From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

The news that Shanghai would be hosting the World's Top Ten Restaurants awards spread very quickly.

After the news spread, it naturally attracted widespread attention in China.

Although the winners have not been announced in Shanghai, most people do not know how the selection of the world's top ten restaurants is conducted.

However, many astute people have guessed that since the awards ceremony is to be held in Shanghai, there will likely be Chinese restaurants among this year's top ten restaurants in the world.

So people started speculating: which Chinese restaurant would be among the world's top ten?

"Is there even a need to guess? It must be Feng Zhuangyuan's restaurant."

"Yes, I think so too. Apart from Feng Zhuangyuan's restaurant, there shouldn't be any other restaurant in China that is qualified to be among the world's top ten restaurants."

"Feng Zhuangyuan is indeed the best chef in China right now. His restaurant in that old villa in Shanghai must be one of the top restaurants in the country, right?"

"It must be Feng Zhuangyuan's restaurant that won the top ten restaurants award, there's no need to guess."

"Who knows? Maybe it's some other restaurant? A restaurant we don't know about?"

"That's quite possible. After all, nobody really knows what the top ten restaurants in other countries are, right?"

"Hasn't it already been announced?"

"The ten best of the year that was announced is the ten best of every previous year."

"Yes, I saw that too. Those restaurants used to be all located overseas."

"They're mostly concentrated in Europe, mostly French and Italian restaurants, and some in Spain. It seems like there are very few restaurants in Britain."

"There are also American restaurants, but there are very few of them."

What are the criteria for this selection?

"It seems that it needs to be attractive enough, have some signature dishes, and have good service."

Will any restaurants in China actually be among the top ten restaurants of the year?

"Of course they do, otherwise why would they hold an awards ceremony in Shanghai?"

Yes, there are definitely restaurants from China that have won awards.

"I still think the award should go to the restaurant in Feng Zhuangyuan's old house."

"Haha, great minds think alike, I think so too."

Although the list of this year's top ten restaurants has not been announced, the International Gastronomy Association has collaborated with Huang Tao to compile and publish a magazine featuring the top ten restaurants of the past years in order to generate buzz.

It also allows more people to understand the selection of the top ten restaurants of the year, and who the top ten restaurants of the year are in previous years.
The booklet is full of restaurants from all over the world, and some of them have been named one of the top ten restaurants for many years in a row.

Most of the restaurants are century-old establishments.

It not only introduces the restaurant's history, but also introduces the head chef.

The International Gastronomic Association has also provided relevant information about the restaurant's past chefs.

This is the first time that many people in China have become aware of an international food association that ranks restaurants worldwide every year.

After learning about this, most people naturally start to guess which ten restaurants are the top ten restaurants this year.
Everyone is speculating whether any domestic restaurants will be among the top ten this year.
Many people believe that if any domestic restaurant were to be named one of the top ten this year, it would be Feng Zhengming's Old House Restaurant.

Shanghai is making intensive preparations, having hosted many international events in recent years.

Therefore, Shanghai is very experienced in this regard. Some large hotels in Shanghai will even take the initiative to undertake the event and provide free food and lodging, just to take the opportunity to promote their own hotels.

Therefore, there is absolutely no need to worry too much about this aspect.

After some preparation, it took about a week for Shanghai to complete the venue and all the necessary arrangements as required.

Then they invited people from the International Gastronomy Association to conduct an on-site inspection.

Members of the Food Connoisseurs Association were also amazed by the preparations made in Shanghai when they arrived at the awards ceremony.

The Koffmans and Feng Zhengming also accompanied them on the tour.

Mrs. Kaufman exclaimed in amazement, "I never expected you to be so well prepared, Feng!"

Feng Zhengming: "This was not my arrangement. I still want to thank the staff in Shanghai, the people who worked silently behind the scenes. They are really hardworking and dedicated."

Mr. Kaufman: "Yes, they really worked hard. They were able to set this up so well in such a short time."

Feng Zhengming: "This can also be considered our Chinese speed. In recent years, we have undertaken a lot of international processing and hosted a lot of international exhibitions. We are working hard to integrate into the international community."

We do not wish to seize other people's things, nor do we want to conquer others with our culture.

