Thank you, in fact, the general public for the position of food critic always has a Pygmalion-like fantasy, thinking that we are writing in various newspapers and magazines all day long, while commenting on all kinds of fine wines and delicacies, and then sneering at the restaurant chef, then pulling out a dog blood sprinkler that the chef of the restaurant scolded, and then shaking his hand to turn the table upside down, and then striding out of the door with his head held high, he sat in a special car and followed the tall female secretary sneeringly: Just this broken level still wants Lao Tzu to recommend? There are no doors!
Dear, where is our food critic ah, this live and free of a domineering president fell in love with the kitchen helper little sister A. In fact, food critics are more as an intermediary to help the catering industry and the public media to better negotiate and communicate, on the one hand, for ingredients, cooking skills and dish evaluation with relative quality food critics can help restaurants to improve the quality of their own dishes, on the other hand, critics with a certain level of writing and lens expression can also better communicate with the media for marketing and publicity.
However, the most difficult part of the job of food critic is that the job does not have any recognized industry norms, codes of conduct or qualifications to constrain this group of foodies. Some people are born with a good tongue while eating and making a big name, such as Cai Lan, Tang Lusun, or Yuan Mei (with chef bonus), some are the daughter-in-law who has been in charge of the catering industry for half a lifetime, or gordon Ramsay. Therefore, when the industry people on both sides of the yellow robe and body change for many years said in unison: "Teacher X", in fact, everyone's real tasting level is still uneven. However, what makes this guy go beyond the category of simple foodie to reach the realm of a food critic ultimately depends on the following three ultimate questions:
1. What kind of dish is this dish
2. This dish is made
3. How can you do it better.
Don't think that when you meditate on the above three questions five hundred times at dinner in the future, you will automatically be promoted to a food critic. After the theory class, the specific application will be described in the field. Recently, due to the busy business of the company, food evaluation has rarely been done, and the rare recent one is to go to Shanghai Waldorf to help try dishes.
A corner of the old building of the hotel
Waldorf Astoria as the top luxury hotel brand of Hilton Hotels Group, 10 years of Waldorf Astoria Shanghai as asia's first Waldorf just opened at No. 2 on the Bund, the hotel at one end is the old Shanghai Association with a history of nearly 150 years, one end is a new building built at more than 300 million yuan, even for now, the only hotel brand in Shanghai that can compete with it is the peninsula on the other side of the Bund (No. 12 Hengshan Road, Sinan Mansion also has more Banyan Yuezhuang counts as a boutique hotel). Then, as far as the hotel itself is concerned, the comprehensive level of several restaurants is not bad, such as the Chinese weijing pavilion and baiwei garden, as well as the French Pelham's, and of course, the Long Bar, which is known as the longest bar in Asia.
Baiwei Garden, which is also the place where ordinary guests eat breakfast.
Speaking of the hotel restaurant trial dish, generally divided into two kinds, one is that every time the hotel changes a new chef or waits for the season change, the hotel will invite some hotel executives and other restaurant chefs to come and try the dish, this kind of trial dish is generally more rigorous and academic atmosphere is stronger, in addition to the need to set the main tone of the next season's menu, you also need to consider more such as raw material procurement and storage, dish cost, kitchen division of labor, wine and marketing and a series of issues, This kind of tasting is generally more routine, usually once every three months, and it is difficult for outsiders to know. The other is that when there is a major event organization arrangement, it is necessary to invite the person in charge of the special activity and related industry people to try the dish before the event is finalized, this kind of trial dish is easier than the previous one, and the quality will generally be guaranteed, one is that everyone is also the next opportunity to come out and relax and then social after all, the industry is also so big to look up and not see the low, Second, because the chef himself wants to answer the questions of the guests after the trial, the back kitchen will perform as well as the chicken blood after the sous-chefs, so the general taste of the dishes is not bad.
This is the private room where the dishes were tried that day, and then next to the three hotel staff in charge of the day, the blonde Dutch girl is a sommelier specially transferred from Waldorf Astoria in Amsterdam, the boy on the left is in charge of the dishes, and the right is the hotel's event coordinator.
