想要讨论“新中菜”（Modern Chinese Cuisine）首先要理清中式精致餐饮（Fine Chinese Cuisine）在国内的变化。
Fine Dining is a foreign concept. It originated in France and can be traced back to after the French Revolution. But in the Chinese context, it seems to have been after 2000. In fact, there has been disagreement over how to translate the term "Fine Dining" for more than two decades. In the beginning, some people translated it as "high-end dining" or "expensive dining". Good ingredients, excellent cooking, elegant and sophisticated settings, intelligent and attentive waiters – these "Fine Dining" restaurants can cost a lot of money. But expensive, obviously, is not the only point of "Fine Dining".
Over the past two decades, as China's economy has taken off, Chinese fine dining has also caught up with the rapid development of Chinese cuisine. Although many people are still entangled in whether fine dining can be full, whether it is Shanghai or Beijing, from Fu Hehui to Ling Long, the status quo of fine dining restaurants is hard to find, has proved that for the public, today's fine dining is not a spring and snow.
As a cosmopolitan city, Shanghai is at the forefront of fine dining. Jean-Georges in New York and NARISAWA in Tokyo have chosen this place as their first stop in China. In the beginning, Shanghai's fine dining scene was mostly run by famous chefs, such as Hakkasan, a Cantonese restaurant managed by chef Alan Yau and first opened in London, and Bo Shanghai from Hong Kong. Opened in Hong Kong in 2003, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Bo Innovation is considered by many to be the starting point of Chinese fine dining. The birth of the kitchen demon coincided with the rise of the wave of molecular cuisine. However, the concept of using molecular materials to understand the construction of xiaolongbao has had a mixed reputation in the Shanghai market, and it didn't take long for Bo Shanghai to come to an abrupt end.
After leaving Bo Shanghai, Chef DeAille Tam and her partner Simon Wong started Obscura. In Beijing, the manager of Qulang Academy has quietly become Li Zhanxu, a "post-95" who graduated from the Paul Bocuse Hotel and Culinary Institute in France. Compared with the previous generation of chefs who have been taught and educated in the hotel system, the new generation of chefs has more overseas backgrounds and international visions, and they are no strangers to fine dining from the beginning of their careers, and they also have the ability to innovate and manage. As local "homegrown" Chinese fine diners, they have more insight into the Chinese mainland market and Chinese diners.
But behind the superficial excitement, for diners, what is the standard and core of Chinese fine dining has never been clearly discussed, or even lack of effective enough discussion. In the world, the connection between Chinese food and "popularization" is deep-rooted, and because of this, Chinese food has not established enough advantages in the fine dining market, and even difficult to compete with the rapidly rising Korean food - in October 2022, 10 of the 72 New York restaurants that received Michelin Guide stars belong to Korean flavors, and 3 of them received 2 stars, which means that in New York, which is a melting pot and weather vane of dining, Korean cuisine surpasses Japanese cuisine and other ethnic cuisines. It has become the most high-profile sub-category in the fine dining market. And compared with French and Japanese food, which have deep roots in the fine dining industry, and only Korean food, what is missing from Chinese fine dining?
Perhaps what is most lacking is the ability to tell a story. The British scholar Martin Jones studied the origin of the dinner and found that after the French Revolution, restaurants began to rise in France, and the biggest expense was mirrors. Mirrors hanging around the dining table reflect the candlelight on the table, creating a virtual world. It is also destined that from that era, fine dining is not only about food, but also mixed with cultural, social, and even imaginary meanings. To eat a fine dining meal, you should not only tell the story of the ingredients, the story of the chef, but also the story of the cuisine and the story of the culture. In the last decade or so, the concepts of organic, natural and sustainable and local agriculture have become popular around the world, and the story to be told has taken on new implications.
Unlike fine dining, which is of Western origin in the modern sense, the Chinese culinary tradition is not accustomed to storytelling and imagination. For a long time, "banquets and feasts" were meant to show off their existing status and power. Even in the past decade, the recognition of high-end Cantonese cuisine and Huaiyang cuisine has gradually increased around the world, and the narrative ability of traditional Chinese fine dining has not been significantly improved.
