Sichuan hotel
At No. 51 Xirongxian Hutong in Beijing, there was once one of the most authentic Sichuan restaurants in Beijing, which was built by Premier Zhou Enlai.
It was originally a deep mansion compound of Zhumen Bihu, which was the residence of Pu Feng (yù), the 24th son of the Kangxi Emperor, during the Qing Dynasty, and was named "XunBeizi Mansion" during the Guangxu Dynasty, also known as "Gongfu of yù". In the Republic of China period, the owner of the place became the great banker of the Republic of China, Zhou Zuomin, and once became the head office of Jincheng Bank. After liberation, it briefly became the office of the ministry.
In the winter of 1958, the central government held a work conference in Beijing, and at lunchtime, some Sichuan participants talked with the premier and said that it had been a long time since they had tasted the flavor of their hometown.
When the prime minister heard about it, he proposed that he should build a Sichuan hotel in Beijing. As soon as the Prime Minister said this, he was immediately applauded and welcomed by everyone. So the premier made a decision on the spot and decided to build a restaurant specializing in Sichuan cuisine in Beijing, and entrusted Peng Zhen, the mayor of Beijing, to be specifically responsible.
Next, the relevant departments in Beijing and Sichuan began to organize and mobilize manpower and material resources to implement the project. Specific division of labor: Beijing, responsible for providing local and equipment; Sichuan, responsible for the source of goods, selection and transfer of chefs and service personnel.
No. 51 Xirongxian Hutong, Beijing
At that time, the chefs and waiters were all from Sichuan, in addition to the excellent level of business, the political quality should be more reliable; the main and sideline food ingredients of the hotel were also purchased from Sichuan to ensure the "authentic flavor" to the greatest extent. After intensive preparations, on August 4, 1959, the restaurant opened for trial meals.
The tasting effect was very good, and it was praised by Premier Zhou, Zhu De, Chen Yi, Guo Moruo and other leaders. On October 1, 1959, the hotel was officially opened, and the prime minister personally determined the name of the "Sichuan Hotel", and Mr. Guo Moruo inscribed a plaque.
Chen Songru, who was later named a "national treasure chef", has been the chef of the Sichuan Hotel since its establishment in 1959. He once recalled: The most memorable thing in my life is to go into Zhongnanhai three times to cook for Chairman Mao alone. The first time was when Deng Zhi, the secretary of the restaurant, led me there, and the second and third times I went alone, making four dishes each time, and the number was very small.
The first time the first dish was served at noon, Chairman Mao asked the guards to bring grapes and say that they would give them to the master to taste, and when it was time to eat, Chairman Mao sent a message to say that he wanted to catch live fish for the master to eat.
The first time I went, I made a net oil lantern chicken, which was spicy, and at the end of lunch, Chairman Mao wanted to save the uneaten net oil lantern chicken until the evening and then eat it again. Chen Songru consulted with secretary Deng Zhi, saying that if you want to ensure the quality of this dish, you can't heat it, and if you fry it in oil, the chicken will be old. Therefore, he finally decided to go back to the restaurant to make another one, and when he ate it in the evening, the problem was successfully solved according to the number of leftovers at noon.
The second and third times he went to cook for the chairman, Chen Songru went alone, and when he went for the fourth time, Chen Songru also exchanged a day's technique with Chairman Mao's chef, Master Li (Li Xiwu).
Unlike the chairman, the prime minister is not spicy, he likes a classic dish in Sichuan restaurants, called "boiled water cabbage". Boiling water is not really boiling water, but the broth is clear as water after clarification.
Cabbage should be selected with yellow cabbage, only use the middle core, tear off the film skin, remove the leaf tendons, blanch it with boiling water, and then rinse and squeeze out the water. After the broth is boiled, add salt, cooking wine, pepper, pour into a small bowl with cabbage, and then steam it together.
Chen Songru (first from left) mentors young chefs
Layout of Sichuan Hotel
At first, the Sichuan Hotel was closed to the public, but it was closed for a while in the mid-1960s. After reopening in 1973, it was renamed "Chengdu Restaurant" and began to provide catering services to individual customers.
As early as the opening of the hotel, the prime minister considered the problem of serving individual customers. When the restaurant staff heard the news that the premier had come to inspect, they were immersed in an atmosphere full of joy, but a question from the premier at that time stopped the person in charge of the hotel who accompanied the inspection.
The prime minister's question was: "Where are the restaurants where ordinary people taste Sichuan cuisine?" According to everyone's expressions, the prime minister understood, and then continued: "While ensuring that the banquet will be held, don't forget to leave a place for the people in the capital to taste Sichuan cuisine!" ”
Because of this, after the reopening of the restaurant, although the daily banquet is overwhelmed, it has always left a place for the "zero point individual customers" and ordinary people who come to the restaurant to taste Sichuan cuisine. After the reform and opening up, Sichuan Hotels also integrated into the tide of marketization, the main store moved out of the old house in Xirongxian Hutong; since 1996, it has moved to Gongwangfu, and opened a number of branches in Beijing, and in 2010, the main store was moved to Xinjiekou; but this tradition has not changed.