Source: Qianjiang Evening News
Da Ma Lang under the Drum Tower is an alley that is only a few hundred meters long, but it is also the place where the taste of Hangzhou is the most known. The crowd of people carries cooked foods such as crispy fish and glutinous rice root, as well as bargaining with vendors on fresh fish and aquatic vegetables.
Among them, there is an inconspicuous door, except for a simple aluminum signboard of "Grandma Xu Hangzhou Cuisine", there is no other decoration. But after a while, there are also many people on this cement threshold who have stepped forward, and the business is quite good.
In the small store, an incandescent lamp on the left is the only light source. Although the right wall where daily items are stacked has been mottled, the left wall is covered with polished stainless steel, and the various dishes on the same stainless steel chassis are scattered and arranged, clean and tidy, quite like a canteen meal.
Although there are not many dishes, Hangzhou rolled chicken, vegetarian roasted goose, roasted bran, dried bamboo shoots, etc. are the most familiar flavors of old Hangzhou people, and these are all made by the owner of the restaurant, 73-year-old Grandma Xu, who is alone every day.
According to Grandma Xu, the shop's signature is Hangzhou roll chicken. There are two types of vegetarian and added meat in the store, which are 12 pieces and 15 pieces respectively. The golden bean skin is wrapped in minced meat and bamboo shoots, and the skin is drizzled with a sweet and salty sauce. Although there is no crispy flavor that has just come out of the pot, the aroma of the bean skin is mixed with crisp and refreshing bamboo shoots, one bite at a time, so it is not satisfied.
In fact, this small restaurant has been open for more than 20 years, and Grandma Xu's cooking skills are handed down from her family, and the dishes in the shop are also her own dishes from snacks to big old bottom dishes. She smiled and said, "I can't cook novel dishes, but I'm familiar with this old taste." ”
Although there is Grandma Xu's young son greeting business in the shop, from raw material procurement to semi-finished product processing and dish firing, it is all done by Grandma Xu alone. In the afternoon, she would go to the vegetable market to buy the ingredients needed for the next day, and then make semi-finished products such as chicken rolls, and she would usually get eight o'clock in the evening. But the next morning at five or six o'clock she had to get up, fry and burn while selling, so that diners can eat fresh and hot bites in the morning. The full pot of vegetarian roasted goose in front of her is actually only half of Grandma Xu's preparation, and the rest has been sold in the morning.
When asked if it was hard, Grandma Xu's wrinkled eyes rippled with laughter, "Hard work is hard, but I am used to it myself, and there are many old customers, plus now you newspaper reports, the popularity is slightly wider, there are also foreigners who come to buy some food, always can't let them eat it." ”
As she spoke, she warmly greeted an old lady who had just stepped in, her mouth pulling on her homely food, and her hands were also full of dishes, and she was busy. Or maybe this is the best way for Grandma Xu to spend her old age. For diners, although there are many kinds of restaurants in Hangzhou, innovative integration, and the combination of East and West are not uncommon, the taste code of the old Hangzhou people is actually such a homely taste.