There are, of course, objective reasons for this. It is only in the last two years, with the development of e-commerce and logistics, that local Chinese ingredients have increasingly appeared in the story of Chinese exquisite food. Traditional Chinese fine dining is also factional, from Cantonese cuisine, Shandong cuisine to Huaiyang cuisine, all have their own representative dishes, and also have their own unique cooking and seasoning methods. In order to distinguish fine dining from traditional Chinese cuisine, many new Chinese fine dining restaurants, including Obscura, are branded as "new Chinese cuisine".
The "newness" of "Modern ......Chinese Cuisine", which combines the North and the South, the East and the West, the West for China, and the ancient for the present, challenges cultural traditions and identities, and explores taste imagination. For a country like China, which has a large and complex cuisine, the formation of a new food wave must go through experimentation, running-in and adjustment, which contains opportunities and dreams, and may also bear the future of Chinese food.
From "high-end" to "sophisticated"
"In fact, the concept of exquisite Chinese food was first proposed by Black Pearl (Restaurant Guide) in 2018." Weng Yongjun, the founder of the Black Pearl and Michelin brand "Yongfu", sat in the studio of the master of Yongfu on the 58th floor of the Raffles City East Tower on the North Bund in Shanghai, looking out at the magnificent Lujiazui skyline outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, and said: "Before that, there was no concept of exquisite Chinese food, at most it could only be regarded as high-end Chinese food and high-priced Chinese food. ”
Let's rewind the timeline to the 90s of the last century, which was the era of high-priced Chinese food in the era of big restaurants, and it was also the beginning of the taste cultivation of creators and appreciators of exquisite Chinese food.
Just like the scene in the hit TV series "Flowers", the Yellow River Road in the 90s of the last century was bright and brilliant. "It's not a lie, we went to Huanghe Road for dinner with a check." At that time, Lao Hongqiang, who had not yet established the "No. 6 Mansion" restaurant, was a frequent visitor to Huanghe Road. What to eat? Lobster, geoduck, eastern star grouper, and naturally there are also overlord chickens and salt and pepper king snakes in the series.
The era of "thousands of square meters" restaurant dominance lasted until about 2010. At that time, Weng Yongjun, a native of Ningbo who came to Shanghai from Linhai in Taizhou and had more than 10 years of hotel management experience, found a problem: "All the restaurants are making lobster and geoduck, and the characteristics are not obvious, even the Ningbo restaurants are the same." In his opinion, based on the close relationship between Shanghai and Ningbo, Ningbo cuisine can clearly enjoy a special consumption scene in the Shanghai market. But the Ningbo restaurant at that time made him not feel the taste that should be, "it is Jianghu cuisine".
2013 has become a watershed in the process of moving from pure more expensive to more refined and characteristic high-end Chinese food. Because of the promulgation of the "Eight Regulations", the main consumer groups of high-priced restaurants in the past have decreased rapidly, and catering operators have begun to seek changes, "which is a process that is both passive and active". Today, Zhou Xianming, the manager of Kunming Black Pearl Restaurant Yijin Shangting, was one of the members of the management team of Cuifu, the "leading brand of high-end Chinese food in Kunming", and went through the whole evolution.
"As it became easier to enter and exit, people started to go out and see Michelin-starred restaurants in Japan and Hong Kong." Looking upwards is a process that cannot be ignored in the evolution of high-priced Chinese food to exquisite Chinese food. Intentionally or unintentionally; Whether it's the form or the core; In the process of the chefs coming into contact with overseas exquisite cuisine again and again, the prototype of exquisite Chinese cuisine is gradually being established.
"New Chinese cuisine", from the surface to the inside
The beginning of the real evolution of Chinese exquisite cuisine into "new Chinese cuisine" may be a simple collision of food cultures. But it is in this kind of integration again and again, after about six to eight years of polishing, experience and improvement, to form their own system, logic and solution - the managers inject their own understanding of the "new" into all aspects of the restaurant.
In 2014, the Yongfu brand completed a refined upgrade in the new store on the 12th floor of the Jin Jiang Hotel. The reason was Weng Yongjun's "breath": "Why can Cantonese food be sold for 800 or 1,000 yuan per capita, and Ningbo cuisine can also be used." So, he used his ten years of experience in the hotel system to adjust the ingredients, cooking techniques, decoration style, and utensils. For example, Yongfu's original signature dish "Shede" (discarding the outer layer of Shanghai green leaves, only taking the tender core, and getting the crispy glutinous water spirit), such as the "Hermes" dinner plate, which is still imitated by many restaurants today, and the "Royal Copenhagen Arcanque" series of tableware introduced by the opening of the North Bund store in 2023.