This is the menu of the day, Waldorf Astoria's classic WA logo is impressively printed on it, the reason why it is called Waldorf Astoria, because the original founder William Walsdorf Astor opened the Waldorf Hotel on 33rd Street, Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New York, and then his cousin Jacob Astor opened a more palatial Astoria Hotel opposite the hotel in order to gamble No die, the Jacob Astor who died in the Titanic shipwreck, the two hotels merged and a lounge called Peacock Alley was erected on it for easy passage, and although the hotel was relocated to Park Avenue further east, the name Waldorf Astoria and the logo were preserved, and the Waldorf Astoria in New York was conrad in 1932 Hilton acquired and built into the top luxury hotel brand under the Hilton Group.
This is a pen with the hotel logo printed on the side, so the problem arises
Which excavator technology is stronger?
Oh no, why put a pen on a try?
This is after the menu is opened, you can see on the left is the Chinese and English names of today's dishes and the ingredient list, and the blank space on the right is reserved for each guest to write the evaluation of each dish, in case the time to drink alcohol and ear fever is to forget how to eat.
The first appetizer, called Hors d'oeuvres in French, is usually a snack for the relief of everyone's hala at the cocktail reception before the official seating, and the four dishes on that day are Truffle Scones with Foie Gras Mousse, Tofu Skin wraps with daikon and jelly fish salad ( Japanese-style jellyfish salad with rotten skin radish), Chicken Tortilla Cumin Peppers, Guacemole (chicken tortilla with cumin, guacamole), and Deep-fried Yellow Croaker in soy sauce.
The first pour is champagne, it is estimated that the wine has not been drunk enough, everyone seems to be quite rusty so that everyone put all their energy on the trial dish, and have not eaten a few bites, the Japanese rotten skin radish jellyfish salad was immediately rejected by the organizers from New York, the reason is that the tofu skin taste is too rough, and then the jellyfish with champagne obviously has a fishy taste, and then the sale of the dish is also very poor. The scene immediately went cold when this painting went down, and the person in charge of the hotel immediately greeted the blonde sommelier next to him, and then saw the girl immediately turn around with a calm face and go out to the kitchen. As a result, five minutes later, the waiter brought a plate of sea-derived fried buns to respond to the emergency, and the organizer directly put down the knife and fork, directly pointed to the blonde and asked: Do you know what is called a capsule? Do you think it's nice to have guests hold a champagne glass in one hand and a bun in the other at my dinner? The words just fell, everyone is very embarrassed, this rhythm does not match the good plot ah, fortunately finally there are people who play the round field out, carrying the freshly poured liquor said: Today's dry white with a very good yo, you taste, 01 year Chardonnay it! After another round of toast, the organizer finally smiled drunkenly.
Fortunately, the next main course is not bad, the pasta is made enough al dente and then the taste of saffron is not too overshadowed by the taste of the sauce itself, the fish meat is a little old but it is also reasonable, the lamb chops is the best one, the sauce is holding the original lamb chop juice boiled Fornds de Mouton and then the meat is wrapped in olive puree and fried slightly, very colorful. At this time, everyone also drank away, and all kinds of paragraphs and conversations began.
On the same day, they also used it to rehearse the huge delivery team at the next banquet. The young man is already holding desserts, in fact, for the general banquet, the quality of the dishes is not required to be very brilliant, but more importantly, the speed of the dish and the consistency of the quality of the dish, after all, everyone does not ask how good the banquet is, but some people are on the dessert, some people are still eating salad is more embarrassing.
One of the desserts of the day is chocolate cake with cranberry sauce plus seasonal fruits and vanilla ice cream, one is mango sheba with dried mango and nut sponge cake, chocolate cake is quite ok, but that mango snowball is really greasy enough, since you call soorbet, that put so much milk and sugar is a yarn, and it is not surprising that it was finally canceled. However, the last Petit Fours, that is, the after-dinner snack is more amazing, and the macaron's taste is very delicate, and it is a long time to look at the original almond protein paste.
The last messy tabletop, when the last dessert is finished, the chef appears in front of everyone with a special smile and then comes over with a wine glass to say hello to everyone and then naturally mingles with the organizers who have a drink... Later, when everyone was full of wine and food, the trial ended smoothly in a peaceful atmosphere.
And me? Silently picked up the menu that had just been corrected according to the organizer's opinion and handed it to the blonde sommelier next to him, waving his sleeve without taking away a cloud...