DaFugui: A family has been in Shanghai for 140 years

In this year's popular movie "The Age of Awakening", there is such a scene: Wang Mengzou, a businessman in Jixi, picked up the wind for Chen Zhongfu, who had just returned to Shanghai from Japan, and made a table of emblem dishes, and in the middle of the stew was Huizhou Jixi specialty pot (Hu's one pot pot), as well as lotus leaf yellow ox hooves. This small detail reflects that Hui cuisine was very popular in Shanghai at that time.

Recently, reporters from Huangshan Daily and Huangshan Radio and Television Station visited The longest-established Chinese Huibang restaurant in Shanghai - Dafugui Restaurant. Founded in 1881, the restaurant has deep roots with Huizhou, after 140 years of vicissitudes and generations of operation, it has now developed into a modern chain restaurant enterprise with nearly 50 stores.

Inside the hotel, diners are packed. Outside the hotel, citizens who buy smoked fish in Huizhou are lined up in a long line. On November 12, under the winter sun, No. 1409 Zhonghua Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, "China's time-honored brand", founded in the seventh year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, the business of dafufu restaurant with red plaque and gold characters is booming.

Speaking of great wealth, we have to mention the old emblem; when we mention the old emblem, we have to mention Lu Wenbin, the "leader of the performance gang" in Shanghai.

Who is Lu Wenbin? People who know emblem cuisine must be familiar with it. He once held a stake in 80 Hui restaurants in Shanghai, including Dafugui (formerly known as Danfeng Lou).

Lu Wenbin was a famous chef of Huiguan who broke into Shanghai earlier in the Qing Dynasty, and was called "leader of the performance gang" by the Shanghai "Declaration" in the 1920s. He has worked hard in Shanghai for decades and has made important contributions to the development of the emblem industry in Shanghai. His bumpy and legendary experience has been widely praised by the Hui kitchen community.

Lu Wenbin was born in Dashimen, Jixi, in his early years with his father in Suzhou Hui Noodle Restaurant as an apprentice, because of "early knowledge, diligence, the most disciplined", learned a first-hand top cooking, and then stood out, galloping in the Suhu cooking altar for more than 60 years, until the age of 75 returned to his hometown, for the hui cuisine fame in Shanghai to make a contribution. Today, the Lu family has become a family of Hui cuisine, and has never quit after several ups and downs. The New Su Lao Huiguan Hotel, which is now opened on the Second Road of Tunxi Old Street, is a "time-honored brand in Anhui", and General Manager Lu Renqun is the fourth generation grandson of Lu Wenbin, and is now the representative inheritor of the provincial intangible cultural heritage project (Hui cuisine). In order to continue the great cause of Hui cuisine, Lu Renqun's son Lu Zhiqian and daughter Lu Bizhen also inherited the mantle of their ancestors and provoked the burden of revitalizing Hui cuisine.

Interviewing Huicai, there is still one person, that is, Shao Zhihui, a researcher at the Hui culture research institute in Huangshan City, a researcher in the history of Hui cuisine, and the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Anhui Culinary Career. Shao Zhihui has been engaged in the study of Hui culture for more than 40 years, especially in the field of Hui cuisine research, and has the reputation of "the first person in the field investigation of Chinese Hui cuisine". Shao Zhihui also has a special identity, he is the son of Shao Renqing, the former shareholder of the great rich and noble and the master of Hui cuisine.

Shao Zhihui introduced that according to incomplete statistics, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, There were more than 220 Huiguan in Shanghai, which dominated the eight major cuisines and created the historical glory of Huiguan. After 1953, the Huiguan declined, most of the scenery is no longer there, and the Weijixi people Shao Yunjia (Shao Zhihui's uncle) was created in the seventh year of the Qing Guangxu (1881) of the Great Rich Restaurant (formerly known as Danfeng Lou) to this day, becoming the oldest and largest Hui restaurant in Shanghai today.