Du Jianqing, the founder of The Elite Club, and Jason Liu, the owner of LING LONG, also mentioned that they draw a sense of sophistication from the luxury brand and add the details of the restaurant's space. "These are brands with a history of hundreds or hundreds of years, and their details are the result of a long period of accumulation and precipitation, and fine dining can naturally be touched." Du Jianqing said. Liu Hesen, who had just walked the show at the Hermes Shanghai show, also mentioned that "the lighting and movement lines on the brand show can actually be used in the operation of the restaurant."
In 2014, Shanghai's high-end Chinese cuisine also ushered in a "dark horse" from London - Hakkasan. Being on the 5th floor of 18 Bund with a view of the river was enough for many consumers and restaurateurs at the time, but Hakkasan brought a sophisticated atmosphere to the banks of the Huangpu River.
Drinking a cocktail before the meal and a plate dessert after the meal were all settings that had never been seen in high-end Chinese food in China at that time; Not to mention the exclusive oriental jasmine fragrance, the weekend DJ and electronic pipa pairing, the dimming of the lights after 9pm and the more immersive background music...... All these details open the door to another dimension for the possibility of exquisite Chinese cuisine.
If formal refinement is only a table of the evolution of high-end Chinese cuisine, then with the gradual entry of the Michelin Guide into Chinese mainland in 2016, refinement has truly infiltrated high-end Chinese cuisine.
Because of the alphabetical order, Amazing Chinese Cuisine became the first star restaurant announced in the first edition of the Michelin Guide Shanghai restaurant list, which was not so famous at the time.
Du Jianqing, who now owns four Elite Clubs, told us, "I remember very clearly that it was when we first opened our first store (Hongqiao store), and our positioning was trendy cuisine, advocating some new evolution and improvement on the basis of tradition. ”
Speaking of Chaoshan cuisine, gluttony Lao Hongqiang recalled that at the end of the 90s of the last century, there were several expensive high-end Chaoshan restaurants in Shanghai, but because of the lack of market recognition and recognition at that time, they could not escape the fate of being eliminated.
The emergence of Jingxi Hui is like a Chaoshan wanderer returning from the world, kneading ingredients from all over the world into Chaoshan's food culture system, and at the same time setting off a new trendy Shanshan cuisine represented by conch and fish maw, which continues to this day.
Talking about the details of the changes, Du Jianqing gave an example: fish rice. As an indispensable dish in Chaoshan cuisine, its most traditional form is a fish that is boiled first and then frozen. The transformation of the Elite Club has gone through three stages: version 1.0 cuts the fish rice and serves it with bean sauce, version 2.0 cuts the fish rice and decorates it with bean sauce, and version 3.0 removes the fish bones from the fish rice and arranges the pieces, while improving the seasoning of the bean sauce, emphasizing precision and stability.
Now open the menus of many Cantonese restaurants, and a square plate of fish rice seems to have become a "standard" in a sense. The industry often jokes that the leading brands represented by Jingxi Hui, Xinrong Ji and Yu Bund have become the "creative perpetual motion machine" of the same type of restaurant, while Du Jianqing smiled and said: "I am happy to see this." Dare to be the first and do it in front of others, which is something worth being happy for the whole brand and team. ”
It is this open-mindedness and innovative drive that has enabled high-end Chinese cuisine to gradually iterate in the past six to eight years, from the surface to the inside, from point to surface.
In the most complex times, there are the best opportunities
No one thought that when we look back at 2020-2022, the three years that we thought would be wiped out by fine dining have become a golden period of rapid development.
"At the beginning of March 2020, Ningbo has basically fully resumed normal operations." Weng Yongjun recalled that high-end restaurants were the first to return to normal in the early days of the epidemic. On the 23rd of the same month, Xinrongji opened four stores in three cities in China, including Jingji and Furong Wushuang in Beijing. These are like blowing the marching horn, and more and more outlets are flocking to the "new Chinese cuisine" in first-tier cities.
