"Strolling around the city of Nanjing is like visiting an antique shop, and you can find traces of the rise and fall of history and the vicissitudes of the world." --Zhu Ziqing
During the Qing Dynasty (about 1840), Ma Sifa, a Huimin from Mengxian County, Henan Province, fled to Nanjing and made a living at the Flower Temple outside the Zhonghua Gate. He set up a small rice stall, specializing in low-priced meals, mostly farmers who came to the city to sell firewood, as well as the Taiping Army stationed nearby. Because Ma Sifa is a Hui person, people call his stall "Ma Hui Hui Rice Stall".
After Ma Sifa's death, his son Ma Shengxiang moved the rice stall to The Hui hui camp (Zhonghua MenMishi Street) on the left side of Yuhuatai and built two very low shops, named "Ma Xiangxing", the word "Xiang" is taken from his own name, and the word "Xing" means prosperity.
Ma Shengxiang changed his previous business strategy of specializing in cheap meals and began to enrich the variety of dishes. The most famous are the "Eight Kinds of Cows" special dishes, such as tripe, beef heart, beef tendon, smoked beef, beef tongue, beef soup and so on.
Stir-fry dishes have also been added, and there is a Huimin cook named "Old Seven", who cooks fried belly silk, fried chicken liver, etc., which are tender and luscious and very distinctive.
At that time, there was a saying that there was such a smooth phrase: "To eat and sit inside, the little donkey is tied to each other." The rice is fragrant and white, and the beef is simmered golden brown. To eat more, beef roast radish; to eat well, beef stir-fried small stir-fry. ”
Outside the Zhonghua Gate in the south of Nanjing is the intersection of water and land wharf, merchants come and go frequently, Ma Xiangxing's halal dishes are cheap, the taste is pure, very popular with guests from the south to the north, and the fame is getting bigger and bigger.
At that time, Ma Xiangxing's position, close to the remains of nanjing's famous Ming Dynasty Dabao'en Temple Pagoda, Ma Shengxiang asked someone to write a couplet hanging on the door of the store, the upper link was "One Hundred Pots of Fine Wine People Three Drunks", the lower link was "One Pagoda Autumn Lantern To Welcome the Six Dynasties", the horizontal batch "Rao Has Flavor", and also hung an ancient pagoda painting. This couplet made many unknown guests think that Ma Xiangxing was an old shop in the Ming Dynasty.
According to legend, Bao'en Temple was once a place for emperor Ming Yongle to play, and this couplet contained a quaint and elegant charm, so the rumor that Ma Xiangxing was an old shop in the Ming Dynasty was vaguely attached. There is an old iron pot with boiled beef at the entrance of the store, which is mistaken by customers as inherited from the Ming Dynasty, and the clerk will definitely say that this is a Ming Dynasty artifact, and Ma Xiangxing is an old ming dynasty store that seems to have been confirmed.
In 1912, Yu Youren, then deputy minister of the Ministry of Communications of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, after tasting Ma Xiangxing's beef soup, gladly transcribed the couplet with a pen.
After 1925, The Ma Xiangxing restaurant passed to Ma Deming, the second son of Ma Shengxiang, the third generation of the Ma family. He has a good business and hires the famous chef Ma Dingsong to master the spoon. During this period, he created a variety of unique dishes for the housekeeper.
In terms of dishes, Ma Xiangxing also switched from making cooked food and stir-frying to operating feasts.
The dishes pay attention to the freshness of the ingredients, emphasize the original taste, the raw materials are gradually shifted from the original beef and mutton to the local flavor of chicken, duck, fish and shrimp, and the taste of the dishes has also evolved from refreshing to light and delicate, forming its own unique Jiangnan Hui halal style. This transformation laid a solid foundation for Ma Xiangxing's future prosperity.
In 1927, the government of the Republic of China set the capital in Nanjing. The ancient city of Jinling ushered in a short but dazzling period of prosperity. Yu Youren, Tan Yanmin, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Feng Yuxiang, Sun Ke, Zhang Zhizhong, Hu Xiangdong, and Hu Xiaoshi, these big-man politicians and well-known scholars of the Republic of China, came to Ma Xiangxing one after another, leaving behind many good stories, and even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nationalist Government at that time also invited visiting foreign dignitaries to Ma Xiangxing in the official name many times.