We simply want to be respected by others, and we will respect other people's cultures.

I hope we can all achieve win-win cooperation within the international system.

When Feng Zhengming and the Kaufman couple said these words.

Those from Shanghai who were accompanying him on the visit couldn't help but turn around and sized him up when they heard Feng Zhengming's words.

At this moment, in the eyes of the people in Shanghai, this national culinary champion was indeed somewhat different.

Brooks, representative of the International Gastronomic Association and vice president of the association.

After touring the site, he praised the layout and decorations.

"It's really great. I didn't expect you to be able to set up the venue so well in such a short time. The introduction of the top ten restaurants at the entrance is also very good."

The people in Shanghai responded with smiles: "Since you are willing to trust us and give us this opportunity, of course we will do our best."

Feng Zhengming also stepped forward with the Kaufmans, and he expressed himself more directly.

"Haha, after all, this year is the first time our restaurant has won an award, and it's the first time a restaurant in China has won an award, so we naturally have to take it very seriously."

Feng Zhengming's words made Brooks and the Kaufman couple, as well as several members of the Food Critic Association, laugh.

Those accompanying Feng Zhengming in Shanghai couldn't help but admire this national culinary champion, seeing how he could chat and joke with them so freely and equally.

At that moment, they seemed to understand why Feng Zhengming's restaurant had been named one of the top ten in the country.

On the one hand, Feng Zhengming's skills have indeed been recognized by others.

On the other hand, Feng Zhengming is a very charismatic person.

His confidence and flamboyance, combined with a touch of traditional Chinese modesty and restraint, are truly unmatched by other chefs.

In particular, his fluency in a foreign language makes it very easy for him to communicate with people overseas.

People in Shanghai couldn't help but wonder why Feng Zhengming seemed to understand foreigners' thoughts so well.
What they didn't know was that, in Feng Zhengming's view, these foreigners now were much easier to get along with than those in the future.

Now, both Brooks and the Kaufmans are more straightforward.

There's no need to beat around the bush when communicating with them; just express your true thoughts and feelings.

They will also tell you their true feelings and thoughts directly.

This kind of frank communication is much more comfortable than communicating with some people in China.

Of course, this is now; everything will change in the future.

However, Feng Zhengming believes that by then, the motherland will be stronger, and with the motherland as his backing, he will still be able to gain the respect he deserves internationally through his skills.

After finalizing the venue setup, Feng Zhengming and his group left the meeting place and went to visit the arranged hotel.

The hotel owner also waited specifically to greet him and even had a chat with Feng Zhengming. The hotel owner naturally hoped to get some guidance from Feng Zhengming.

This is probably what most hotel owners in China hope for.

The idea was to have Feng Zhengming step in and help make some improvements to their hotel restaurant.

Feng Zhengming and the Kaufmans exchanged a smile, and then they stepped into the hotel's restaurant kitchen together for a look.

During the viewing, Feng Zhengming, acting as translator, relayed many of Kaufman's suggestions for the hotel restaurant.

The boss simply called over all the staff in charge of the restaurant.

Let them hear some of Feng Zhengming and Kaufman's suggestions for improvement.

The hotel has two restaurants: a Chinese restaurant and a Western restaurant.

Kaufman felt that many of the dishes at the Western restaurant were rather fancy and impractical, and that many of them could not even be considered Western food.

Kaufman gave a lot of detailed suggestions; he was indeed very practical and genuinely wanted to improve the hotel's Western restaurant.

Feng Zhengming helped with the translation, and he also used the terminology that people in China are used to to explain many details.

To ensure that everyone in the kitchen of a Western restaurant can clearly understand what Kaufman's suggestions are specifically?
After receiving guidance from Koffman, the chefs in the Western restaurant's kitchen did indeed gain a lot of experience.

After visiting the Western restaurant, we entered the kitchen of the Chinese restaurant.

As soon as Feng Zhengming entered the kitchen, he was greeted with applause from everyone there.

For those working in the kitchens of Chinese restaurants today, Feng Zhengming is truly an idol they admire.

Especially some of the young people in the kitchen were quite excited to see Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming smiled and shook hands with everyone in the kitchen to greet them.

His advice was quite simple.