Spell creative
In 2019, LING LONG was opened in Beijing, and three years later, it ranked 77th in Asia's top 50; In 2023, he opened LING LONG in Shanghai, and after 12 months, he entered the 36th place in the Asian 50. Jason Liu, who is only 31 years old, handed in a beautiful answer sheet during this seemingly most difficult period.
"The most obvious change has actually occurred during the pandemic. Personally, I started to learn from the roots of Chinese food, digging into it, and slowly taking root from the outside. The chefs began to incorporate more imported ingredients and local ingredients that were not commonly used before into the traditional techniques, opening up different ideas and forming a beautiful progression process. ”
On the basement floor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, there is a space of no more than 5 square meters, which is Jason's office in Shanghai and a small R&D center. On the stainless steel cabinet door is a record of the first draft menu of the LING LONG. Compared with the experimental dishes of Beijing LING LONG, the creative idea of Shanghai LING LONG is "dishes with stories". For example, a new work, "Dongfeng Chicken Legs", is inspired by the Dongfeng Chicken Legs recorded in the "Collection of Chinese Famous Dishes" and produced by Dongfeng Hotel, the predecessor of the building where LING LONG is located, paying tribute to time and the atmosphere of Pujiang with modern techniques.
Beijing LING LONG will adjust its concept and rename it this year, while Liu Hesen is researching the presentation of the sixth flavor "strong flavor" in Chinese cuisine in addition to the "traditional five flavors". "I like the contrast, it's like an old building and the interior is brand new, like a Western-style hotel and Chinese cuisine." Liu Hesen said that contrast and conflict are often the most gripping plots in the story, and the same is true for creativity. Fight the track
Chinese cuisine Touzao was born in Shanghai at the beginning of 2022 and has become a phenomenal existence in the catering industry. In an interview with us, the restaurant's general consultant, "Poison Master", repeatedly emphasized that Touzao is not omakase (a no-menu dish where the chef selects and determines the ingredients and dishes), but a traditional Chinese food that is "de-socialized, de-familiarized, and de-greeted" by subtraction.
The topicality of the head stove is a coincidence and deliberate. At the beginning of the preparation, the poisoner submitted a thick pile of research reports to Zhou Haiwen, the major shareholder of the restaurant, listing the various situations that will occur in this new form. The Chinese restaurant, which was converted from a Japanese restaurant, has only one wok, and at the same time, it is destined that this restaurant can only use the "fried character system" as its selling point: stir-fried, stir-fried, stir-fried, stir-fried, and fried...... This forms a unique track of exquisite Chinese cuisine.
It was also through this interview that we learned that the chef team of Touzao came from the "Tang Pavilion Department" with strong roots, so it is no wonder that the managers have enough confidence in their "stir-frying". "Tang Pavilion's famous dish 'fried lobster with three shallots' will definitely be better presented in the head stove, because it shortens the distance from the wok to the diners." Poison said.
Touzao's insistence is "what is difficult to do, what to do". The difficulty here may be many: the difficulty of the ingredients, the difficulty is that they refuse to use "big road goods", and even some need to be booked from special channels; The difficulty of cooking lies in the limitations of the equipment and how to reduce the stacking of elements on the same plate. For example, a stir-fried pike crab is made with six to eight pike crabs purchased from Zhoushan and distributed every day, and covered with hairy crab crab roe to form a compound crab flavor in autumn. "When we started this restaurant, our goal was to go for two or three Michelin stars." The poisoner said that getting a Michelin star in 2023 is within the presupposition, but it also means that the restaurant has more room for breakthroughs.
Spell exploration
From the early days of the "joint food" space that gathered resources in the catering industry, the "Yue" series began to explore. It wasn't until 2018 that due to the invitation of a well-known spirits brand, chef Chen Xiaodong (Seven) set up a set of "Rediscover the Taste of Cantonese" menu based on natural elements such as "wind and clouds, thunder, rain, fire, and fire" inspired by Cantonese's "Nine Great Gui" (an extremely rich and distinguished feast in traditional Cantonese cuisine). Yuè's exploration of modern Cantonese cuisine.
