He returned to his hometown of Shanghai from the windy northeast, took a train for more than ten hours, and the first thing he did when he got off the train was to call a taxi and go straight to No. 75 Yunnan South Road. It was the little Shaoxing he was familiar with, and the taste of white chopped chicken was his childhood memories. He asked Zhao Xu, the deputy general manager of Xiao Shaoxing, "Can I take a few chickens to Shenyang by train?" However, because the white chopped chicken had to be preserved in a frozen environment, it was not successful. Zhao Xu has met many Shanghai wanderers who have returned from other places, and when they get off the train, they have to come to Xiao Shaoxing to taste a mouthful of white chopped chicken. The taste of Xiao Shaoxing is the taste of home.
Yunnan Road has always been a landmark snack street in Shanghai, and in the past, as long as a shed was built on the sidewalk, it could be sold. Today, the street has been completely renovated from the outside, and all illegal buildings have been demolished, but most snack brands have basically maintained their original site, such as Xiao Shaoxing. In 1946, Zhang Runniu, a Shaoxing man, set up two benches here with his sister, and because he was short and Shaoxing, people called him "Little Shaoxing". In 1979, Xiao Shaoxing reopened and built a four-story hotel on the spot.
Small Shaoxing first floor public restaurant
Zhang Jing photographed
Xiao Shaoxing has a place in Shanghai's catering industry with its characteristic white chopped chicken and chicken porridge, blood soup and chicken bone sauce noodles. In 1993, there was also a tv series "The Legend of Xiao Shaoxing" to tell the story of Xiao Shaoxing.
In the 1940s, many actors performed at the Great World Theater near Yunnan South Road. After the performance, the audience used to come to Xiao Shaoxing to eat a bite of chicken. According to legend, the birth of the white chopped chicken was because at that time, many "three six nine" (the police of the old society) always had to steal a bite of chicken when patrolling, Zhang Runniu dipped the chicken in the well water, wanted the "three six nine" to eat diarrhea, but found that the taste of the chicken was better than before, which was the earliest white chopped chicken.
Nowadays, the first floor of Xiao Shaoxing is used as a public dining restaurant, and the second, third and fourth floors have private rooms and large wine tables, which is a good place for many people to hold family banquets and classmates. Xiao Shaoxing has also developed a takeaway business, and now when you open Hungry or Meituan Takeaway, you can order a white chopped chicken to taste it.
Xiao Shaoxing's master cut the chicken white
On Huaihai Road, about 2km from Xiao Shaoxing, the big restaurant in Guangming Estate insisted on not doing takeaway. Manager Tan Jiping said, "I'm afraid that once the mass production, our flavor will change." ”
The Grand Restaurant in Guangming Estate was a dim sum shop in Guangming Estate until 1992, and in 1992, When Huaihai Road built Metro Line 1, it took the opportunity to convert it into a Bright Estate Grand Restaurant.
Tan Jiping recalled that since 2006, business has slowly boomed. Over the years, there have been people queuing up in front of the Grand Restaurant in Guangming Estate almost every day to buy dim sum cooked food. Tan Jiping said: "The most exaggerated queue was from our door to the door of the Academy of Social Sciences. ”
Queues in front of the cooked food window in Guangming Estate
From 2016 to 2017, The Grand Restaurant in Guangming Estate renovated the entire hotel, updating the kitchen, warehouse and dining area. Today, the Grand Restaurant of Guangming Estate is already a reassuring restaurant in Shanghai. In the past 40 years of reform and opening up, almost all the merchants on Huaihai Road have been demolished several times, and the signboard of the Grand Restaurant in Guangming Estate is still red on a white background, which is the signboard that many shanghai residents recognize.
In fact, many of Shanghai's time-honored brands do not change not only the location, but also the craftsmanship spirit of the old-fashioned brands.
In the 1990s, eating white chopped chicken was very popular in all households in Shanghai, and there was a saying of "southern chicken and northern duck". At that time, there were more than 1,000 stores in Shanghai that made white chopped chicken, and many self-employed people rented a small façade and set up two pots to start burning white chopped chicken to sell. Although the white chopped chicken is not difficult to make, but the health requirements are high, so many small shops have been eliminated because of poor hygiene, and the last laugh in this "hundred chicken war" is Xiao Shaoxing.
Zhao Xu believes that the key to Xiao Shaoxing's excellence lies in its brand connotation, that is, its adherence to "high-quality chicken breeds, traditional craftsmanship, unique formulas, and scientific management". All along, the chickens in Xiao Shaoxing have been crossed by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences and handed over to farmers to raise, and must go through a 60-day cycle to meet the standards of Xiao Shaoxing before they can be sold. At the same time, the dipping chicken sauce is also a "secret weapon" passed down from generation to generation in Xiao Shaoxing, which is matched with the amount of white chopped chicken, and it is also written in the cashier window: add 3 yuan of sauce.
Little Shaoxing's white chopped chicken
Xiao Shaoxing and Guangming Estate can be said to be the earliest "net red shops". Today, all kinds of "net red shops" have sprung up, but Guangming Estate still waits silently with a consistent taste. Since its expansion, the Grand Restaurant of Guangming Estate has inherited the traditional pastry craftsmanship and dim sum characteristics of the original Guangming Estate Dim Sum Shop, and the daily food of Shanghai citizens such as noodles, wontons, raw fried and xiaolong still maintain the taste of decades ago. At the same time, it has always maintained the structure of "front shop and back kitchen", ready to sell, not only the raw materials are of high quality, the process is serious, but also to ensure that "no freezing", so that customers can eat fresh and eat with peace of mind. However, this "do how much to sell how much" model will inevitably not meet the needs of so many customers every day, so it can only limit the purchase to try to ensure supply and combat potential scalpers. In this regard, Tan Jiping frankly said that at this stage, she still intends to make the brand solid and stronger, and pay more attention to quality than quantity. At present, There are only 2 branches in Guangming Estate, both of which are in Shanghai.
The traditionalLyx Bright Estate also maintains its "old-school style" – "we have never done it online, and the Bright Estate labeled online is counterfeit." Tan Jiping took out an infringement complaint form she was filling out. Once the online channel is opened, consumer demand will inevitably increase significantly, and the existing conditions cannot guarantee the quality control quality of online sales, which is contrary to the development concept of Guangming Estate and more likely to spawn mixed "fake Guangming Estate".
Fresh meat mooncakes in Bright Estate
Most of the people queuing in The Bright Estate are retired elderly, and the existence of The Bright Estate is also a spiritual garden for the elderly. In order to take care of this part of the crowd that is not familiar with the Internet, Guangming Estate only accepts on-site queuing to book Chinese New Year's Eve meals on the 10th of each month, and does not accept telephone reservations, which is praised by many elderly people.
Mr Wai, a citizen, Chinese New Year's Eve dinner this year is in Guangming Estate, and next year he is ready to ask his family to book here. Nearly 70 years old, his favorite food as a child was the pastry of Guangming Estate, but at that time, the family conditions were not good, and he could only taste it occasionally. "Now that I have nothing to do in retirement, I'll come over and buy some, it's the smell of the past." Mr. Wei sometimes calls on old friends to buy together, which is also a way to reminisce about the past.
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