According to the book "Old Shanghai" during the Republic of China, among the eight major cuisines in China, Hui cuisine first entered Shanghai. In the 1909 edition of the Shanghai Guide, the main restaurants of the Various Gangs in Shanghai were listed, and the largest number was Huiguan, with 18, followed by 9 in Ningbo, 8 in Guangdong, 3 in Yangzhou, 2 in Tianjin, 2 in Wuxi, and 1 in Nanjing. In the 1930s, Huizhou people created a glorious history of 148 huiguans coexisting in Shanghai.

During the interview, Liu Liyuan, secretary of Dafugui Restaurant Co., Ltd., showed reporters two old photos, one is the old man Shao Zaiwen (the lobby manager) before the liberation of Dafugui (died in early 2021), and the other is the oldest employee of Dafugui and the oldest employee of Dafugui, the old man who was originally in charge of finance. They are all witnesses to the rise and fall of great wealth in Shanghai.

Liu Liyuan said that from Danfenglou to the great rich, the role of the Huiren Shao Zhilin (Shao Zhihui brother) was very important. In 1940, Shao Zhilin saved Dafugui from danger, and worked with 8 shareholders to take over all the assets of the original Danfeng Building, reopened it, and renamed DanfengLou as Dafugui, which means "auspicious and auspicious, glorious and rich". Since then, the great rich man has been famous in Shanghai under the leadership of Shao Zhilin. In 1956, Shao Zhilin understood the great righteousness and promoted the public-private partnership of the great rich, and then actively responded to the call and led the original team of Hongyun Lou to Taiyuan to open the "Shanghai Hotel". In September this year, the "Shanghai Hotel" reopened in Taiyuan, although it is called Shanghai Hotel, it was founded for Huizhou Jixi people, writing a strong stroke for the new heritage of Huizhou cuisine.

Liu Liyuan introduced that over the years, Dafugui has adhered to the spirit of huishang businessmen with sincerity, diligence and thriftiness, daring to be the first, and judging the hour and sizing up the situation, and has tried to survive and develop in the fierce market competition. Since the opening of the second branch in 2002, maintaining the rhythm of opening a branch every year, after the completion of the central kitchen of the enterprise in 2011, the development has entered the fast lane, by the end of October 2021, 50 branches have been opened, and the outlets have expanded to 11 urban areas in Shanghai, basically achieving full coverage of the central urban area.

Xi Weizhong, the general manager of Dafugui, is a native of Shanghai, a master of Chinese cooking, and the sixth generation of "Haipai Hui Cuisine". Under his leadership, the restaurant locked in the huiwei to make a fuss, and redeveloped the old brand "Danfeng Lou", mainly engaged in Haipai Hui cuisine, fusion cuisine and creative dishes. The hotel development is one step a year, and in 2020, the main business income will be 350 million yuan, the total profit will be 31 million yuan, and the tax will be paid 10.7 million yuan. In 2021, it is expected to achieve a main business income of 420 million yuan.

Talking about the inheritance of Huizhou cuisine and the promotion of time-honored brands, Xi Weizhong said: "Grateful for Jixi, grateful for Huizhou, because of the spirit of Huizhou people, there is a spirit of great wealth and nobility that has always dared to be the first." The inheritance of Hui cuisine in Shanghai, to adhere to the tradition, and to better move forward, we must innovate. For example, the classic signature dish of mandarin fish in Hui cuisine and European cheese have the same magic, in order to adapt to the nutritional and health needs of modern people, we try to semi-fermentation, so that the mandarin fish on the table has a taste, eat to the mouth has a feeling, into the stomach has nutrition. ”

Xi Weizhong said that the Huizhou area has first-class landscapes, first-class ingredients, first-class kitchens, and the connection between the great rich and the Huangshan and Jixi will become closer and closer. In the future development, we must not only carry forward the spirit of "Hui Camel" and "Jixi Cow", carry the banner of revitalizing Hui cuisine, but also keep up with the needs of the times and young people, innovate in products, inherit culture, base ourselves on Shanghai, go to the Yangtze River Delta, radiate the whole country, and revitalize the old brand of Huiguan.

Cheng Xiangyang Xu Jian·

The image of this article is provided by Liu Liyuan

【Source: Huangshan Daily】

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