The kitchen is still the absolute protagonist and center stage of the dining room, and the 12-seat seat that surrounds it is the front wind and the chef's table. The team of articulate chefs methodically tells the concept of the dish, the ingredients, the techniques, and the story to the diners, forming an interactive game of taste.
"When I entered the industry, the master of Cantonese cuisine told us that Cantonese cuisine is the simultaneous development of the north and the south, the combination of Chinese and Western, foreign for Chinese use, and ancient for modern use. And that's exactly what we're doing now. ”
Chen Xiaodong cites an example of a representative who has never placed a menu since the opening of the "Yue" six years ago: foie gras caviar in brine, using two of the three treasures of French cuisine, with the signature brine flavor of Cantonese cuisine, but instead of mechanically stacking the ingredients, the aroma of foie gras and the salty and fresh flavor of caviar are taken to echo the aged aroma of the brine. "Cantonese cuisine is 'traditional Cantonese cuisine', and those who follow the Hong Kong-style Cantonese cuisine can only be said to be making Cantonese traditions." Chen Xiaodong said that once he finds the puzzle pieces of traditional Cantonese cuisine, he is not afraid to compete with anyone.
In the past three or four years, in addition to going to the north and south of the country for industry exchanges, Chen Xiaodong has spent time immersed in the streets and alleys of Guangdong. "The more you explore, the more you can discover the breadth and profundity of Cantonese cuisine." Just like the "Chaoyue" in the Yue series, which focuses on Chaoshan cuisine, and the "Blanching" with the theme of technique, "what is delicious is a proposition that we will explore in our life".
Mix the ingredients
Yijin Shangting, which opened in Kunming in April 2021, has a glimpse of the irreplaceable position of Yunnan ingredients in exquisite Chinese cuisine. The owner, Zhou Xianming, is a post-80s generation with experience studying in the UK, who is keen to tap into local Yunnan ingredients, from Huize black goats, Fuxian Lake herring, Lijiang yak meat to Pu'er tea fresh leaves, not to mention the flowers and wild mushrooms that Yunnan people are proud of. On the day of our interview, he also made a trip to the foie gras factory, an hour's drive from downtown Kunming, to bring back what may have been the first French foie gras from Yunnan.
"Not only fine dining, but now all restaurants may use Yunnan ingredients, they can be grilled, can be boiled, especially Western food and vegetarian food have as many as 50 or 60 kinds of rich use of Yunnan ingredients." Zhou Xianming said: "Since it can be formed outside Yunnan, why can't Yunnan? ”
"Rolling" Yunnan ingredients in Yunnan is actually a thing to break the regional mystery and information differences, but Zhou Xianming has been happy to do it in the three years since the opening of Yijin Shangting. "Just like the Lijiang yak meat that the restaurant has been using recently, I have tried it before and know how to distinguish it by parts, but not many people in China do it." What is surprising is that a dish of grass fruit sprout fennel braised yak meat just launched by Yijin Shangting uses the brisket part with subcutaneous fat, which not only highlights the signature aroma of yak meat, but also achieves a crispy and soft Cantonese taste. "With the changes and progress of the entire catering market, if you understand Yunnan ingredients, the results will be unexpectedly good."
拼形式
"The exquisite Chinese food in the past two years is too 'rolly', and we can't roll over those top brands in the dishes, so we can only find another way to find the elements we are good at." Angel, one of the organizers of the Crab Fairy Painting Banquet, said.
Seven "Famous Painting Aesthetic Dishes" inspired by famous paintings, plus seven "Painting Dances" created with them, on one side are the neon banks of the Pujiang River, and on the other hand, there are graceful dances in historical buildings; "Volume" is a sense of ritual and aesthetics.
Such examples are not uncommon, there have long been a night banquet in Shanghai, which uses projections modeled after UV (Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet) to combine with dishes; Later, there are various Song banquets and palace banquets.
On the other hand, Qulangyuan also "rolled" its own piece of the world in Beijing's hutongs. From the superposition of hutong buildings, art galleries, natural skylight and glass buildings in the early days of the opening, to the opening of the landscape snacks in front of the board, the open kitchen has become the focal point of the space like a stage, releasing the historical texture of logs and bricks.
