The "sea dare little squid" that has been "swimming" for 20 years is now "swimming" farther and farther away - from the earliest Xiamen General Ancestral Hall, a small shop "swimming", "swimming" to Xiamen Island and beyond, and then "swimming" to Quanzhou...... For a long time, Xiamen's catering competition has been fierce, and it is not easy to occupy a place, and it is impossible to rely on luck to "swim" out of a small world of food.
The preference of "gluttony".
It used to be a small food world in the hearts of Xiamen's "gourmets".
It used to be a food check-in point for tourists from other places to come to Xiamen.
Twenty years ago, whether it was a local diner or a foreign tourist, when they got into a taxi, as long as they said "the little squid of the General's Temple" to the driver, the driver knew it and drove them straight to their destination......
When night falls and the lights come on, the city's nightlife has just kicked off, and there are already long queues here...... The General's Ancestral Hall is an inconspicuous two-story building, upstairs and downstairs, very lively.
Xiamen, the city of food, there are many places to eat, and it is not uncommon to see food with a good reputation, what is the charm of "Little Squid in the General's Temple" that attracts diners from all over the world? He even did not hesitate to queue up at the door to get the number, and sometimes he had to wait for an hour or two when it was his turn to be served......
Yes, "Little Squid", soy sauce water, so delicious, shogun's ancestral hall...... It is talked about by "gluttons" and tourists! So that some people say "the little squid of the general's ancestral hall", many taxi drivers are "familiar with the road", you know, in that era, car navigation was not popular, most of them relied on the memory of taxi drivers.
Actually, not only that, I heard a story related to the "Little Squid of the General's Temple". Not long ago, I had a dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Wu, who had just returned from overseas, at a "little squid" in the lake. Mr. Wu is a native of Jiangxi, and it is well known that Jiangxi people are very good at eating spicy, and this spicy taste is very different from the taste of "little squid". I asked Mr. Wu, "Are you used to eating 'little squid'?" He replied that when he came to Xiamen ten years ago, he admired the "Little Squid of the General's Temple" and liked it very much. When I was studying abroad, whenever I thought of food, I couldn't help but think of the "Little Squid of the General's Temple...... Ten years later, Mr. Wu and Mrs. Wu graduated with two doctorates overseas, and he came for love, joined a research institute in Xiamen, and looked for "Little Squid in the General's Temple...... Although the dining place is different, it is still the familiar and favorite taste - it can be seen that he is very happy! In the days to come, he no longer has to miss it, because he is no longer a tourist, but a new Xiamen person, and he can come as soon as he wants - ten years in Hedong, ten years in Hexi, he will change from a tourist to a "glutton"!
The origin of the "name".
Everything has a cause and effect, and the same is true of the popularity of "Sea Dare Little Squid". This has to start with "Brother Yong", the founder of "Hai Dare Little Squid".
"Brother Yong" is a northerner, and like Xiamen, it is also a beautiful coastal city. Later, "Brother Yong" joined the army and enlisted in Wuhan, a big place. But later, when I came to Xiamen, I fell in love with this beautiful "island". He felt that it was not only "livable", but also "workable".
After being transferred from the army, "Brother Yong" came to Xiamen, and with his good photography skills, he became a photojournalist. Although he has not worked in the media for a long time, his professionalism is "impressive" - for example, he himself spent a lot of money to "arm" professional photographic equipment in order to work. The photos planned and taken by the newspaper, whether it is up the mountain or down to the sea, or in the early morning and late at night, he never cares, takes the film seriously, and strives for perfection every time he shoots......
In his spare time, "Brother Yong" likes to fish, first in the waters around Xiamen. Later, he fished farther and farther, Zhangzhou, Zhangpu, Dongshan, Ningde Xiapu, and even went out of the province...... Fishing in the sea is often a charter boat to go to sea, which is not just fishing, but going out to sea for exploration. The vast ocean, a flat boat, it is inevitable to encounter strong winds and waves, such a passionate experience, not as leisurely as Jiang Taigong's fishing, but the pride of hitting the water in the middle stream...... You can't do without a little courage - some of the beautiful sea fishing photos he took are hung in his shop, which has become a good advertisement, and diners can enjoy the beautiful photos while tasting the food, which complements each other!
The proud fishing experience of "Brother Yong" is also one of the origins of the name of the "Haikang" store. Brave! Dare! "Yong" is the name of the person, "dare" is the name of the store, and the word composed of "two words" interprets a person's fighting spirit for a career and interprets the origin of a food that is favored by diners.
The name "boiled".
Every time you return from sea fishing, the fish is full of goods, and it is indispensable to treat yourself. Fresh fish, fried in hot oil, add some soy sauce, add some ginger and shallots, it is delicious...... Self-eating is definitely not finished, so it is natural to share it with others, and the eaters are full of praise.
As a result, "Brother Yong" was respected by others from his hobbies and sharing, and found a "business opportunity", so he moved the idea of opening a store - it is better to be happy alone than to be happy.
In the summer of 2003, a small shop opened a little in the alley of the General's Ancestral Hall, everything is because of the simplicity, the simple old factory, he rented a little decoration, simple painting, simple furnishings, simple tables and chairs, covered with thin tablecloths, just like a homely environment, not the usual is the row of fishing goods at the door of the store, on the thin ice, the fishing goods are neat, dazzling, fish, shrimp, eels and crabs, each one is very energetic, very fresh - some people may ask, how can they catch so many fish? By the way, this is not all his "hand catch", most of it is the "catch" caught by Xiamen fishermen and sent to the door. He has an appointment with the fishermen, you only fish, I buy as much as I want, and the price is preferential. Fishermen are motivated to sell their goods, and the store is not worried about running out of goods, so there are diners. As a result, a virtuous circle spreads far and wide. Aiming for the freshness of the seafood and the reasonable price, the word of mouth of diners spread the word of mouth, and the reputation of "Little Squid of the General's Temple" spread all at once.
