Liu Niangzi's descendants called her this name. He couldn't forget the Chunao made by Cheng Huaixiu, and he was still thinking about it when he returned to the palace. He thought about it day and night and had no interest in government affairs, so he went to the south of the Yangtze River for the sixth time.
Xiuxiu, you studied literature, so you can make up a story and create a beautiful and tragic love story."
"Okay." Dai Xiuxiu nodded and said, "But shouldn't the descendants of Madam Liu be named Liu? Why is she called Cheng Huaixiu?"
"That's easy to explain. Just say that Madam Liu married a scholar named Cheng."
After Nan Yi finished speaking, he also felt strange. Why did he blurt out the name "Cheng Huaixiu"? "Qianlong, Cheng Huaixiu... Mountains and rivers can't carry too much sorrow. I remembered that the female leader of the Salt Gang in "The Story of Qianlong" was called Cheng Huaixiu.
Hey, Cheng Huaixiu, do you want to look for it when you return to Xiangkeng..."