Not to mention the ups and downs, page after page of food and wine pairings and food and tea pairings, the constant iteration of tableware styles, and the constant holding of food tastings...... As Weng Yongjun said when reviewing the development of "new Chinese cuisine" in the three years of the epidemic, "In recent years, China's domestic catering has undergone qualitative changes, which is a very turning point. We're not afraid to compare ourselves to any other food in the world. We have that self-confidence. ”
Outlet and sea
In the courtyard of the former Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in Sanlitun, Beijing, catkins floated in the air, and we knocked on the black iron door of Lamdre. This is the winner of the 2024 "Asia's 50 Best Restaurants" and "Most Watchable Award". It is worth mentioning that Lan Zhai is a "contemporary plant-based cuisine" restaurant, which is "vegetarian" in our traditional term, and the vegetarian restaurant that also attracts the attention of the "Asia's 50 Best Restaurants", as well as Shanghai's Fu Hehui, has become the highest-ranked restaurant in Chinese mainland with 19th place.
"Vegetarianism is indeed an outlet, and the presentation effect will attract more international attention." As a first-hand witness and leader in all stages of Beijing's exquisite vegetarian diet, Chef Dai Jun of Lan Zhai should be one of the most vocal. "When I first started making vegetarian dishes, I was crossing the river by feeling the stones, starting with imitation meat, and then seeing how the world's fine food restaurants interpret vegetable food," Dai Jun said, "and then I learned techniques, showed off techniques, such as molecular cooking, and drew between plates." "As a chef with a background in Cantonese cuisine, Dai Jun's experience of vegetarian development condenses the interpretation and evolution of vegetarianism in the exquisite Chinese food industry.
"Creation is through the fusion of the three concepts of nature, deliciousness and sustainability." When techniques become means and presentation becomes cause and effect, there is the uniqueness of Lan Zhai's products. "A few years ago, when you called me Master Dai, I didn't dare to respond. Only now do I feel that I am a 'master'. ”
This is not unrelated to the manager of Lan Zhai. Zhao Jia, who was born in 85, is a lady with great aesthetics and insights, "I want to create a new way of life with Lan Zhai." ”
In Lan Zhai, every step is a scene. The walnut trees, truncatum and Mongolian chestnut trees in the courtyard, the landscape landscape connected by a line outside the window of the private room, and the open kitchen on the second floor shuttles between light and shadow. Vitality is the atmosphere that Lan Zhai and its cuisine give to the whole space, just like a dish of "pine buds, pine needles, pine nuts, matsutake mushrooms" in the 2024 spring menu, it is a "natural micro-ecosystem" in Dai Jun's eyes, using pine needles as a "tea whisk", stirring and dripping on the surface of matsutake mushroom soup with pine needles impregnated green oil, from the freshness and aroma of plants, the ultimate release. Another example is "sea mushrooms, mustard seeds, cucumbers, hijiki", which is wrapped in kelp seedlings from Xiapu, Fujian Province, and is a "cucumber" full of seafood, and we laughingly call it the "sea cucumber" of Lan Zhai.
In March this year, Liu Hesen of LING LONG and Dai Jun conducted a "four-handed joint play" and completed a cooking together. To borrow Liu Hesen's understanding of exquisite Chinese food in his interview with us, it seems particularly appropriate to describe Lan Zhai's dishes: if exquisite Chinese food is a handicraft, it should not be overly decorated, like a very beautiful gem falling on a dinner plate.
In addition to Lan Zhai, Fu Hehui and Jing Zhaoyin, which have already attracted international attention, exquisite vegetarian food is also gradually blossoming all over the country. In Shanghai, looking down at the bustling Bund, 5 catties of Jiaodong cabbage are boiled into a bowl of amazing soup after eating 5 catties of flavorless vegetables. In Kunming, with the diversity of Yunnan's plant ingredients, Azhou's kitchen, which has been open for three years, follows the traces of the ancient tea horse road, and interprets the ever-changing mushrooms, tea, and bean products of Yunnan from south to north. Extreme
On one side are groups of children frolicking on the spring outing, and on the other hand, there are wedding photos of the newlyweds posing with all kinds of loving poses. Opened in October 2023, the house is surrounded by sweet things.
