The excitement of "Flowers", Wang Huili, the former proprietress of Huanghe Road, didn't pay attention to it, and when she swiped it to the WeChat circle of friends, the chefs discussed the dishes of "Flowers", and she had a little sense of this phenomenal TV series. In the midst of the babbling Shanghai opera, she raised her voice to correct the name of the restaurant, "King Snake, it must have been done by our little Nanguo first." ”
The proprietress of Huanghe Road, represented by "Lu Meilin", has been busy for 30 years, and may pursue personal hobbies like Wang Huili, taking turns in the rehearsal hall, stage, and live broadcast room. The media reported that the Wenhui Shanghai Opera Troupe led by Wang Huili "used to be a non-governmental Shanghai Opera troupe that operated with catering subsidies, but now it has become popular in the live broadcast room with netizens' rewards."
Wang Huili shares her daily life on Douyin
"Lu Meilin" may also be like Wang Huili's sister Wang Huimin, who is still busy on the front line of the restaurant. Wang Huili said of Wang Huimin with intimacy and respect, "My sister, very powerful, in her 60s, busy every day, just like to develop new dishes." ”
In 1987, 31-year-old Wang Huimin became the brave "Huangpu Little Wang" earlier than Miss Wang. She resigned from public office and opened her first Xiaonanguo at 183 Changsha Road. The layout is similar to that of Reiko in "Flowers" in Jinxian Road, with an 18-square-meter façade room and eight tables. In 2018, the Hong Kong-listed Xiaonanguo Group had a turnover of more than 2 billion yuan.
This year, Konan Province
It turns out that there was a smash hit Nanguo restaurant on Beijing East Road, and sisters Wang Huimin and Wang Huili named "Little Nanguo" with the goal of Nanguo Restaurant, "We sat down with the person in charge of Nanguo Restaurant to eat and exchange ideas. ”
Nanguo Restaurant was changed to Huangfu Restaurant and Xinlu Restaurant, which became the tears of the times. During the PK of the big and small Nanguo, Wang Huimin said that most of the people in charge of Xiao Nanguo were hired from the state-owned catering industry, and there was no shortage of masters from the New Asia Group, "Maybe the Ala cooking is the home-cooked food that the people love to eat, the price is fair and affordable, the reputation is better, and there will be more repeat customers." ”
At the beginning of 1995, Xiao Nanguo "airborne" the Yellow River Road, and the Yellow River Road at that time, in the line of "Flowers", said, "A 755-meter-long street has opened more than 100 restaurants." ”
Xiaonanguo Recruitment Notice
Wang Huili remembers, "The street houses near Nanjing Road are gone, so we can only do business in the north of Huanghe Road, and spent 2 million yuan to buy three storefronts at No. 214-216 Huanghe Road, which are opened." There is no menu for the store on Changsha Road, what we do and what the guests eat. When you get to Huanghe Road, you have to order some menus. Guests from Nanhui, Chuansha, and Suzhou all rushed to eat. ”
Shanghainese people don't like snakes like Cantonese, and restaurants don't serve snake dishes, and suddenly one day, the salt-and-pepper king snake is popular all over the beach. Whose handiwork is King Snake's popularity? Surprisingly, Wang Huili attributed it to the ingredients. "At that time, our supplier asked, "There's a king snake, can you do it?" Substituting "Flowers", it turned out that it was not Li Li and Lu Meilin who stirred up the Yellow River Road, but the "Tao Tao" who did the seafood business was the operator behind the scenes, single-handedly leading the table fashionable.
How popular is the king snake? Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber went up to Shanghai, and the Shanghai Grand Theatre entertained him to eat the king snake. The host Ji Xueping recalled in her autobiography "The Cause of the World" that in June 1997, when she and her husband met for the first time in their sophomore year, they ate the king snake in Xiaonanguo," ...... Suddenly, the waiter was serving us a plate the size of half a table. I wonder what dish would use such a large plate. I remember everyone was curious and craned their necks to see what was on the plate. It turned out to be a king snake! Everyone was very excited, and they all picked up chopsticks regardless of the hot topic they were talking about. I also ate several pieces. Later, I asked him, why did you just do it when we met for the first time? He said that it was not the food he ordered, and he was slaughtered by his friend, and he gritted his teeth and spent thousands of dollars at the checkout. In 1997, eating a meal for thousands was sky-high for us. ”
In 1997, the king snake and soft-shelled turtle were so popular that advertisements appeared on the front page of Jiefang Daily
Xiao Nanguo placed an opening advertisement on the front page of Wen Wei Po
Before there were no suppliers, Wang Huili went to the vegetable market every day to buy vegetables, and slept on the table at night. When she arrived at Huanghe Road, she was outside the main house, entertaining guests, and Wang Huimin was inside the house, checking the dishes. "How can there be so much stock speculation, we are honest in the catering business, everyone doesn't call us the boss, just the boss! ”
Every morning at nine o'clock, Wang Huili went to Huanghe Road and got off work at four or five o'clock the next morning. Less than a month after giving birth to her son, she returned to the Yellow River Road. In those years, the monthly income of the Xiaonanguo Huanghe Road store was one million, and Wang Huili was most impressed by December 24, 1995, when the Xiaonanguo Huanghe Road store earned 180,000 yuan.
