Fuzhou Road "Old Zhengxing"
Speaking of the "old Zhengxing" on Fuzhou Road, perhaps no one in Shanghai knows it. Lao Zhengxing is known as the "King of the Hotel", the king is also the leader, calling it "Wang" is not because it was done early, it was founded in the first year of the Qing Tongzhi (1862), and it is more than 150 years old, but because there are many restaurants hanging the old Zhengxing signboard.
Before liberation, there were more than 120 people in Shanghai alone, such as "Jushang Lao Zhengxing", "Great Shanghai Lao Zhengxing", "General Number Lao Zhengxing", "Atlantic Old Zhengxing", "Real Old Zhengxing" and so on. There are also Hong Kong and Macao, and even Japan, the United States, and France have Chinese restaurants under the guise of "Lao Zhengxing". The "Collection of Famous Chinese Dishes" jointly published by China and Japan also has a chapter dedicated to the history and famous dishes of "Lao Zhengxing".
It is reasonable to say that understanding Shanghai always introduces the origin in the first chapter of the article, but this time when I write about Lao Zhengxing, the editor is also a little embarrassed, if you start from the beginning, you don't know where this "head" should start.
Bye Brother's "Shokokan"
In terms of time, the earliest is to start from the opening of the port of Shanghai, when people from all over the world poured in, and various styles of catering industry also landed on the beach, opening special restaurants in Shanghai, forming a variety of cuisines, and the old Zhengxing restaurant that operated Su XiBang (later evolved into "Ben Gang") came into being.
The history of Lao Zhengxing is full of storylines, and its founders are the brothers Zhu Zhengping and Cai Renxing. The original name was "Zhengxingguan", which was formed by taking one word from each of their names. The two brothers are from Zhejiang, ask a famous chef in Wuxi to take charge of the spoon, sell Wuxi cuisine, and then integrate Shanghai gang cuisine and Suxi gang cuisine into one, called "shan" gang, good at cooking "four rivers" and "four seasonal vegetables".
The "four rivers" are river fish, river prawns, river crabs, and small river fresh.
"Four seasonal vegetables" are divided into: carp in the honey pond in spring; silver fish scrambled eggs, live stewed shrimp, brine shrimp, fried shrimp in the summer; hairy crab with oil sauce and fried crab yellow in autumn; cooking with blue fish in winter, with chin paddling, braised intestines, fried bald lungs and so on.
In addition, the famous dishes include crispy meals, clam crucian carp soup, rock sugar turtle, braised circle raw sautéed grass head, etc., which are the classic dishes that are most familiar to old diners.
The "old Zhengxing" that blossoms everywhere
In Shanghai Beach, after the "ZhengxingGuan" became famous, many restaurants put up signs of "Zhengxing", including Fan Bingchen, a friend of Zhu Cai and Cai. Therefore, Zhu Cai thought of a countermeasure and added an "old" word in front of the word "Zhengxing", and from then on, "Zhengxingguan" became "Old Zhengxingguan".
Early 1990s Lao Zhengxing Restaurant (Shandong Middle Road)
However, Fan did not buy it and changed it to "Yuanji Lao Zhengxing", and other Daxing goods were also changed to "Shanghai Lao Zhengxing", "Great Shanghai Lao Zhengxing", "Atlantic Old Zhengxing", "General Number Lao Zhengxing", "Real Lao Zhengxing", "Everything changes are inseparable from its origins, no matter how to change, it is always inseparable from the three words of "Lao Zhengxing".
At that time, there were more than 100 "old Zhengxing" in Shanghai alone, and there were several in the area of Nanjing Road and Fuzhou Road alone. There are also dozens of them in the field. The founder did not have a clue, and marked the founding of "Tongzhi" on the signboard, and also specially marked "the first old store, and did not separate".
The trademark signed by lao Zhengxing letter
Later, the eldest "Tongzhi" and the second "Yuanji" both went out of business one after another.