As one of the representatives of celebrity chefs in the Mesozoic Era, Fu Yueliang, the owner of the newly promoted Michelin-starred restaurant Ruyuan, has a wealth of experience, which can be seen from the hand-drawn drawing of "Gold Medal Button Meat" engraved at the entrance of Ruyuan. From Zhiweiguan to Hyatt Regency Hangzhou (now Grand Hyatt Hangzhou) Lakeside 28 (one of the first Chinese restaurants to enter the list of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants), to the founding of the Internet celebrity brand Old Man Fried Shrimp, Chef Fu, who has achieved "financial freedom" in the eyes of others, has returned to his original intention to create Ruyuan.
"Still have to cook." Fu Yueliang said that he has seen too many "chefs" who give up the kitchen because they have earned their first pot of gold, because they are not enthusiastic and confident enough about cooking. Master Fu doesn't "mix circles" very much, firstly, in order to avoid the "homogenization" caused by excessive communication, and secondly, he divides his time and attention to Western food and overseas information. He once went to Shanghai Tai'anmen Restaurant for "internship" "incognito", and in the first month, he also found the thinking mode of Western food in "Black Job". "Their requirements for vegetable grains are down to the millimeter."
As a result, Ruyuan's cuisine is like a dark horse in Hangzhou's exquisite Chinese food industry - a modern interpretation on the basis of classic Hangzhou cuisine, relaxed and not preachy, and constantly adjusted and changed, such as "Fu's West Lake Vinegar Fish - Eating Fish and Seeking Crabs" presented by making two fish into one fish, which entered the 71st edition this spring, adjusting the color and transparency of the sauce. Another example is the "Fu's Longjing Shrimp - Tea into the Dish" composed of the pictographic "one bud and two leaves" Longjing and hand-peeled shrimp, which came to the 80th edition in this spring, and really added the fragrance and freshness of the Longjing before the Qingming Dynasty.
Running away
On April 15 and 16 this year, Xin Rong Kee held its first "Uncle Rong Private Banquet" in a corner of the Locke Rong Mansion in Shanghai. Uncle Rong refers to Daniel Zhang, the founder of the new Rong Ji.
In the old Shanghai Art Deco style space, the open kitchen occupies almost two-thirds of the position, and the U-shaped 14-seat that lingers around the kitchen is like the front of the board of the highly talked about Xin Rong Kee Tokyo store, which is a private banquet for the host's family to entertain guests. Whether it is Shanghai or Tokyo, what Daniel Zhang is doing is to promote the seafood of the East China Sea and the local flavors of Taizhou and even China to the world.
In front of the stage is the team of a Japanese and French restaurant in Shanghai, and behind the scenes is Daniel Zhang's understanding of ingredients and the strong supply chain of Xinrongji. If the use of mackerel, giant shrimp and soft-shelled turtle in Japanese and Western cuisine is not uncommon, then plum boyfish, pomfret, catfish and even the East China Sea fishing belt are presented in the presentation of Western food, which can be described as a pioneering practice. Let more chefs around the world come into contact with Chinese ingredients, recognize Chinese ingredients, and then feed back the ideas and visions of exquisite Chinese food, which is also the flower that is being nurtured this spring.
Like Xinrongji, there is also Yongfu. In May this year, Ningbo will open a branch in Singapore, followed by the opening of stores in Jeju Island, London and New York in the second half of the year. For this plan, Weng Yongjun, the helmsman of Yongfu, seems to have been "planning" for a long time, from Yongfu and Xiangweng, to Persimmon Heyuan, Shichuan Feichuan, and Yanhua Sanyue, the pyramid-shaped brand system ensures that the cuisine and management fly together. "The purpose of my Western, Sichuan and Hunan cuisine is to help our chef team continue to learn and enrich the brand, so as to cope with the combination punch that needs to be played when 'going out'." Weng Yongjun said, "The overseas Ningbo Mansion will be a concept that integrates Chinese cuisine and combines the characteristics of major brands."
Letting more people see today's Chinese cuisine is the direction of progress for the operators of "New Chinese Cuisine", and it is also the self-confidence after more than ten years of refinement and grinding.
Thematic curator Tan Hao
人物摄影 摆渡大厨（兰斋）、胡音（甬府、LING LONG）
插画 Vinnie
Coordinator and interview support for Zulu
Interview and writing by Huang Qifang
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编辑 Catherine
This is an abridged version of this article and the full text was published in the May issue of ELLEMEN