In addition to the delicious fish, "Brother Yong" understands that the restaurant must have "signature" dishes to attract diners. He takes or asks chefs to go out to "learn from experience", learn from other people's "signatures", and come back to develop new dishes and create his own "signatures". After continuous exploration and repeated trial of dishes, "little squid" turned out of the "pot", of course, the good name should be added to "boiled". It seems very common to look at the materials: small squid, cauliflower, black fungus, etc.; Seasoning accessories: oil, chili pepper, etc. But in fact, it is unusual, according to the master in the store, the small squid are all imported deep-sea red squid, and the net weight is about 1 tael when peeled and belly removed; The cauliflower is the native pine cauliflower, and the fungus is the Northeast large fungus; Chili peppers are red bell peppers, millet peppers, and green peppercorns, which ensure fragrant, numb, and spicy. The taste of "boiled squid" is not ordinary, and the secret is not only the selection of ingredients, the right heat control, but also the addition of an exclusive soup base...... Each of these steps counts. The "boiled squid" that was finally served: white and white squid, black fungus, red and red peppers, green and green shallots...... It was still steaming hot when it was first served. Look, the vision is pleasing to the eye; Smell, smell refreshing; Eat, the taste is sweet and crispy...... There is also a small spicy and fragrant heat in the body! What a "cool" word, the first time to taste this food diners unforgettable; The "gourmet" who often tastes this delicacy is often not tired of eating; If you haven't come to eat for a while, the "gourmets" will miss it!
Over time, "Little Squid in the General's Ancestral Hall" has become an Internet celebrity check-in point and one of the city's food memories.
With the development of the city, Xiamen has opened the prelude to the construction of rail transit, which happens to be located in the location of the subway construction. In 2013, the two-storey building where the "Little Squid of the General's Temple" is located was demolished, but the "Hai Dare Little Squid" did not disappear from then on, but took advantage of the east wind of Xiamen rail transit construction to "swim" out, and "swim" out of a wider world......
There are so many "signboards".
Over the past 20 years, social development and progress have been accelerating, and "Haikang Little Squid" has also "kept pace with the times", constantly optimizing the dining environment in the store and developing signature dishes in response to the food taste requirements of diners. Take a look on the Internet, Internet celebrity bloggers help with advertising, help with publicity for free, and excerpt some as follows:
There is a small snack of "old vinegar peanuts" before the meal: generally speaking, once the peanuts are wet, they are not crispy, but this small snack of "Hai Kang" does not know what magic has been cast, and the peanuts mixed with old vinegar have both the sweetness and sourness of the old vinegar, and maintain the crisp fragrance of the peanuts! If you want to be a little vegetarian, there are boiled tender bamboo shoots: peel off the thin bamboo shoot coat to reveal the snow-white tender bamboo shoots, which are a little crispy, slightly sour and sweet, and have an excellent taste......
The soup has local pork and bamboo soup: as the saying goes, "slow work makes fine work". This soup takes a lot of time, after putting the local pork (must be local pork), bamboo sunflower, American ginseng and other ingredients into the casserole, first put it in a steamer to steam for a period of time, and then bury it in the sand pile and simmer for a few hours. After the pot is out of the pot, the taste is not ordinary, the meat aroma of the local pig is mixed with the unique mushroom flavor of Zhusun, and the aroma of the mushroom has been bubbling out through the thick casserole, and there is a layer of "spider web" as thin as yarn - erythroprotein, which is also quite popular with diners.
There are many signature dishes of fish, and the classic one is boiled trash fish: this is the traditional dish of "Haikang" since the opening of the store, and it is generally three or four kinds of wild small fish - small yellow fin, small rubber fish, small barracuda, and so on. The fish, although a bit miscellaneous and a little small, is definitely guaranteed to be fresh. According to the chef, a little "oil" needs to be added when boiling, and as for what kind of oil, the chef didn't explain it - this should be an exclusive secret recipe, so it's inconvenient to reveal, right? This "ordinary" dish is often a must-order for diners.
It is worth mentioning the "pepper and salt eel fry": mix with condiments, marinate the small eel, and evenly coat a thin layer of pure egg yolk, put down the oil pan, and the hot fire is baked, a delicacy is natural, golden, as thin as gold bars, crispy and delicious. If you click on this, the table is almost empty.
There are too many delicious flavors, so they leave a good name. Since the "Tour" of the General's Ancestral Hall to the inside and outside of the island, "Haikang" has attached great importance to cultural packaging, and the decoration style is different, such as the best of them - the Wenchuang Park store is full of literary and artistic style, and the space is scattered - space and food, space and diners, diners and food are intertwined with each other; There is also a pool in the store, and the flowing water adds movement and expands the visual space, so that diners can have a different dining experience from the moment they walk into the restaurant...... Some of the other restaurants are simple and elegant, some are simple and bright, and diners will have different beautiful experiences when they go to different places to dine - in addition to the "uniqueness" of the food, there is also the "difference" of the environment. This is "Haikang", what others can't think of - both adhere to tradition and innovation. Therefore, in the past 20 years, no matter where the "sea dares" and "swim", the "gourmets" have accompanied them all the way, and the tourists have also come one after another!
(Text/Adong)