"The kitchen of a hotel is different from the kitchen of a restaurant like mine. When you design the dishes, you should try to keep them relatively simple and be able to make multiple dishes at once."

Since your hotel restaurant is essentially an appendage of the hotel, guests may not pay much attention to the details of the dishes when ordering.

Therefore, you don't need to be overly demanding about the details of the dishes. What you need to do is very simple: the ingredients must be fresh, and the taste must be good.

In fact, what Feng Zhengming said was similar to what Kaufman said in the kitchen of the Western restaurant.

The two shared very similar philosophies regarding hotel restaurants.

Because I felt that the hotel's main business was guest rooms.

Therefore, if you make too many demands on a hotel restaurant, the hotel may not be able to fulfill them.

It's even possible that the hotel might mess up the things it's supposed to do because it's too complicated.

Feng Zhengming and Kaufman aimed to keep the restaurant kitchen as simple as possible.

There's no need to worry too much about plating or dish design.

It's simple and straightforward; just make some classic dishes taste good.

Feng Zhengming was even more direct: "Your kitchen staff shouldn't make those stir-fried dishes, as those require very precise control of the heat. Also, don't make dishes that require very high knife skills."

This will prevent your kitchen from making mistakes due to being busy, allowing you to focus on seasoning and ensure the best flavor.

After listening to Feng Zhengming's words, the hotel owner thought about them carefully and found them to be very reasonable.

In the past, his hotel restaurant would specially prepare some dishes that looked beautiful.

But actually, those dishes might be quite difficult for the chefs in the hotel kitchen.

The result is that the chefs work hard in the kitchen, but the customers still don't like what they eat.

Therefore, Feng Zhengming said that you should not think too much about cooking techniques or make things more difficult for yourself. Just focus on making the food taste good.

From the hotel owner's perspective, this was indeed a very good decision.

Since it's impossible to be perfect in every aspect, let's just focus on making the food delicious.

Feng Zhengming and Kaufman only gave a few pointers.

The International Gastronomy Association has also finished inspecting the hotel's interior.

They were satisfied with the hotel's arrangements.

Feng Zhengming and Kaufman went out and joined them.

Then the hotel and the city government in Shanghai confirmed the check-in details.

Feng Zhengming said, "I'm not coming to live here. I have a house in Shanghai, and I also have children at home. I need to go back to take care of my children."

Brooks, vice president of the International Gastronomy Association, expressed his understanding of this.

"Feng, you are such a family-oriented person. No wonder the food in your restaurant tastes like home cooking, and even the atmosphere of your restaurant is full of family warmth. It's really great."

Feng Zhengming: "For me, my family is the most important thing, so when I opened a restaurant in Shanghai, I brought my family with me."

Even if that puts a lot of pressure on me in Shanghai, I hope I can still make time to be with my children as they grow up, so they don't miss out on having me as their father.

These words deeply moved Brooks and several members of the Foodies Association, as did the Kaufmans.

In their view, Feng Zhengming's emphasis on family is a big plus.

Everything was toured, and all the details of the awards ceremony were confirmed.

Feng Zhengming bid farewell to the members of the Shanghai City Food Association.

He and the Kaufmans left ahead of him.

Then they went back to the old house restaurant together.

The Kaufmans have been at the old house restaurant for days, and Kaufman has been having a lot of conversations with Feng Zhengming in the kitchen.

The collaboration with Kaufman has allowed Feng Zhengming to incorporate some Western culinary elements into some of his dishes.

The two especially enjoyed exchanging ideas and discussing their use of spices.

For example, tonight, the two of them each tried curry.

Kaufman made a green curry.

Feng Zhengming made a yellow curry.

The two people taste each other's curry and then make some adjustments to the flavor of each other's curry according to the taste preferences of their respective regions.

In the end, the curry that Feng Zhengming and Kaufman made was considered delicious by everyone in the kitchen and the restaurant.

The unique adjustments to the flavor truly showcase the chef's individual skill.

This often can't be solved with just one recipe.

Both Feng Zhengming and Kaufman use scales to weigh ingredients during the seasoning process.

Finally, the two exchanged their respective curry recipes.

After glancing at each other's recipe, the two men almost simultaneously burst into laughter. (End of Chapter)