According to Shanghai's Statistical Yearbook, the average monthly wage of Shanghainese in 1995 was 773 yuan. At that time, the restaurant paid a flat tax, no credit card, no mobile phone payment. After settling the account in the early morning, Wang Huili took the car home with cash in a black horse clip bag. Ever worried about safety? She replied domineeringly, "There are surveillance cameras in the house!"
There is another famous dish in "Flowers" "Farewell My Concubine". Wang Huili said, "It's the Yellow River Road restaurant fancy soft-shelled turtle, which is similar to the king snake, and the supplier gives more soft-shelled turtles, so we will develop soft-shelled turtles." Farewell My Concubine stewed the soft-shelled turtle and chicken together, with a thick red sauce, which made it greasy after eating too much, and there was glutinous rice soft-shelled turtle. "Until 2004, Xiao Nanguo's specialties still included king snake, glutinous rice turtle, and other hoofs, sashimi, snow cabbage, silver cod, and crab roe tofu. In 2005, the media reported that the price of glutinous rice soft-shelled turtle in Xiaonanguo was 98 yuan. As the first choice for banquets in Shanghai, glutinous rice soft-shelled turtle is also often served with grass shrimp, cream crab, shark fin and rock sugar bird's nest.
Foodies are talking about the ancient steamed anchovies of Xiaonanguo, and someone once wrote, "Anchovies bought from the supermarket, no matter how carefully crafted, they just can't reach the taste of Xiaonanguo." The ancient method of steaming, based on the traditional soy sauce water of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, highlights the freshness and tenderness of the Yangtze River anchovy by calling the salty and umami taste. ”
One of the four champions of Shanghai chefs: Pan Qin, kitchen director of Xiaonanguo Catering Management Co., Ltd. Photo by Shao Jianping
Reiko wants to make "Night Tokyo" a chain store, which is the dream of every aspiring Shanghai proprietor. The Wang sisters realized these dreams step by step, Xiao Nanguo went from Changsha Road to Huanghe Road, and soon went to Dahongqiao, and finally really went to Hong Kong, "The shop on Huanghe Road was rented to others to do hot pot business." "Jiefang Daily" has announced that in 2000, the sales (turnover) of Xiaonanguo Hotel located on Hongmei Road reached 83.97 million yuan.
In the finale of "Flowers", Po developed his career to Pudong, and forward-looking bosses have this consensus. Around 2000, Pudong brought a new concept of "building catering". The single-family restaurants on Huanghe Road are no longer fashionable, instead, people go to the Jin Mao Tower, the Oriental Pearl, and the International Conference Center to eat, and enjoy the charming night view outside the window. "We opened a revolving restaurant in the Pudong building, and then takeaway became popular, turning signature dishes like braised bamboo shoots into standardized pre-packaged foods that can be bought online. ”
In "Flowers", the mysterious Yellow River Road airborne proprietress Li Li, Mr. Bao and Mr. Qiang are rummaging in the stock market, but in the end they are not as good as the Wang sisters and make the restaurant into a stock. In July 2012, Xiaonanguo (03666. HK) was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the first local catering company in Shanghai to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and in the same year, Shanghai Xiaonanguo Garden Hotel opened.
In 2012, at Huangxing Road near Songhuajiang Road, a sign pointing to Xiaonanguo Garden Hotel appeared on the side of the road. Photo by Xiao Yun
If the restaurant is open until two or three o'clock in the morning, will there be diners who will disturb the proprietress Wang Huili shook her head, "Most of the people are very good, they just come to eat." "As the most famous restaurant in Shanghai, it welcomes a face-saving restaurant in Xiaonanguo. Wang Xiaoying's novel "Who Are You Defending" has a plot of Xiaonanguo's banquet. There are also cases of fraudsters cheating cigarette money in Xiaonanguo in the name of discussing business.
From the small restaurant in Changsha Road, Huanghe Road to the single-family restaurant in Hongqiao, the high-rise restaurant in Pudong, and then to the opening of branches in various districts of Shanghai and Hong Kong, Xiaonanguo cuisine has been constantly adjusted, from home-cooked dishes to king snakes and turtles, conforming to the takeaway, semi-finished products, and Chinese New Year's Eve lunch gift boxes of white-collar workers and small families, condensing the changes in Shanghai's catering industry for more than 30 years.
On the Yellow River Road, the strong opponent Lai Tianhua disappeared, and Meiyuan Estate moved. Linghong and Reiko go their separate ways, moving forward towards their dreams. In 2010, Wang Huili became the head of the troupe, and the Shanghai Wenhui Shanghai Opera Troupe was born, which was affiliated with Xiaonanguo Group Company, becoming the first case of "cultivating culture with enterprises" in the Shanghai Opera industry.
In 2024, Wang Huimin will be busy reducing costs and increasing efficiency for Xiaonanguo, and Wang Huili is rehearsing the new play "Huang Baomei", "Maybe we will make a Shanghai restaurant in the next Shanghai opera." ”
Wang Huili went to Huang Baomei's house for the new drama "Huang Baomei".
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Title picture source: Xiao Nanguo, photo by Jin Dinggen Image source: data picture
Source: Author: Zhuge Yi