Southeast University (National Central University in the Republic of China period) Hu Xiangdong, Hu Xiaoshi two professors came to Ma Xiangxing, the boss Ma Deming with fresh shrimp, chicken liver and other raw materials elaborately made a tofu dish, the two famous professors after eating great praise, and even asked the chef for advice, brought back to the school to teach students imitation, a momentary praise, called "Hu Sir (Mr. ) tofu" named.
Professor Hu Xiangdong not only became a regular visitor to Ma Xiangxing's restaurant, but also attracted Tan Yanmin, who was known as an old glutton among the important officials of the state government. Tan Yanmin occasionally tasted halal dishes and ate them, especially praising the soft and tender "yellow braised beef tendon". On the recommendation of Elder Tan, important officials of the state government, such as Sun Ke, Yu Youren, and Zhu Minyi, flocked to taste Ma Xiangxing's dishes.
At that time, Ma Xiangxing had four famous dishes "beauty liver", "anchovy shrimp", "egg roast sale" and "squirrel fish".
Beauty liver
Squirrel fish
Egg roast for sale
Anchovy shrimp
During the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Zhang Zhizhong hosted a banquet at the Ma Xiangxing Restaurant to entertain Zhou Enlai, a representative of the Cpc.
In May 1946, Zhou Enlai invited the national drama specialist Cao Yu and his wife and several democrats to dine at Ma Xiangxing's restaurant.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, the Nationalist government was still in Nanjing, and At this time Ma Xiangxing had been inherited by Ma Dingwen, the fourth generation of Ma Sifa and the son of Ma Deming. The store continued to grow to 50 people, 30 countertops, and more than 300 diners.
During the "National Convention" in 1947, Ma Xiangxing became a banquet for important members of the National Government. Ma Xiangxing also became famous, and the Nanjing Evening News published his grand occasion many times.
On the eve of the liberation of Nanjing in 1949, Ma Xiangxing was robbed by bandits, and was robbed of more than 30 gold bars, more than 3,000 silver dollars, and more than 1,000 US dollars.
In 1958, Ma Xiangxing Restaurant was relocated from Yuhua Road to Gulou, and its "four famous dishes" are still the "golden signboard" of the popular population, and many innovative famous dishes, such as roll beef, chicken porridge shark fin, fish belly sea cucumber, eight treasure gourd chicken, eight treasure whole duck, hibiscus chicken and so on also have a very good reputation.
Ma Xiangxing's dishes are cooked, familiar with the fresh, fragrant, crisp, rotten and tender characteristics of Jingsu cuisine, pay attention to strict selection of materials, mellow taste, fresh and refreshing, fat but not greasy, light but not thin, hard and soft, thick and pure soup, suitable for both north and south.
In 1988 and 1992, the restaurant and façade of Ma Xiangxing Restaurant were renovated twice, not only updating the equipment, but also opening up three elegant restaurants with Islamic ethnic style in Helan, Wangyue and Yuhua, with a business area of more than 400 square meters.
In June 1982, a friend of The Japanese Sun Magazine came to Ma Xiangxing Restaurant and was dumped by the beautiful hibiscus fish belly, crispy whole duck, beautiful liver, squirrel mandarin fish, pigeon egg silver fungus, hibiscus sea pine and other delicacies, specially for photography and video, recommended to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
In 1987, Bai Xianyong, the son of Kuomintang general Bai Chongxi, came to Ma Xiangxing Restaurant to dine and sighed: "It is too exquisite, it is worthy of a century-old shop."
On the 20th of 1988, Mr. Qu Wu, the 93-year-old chairman of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, sent the handwritten inkblot of "Halal Ma Xiangxing Restaurant" to Ma Xiangxing by registered letter.
In 2001, the National Cuisine Association held the national catering famous restaurant selection, and halal Ma Xiangxing Restaurant and Luliuju, Sichuan Restaurant, Liu Changxing Main Store and Halal An Paradise were selected as century-old stores. In the same year, the brine duck of Ma Xiangxing Restaurant was identified as "National Halal Brand-name Flavor Food", and a number of snack noodles such as beef noodles and vegetarian vegetable buns were rated as "Chinese Famous Snacks".
In 2003, Ma Xiangxing moved away from Gulou Square, and three years later, it reopened on Yunnan North Road in Nanjing. At this time, Ma Xiangxing Restaurant has become an important brand under Nanjing Gunandu Group. The new store covers an area of more than 3,000 square meters, with modern and elegant decorations without losing national characteristics.
In 2006, Ma Xiangxing Restaurant was awarded the title of the first "China Time-honored Brand" by the Ministry of Commerce. (Text: New Food Chronicles Wu Yu)