The one that is still open and the oldest in the country should belong to the "Old Zhengxing" that was created in 1908 in the third rank of the year, originally opened in the mainland shopping mall (that is, the East China Sea Building, now Nanjing Road 353 Square), moved to Shandong Road in 1934, and then moved to Fuzhou Road, this is the existing "real old Zhengxing", and the store that advertised as "real old Zhengxing" has been destroyed in the fire.
In 1947, the map showed Lao Zhengxing of Buddha Street and Lao Zhengxing of Shandong Middle Road East
Patronize the celebrities of Lao Zhengxing
In 1933, "Lao Zhengxing" opened a branch in Nanjing Confucius Temple, called "West No. Lao Zhengxing", and the Shanghai store was called "East No. Lao Zhengxing".
The reputation of "Xihao Lao Zhengxing" has risen, and leading figures in the political and industrial circles have flocked to it, and Chiang Kai-shek often sent people to buy "curd milk meat" and slowly taste it.
On the third day after the liberation of Shanghai in 1949, Mayor Chen Yi invited guests to dine at "Lao Zhengxing".
In the winter of 1955, Comrades Zhou Enlai and Chen Yun, accompanied by Mayor Chen Yi, made a special trip to "Lao Zhengxing" to taste famous dishes. During the meal, Premier Zhou also carefully inquired about the history and business characteristics of "Lao Zhengxing". He said happily: "This is a real Jiangnan famous dish." After Returning to Beijing, Premier Zhou proposed that Beijing should also engage in "Lao Zhengxing" style restaurants. Later, one of the "Atlantic Old Zhengxing" on Fuzhou Road moved to Qianmen Street in Beijing, known as "Shanghai Old Zhengxing Restaurant".
In 1993, Wang Daohan, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), came to Lao Zhengxing to taste Haipai cuisine and gladly inscribed: "Lao Zhengxing Restaurant Cuisine."
In 1993, Wang Daohan, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait ,D.ARatsia] dined at the Lao Zhengxing Restaurant
Wang Daohan wrote an inscription for the old Zhengxing Restaurant
Classic Hongan cuisine
In the "Michelin Shanghai Guide 2017" released yesterday (September 21), Lao Zhengxing was also listed as a time-honored brand in China.
With a history of more than 150 years, Lao Zhengxing has become one of the representatives of this cuisine in the series of dishes cooked in China and an important part of Chinese food culture.
The picture is from Modern Industry and Commerce, No. 5, 1993
"Rock sugar turtle", "stir-fried crab butter", "grass head circle" and "oil pop shrimp" were identified as Shanghai famous dishes by Shanghai Industry Association, Shanghai Culinary Association and Shanghai Tourism Association Hotel Branch respectively; "Sauce Fang", "Zhengxing Crispy Meal", "Shrimp Big Black Ginseng", "Eight Treasures Whole Duck" were rated as Chinese famous dishes by the China Hotel Association, and "Gold Award" was awarded the "Gold Award" at the first Shanghai Catering Culture Expo.
Xiaobian is a typical Shanghai stomach, of which the grass head circle is my favorite, fresh grass head after being fried in hot oil, the color is turquoise, fresh and fragrant, very palatable.
The growth and blossoming of Lao Zhengxing is basically synchronized with the development of modern business in Shanghai, and the value of the brand in the commercial economy can be understood from it, which also has a certain reference effect on inheriting and carrying forward the Chinese time-honored brand. Nowadays, many foreign guests who come to Shanghai are specially visiting the Lao Zhengxing Restaurant. In this way, the vitality of the century-old store is still very strong.
Part of the text source: "Modern Industry and Commerce", No. 5, 1993, "The King of the Hotel "Lao Zhengxing""; Part of the picture source: Huangpu District Archives "Old Zhengxing Blooming Everywhere"
←
← long press the QR code to subscribe more
Click "Read the original article" to download and see the news app