From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 1188 Catching up with the wedding banquet at Huiquan Tower

After waiting for his third senior brother to arrange the work in the old shop's kitchen, Feng Zhengming and his third senior brother went to Huiquanlou together.

There was a wedding banquet at Huiquanlou at noon today. Feng Zhengming and his third senior brother did not enter through the main entrance, but instead went around to the door outside the kitchen of Huiquanlou to enter the restaurant.

The kitchen staff at Huiquanlou Restaurant was naturally even busier, especially since there was a wedding banquet going on today.

Feng Zhengming and his third senior brother entered through the supply channel without disturbing their eldest senior brother and Sun Hai.

The two went directly to the changing room to change into the chef's uniforms from Huiquanlou Restaurant to help out.

Upon entering the dressing room, Feng Zhengming saw that his old wardrobe had been preserved.

Walking to my own wardrobe, I opened it and saw my old chef's uniform inside.

The third senior brother glanced in this direction.

“These were all kept by the eldest brother, and he also has people clean and wash your chef’s uniform every week.”

Feng Zhengming was even more moved, realizing that his senior brother had been waiting for him to return.

In the hearts of his fellow students, Feng Zhengming is not only their junior brother, but also their current leader.

Although the master had already designated his eldest son as his successor.

But that's because the master didn't want people to say he was benefiting from Feng Zhengming's reputation as the national culinary champion.

In reality, the senior brothers still regarded their junior brother Feng Zhengming as a member of the sect.

Moreover, all the shops that the senior brothers run now belong to the junior brother.

The junior apprentice is indeed very generous, distributing shares of each store to his senior apprentices.

He also distributed shares of the rice shops in various places to his fellow apprentices.

Zhengluxing Catering Group is currently owned by Feng Zhengming and several of his senior colleagues.

Feng Zhengming has given so much to his senior brothers, and they naturally understand that they should follow their junior brother and work together to make the Zhengluxing restaurant brand famous enough.

After changing into their chef's uniforms, Feng Zhengming and his third senior brother stepped into the kitchen again.

At this time, everyone in the kitchen was extremely busy preparing for the wedding banquet.

Mistakes are inevitable in the midst of a busy schedule, but in the kitchens of all of Feng Zhengming's stores, there is always someone to step in and cover for anyone who makes a mistake.

This also ensures that the efficiency and quality of food preparation in all of Feng Zhengming's stores can always maintain a certain level.

In the kitchen, most of the faces looked unfamiliar to Feng Zhengming.

Sun Hai and Chen Anbang are probably the only people he knows well.

It's clear that Chen Anbang has made rapid progress in the past few years since becoming the disciple of his senior brother.

Looking at the man standing in front of the stove, Feng Zhengming couldn't help but recall the days when he and Chen Anbang worked together in the kitchen of the old shop, when Chen Anbang couldn't even do the simplest cutting and preparation.

Then, Feng Zhengming would give Chen Anbang a short lesson after the business closed each evening, so that he could catch up with the pace of the kitchen as soon as possible.

Chen Anbang has now grown up and can cook in the kitchen of Huiquanlou Restaurant.

Chen Anbang finished cooking the dishes and called for people to prepare the plating.

"Here you go, plate them up, five plates."

Seeing that everyone around him was busy, Feng Zhengming realized that no one seemed to be responding to Chen Anbang in time.

He decisively stepped forward to fill in, but only brought four plates to Chen Anbang's side.

"This pot of food is enough for four plates. If we divide it into five plates, each plate will seem a bit small."

Chen Anbang was taken aback at first, then turned to look at Feng Zhengming.

Then a look of surprise appeared on his face.

"Master, Uncle-Master, oh, Head Chef, you're back?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Just call me Uncle-Master. Hurry up and divide the plates."

Chen Anbang snapped out of his daze: "Oh, okay, Uncle-Master."

Then, following Feng Zhengming's instructions, Chen Anbang divided the food in the pot into four plates.

After the dishes were divided, we heard Sun Hai's voice.

"Where is everyone? Hurry up and serve the dishes! What's going on? The food is being cooked and plated over there, but no one is coming when we call out to them?"

The staff in the kitchen who were supposed to fill in were all taken aback, and then they all looked at Chen Anbang.

Soon everyone recognized that the person who helped Chen Anbang divide the shares was Feng Zhengming.

"It's the head chef."

"He's the top scholar! Our top scholar is back!"

"It really is Scholar Feng!"

"Wow, this is the first time I've seen Feng Zhuangyuan in the kitchen."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Alright, everyone get back to work. We can't let someone else's wedding banquet go wrong because of our negligence. Let's start serving the dishes over here."

Sun Hai originally wanted to go over and greet his martial uncle, but after hearing what his martial uncle said, he didn't go over.

"Hurry up and serve the dishes, quickly bring out all the dishes for their wedding banquet."

Everyone in the kitchen immediately got back to work.

Everyone performed their duties and quickly prepared and served each dish of the wedding banquet.

As for Feng Zhengming and his third senior brother Yang Bin, they quickly integrated into the kitchen.

Most of the time, they didn't give orders, but instead immersed themselves in the process, filling in gaps according to the rhythm of the senior brother and Sun Hai's commands, just hoping to successfully prepare the dishes for the wedding banquet.

From the kitchen, one could faintly hear some sounds from the wedding banquet in front.

The emcee was very happy to officiate the wedding.

Meanwhile, many people at the scene applauded the newlyweds' wedding.

You can hear the wedding march and cheers from many people in the background.

All the joy in front of us was naturally inseparable from the busy work in the kitchen.

Huiquanlou's reputation, especially the quality of its dishes at wedding banquets, is now unparalleled in Jinan.

Many of the dishes served at Huiquanlou's wedding banquets were only later adopted by other restaurants.

Many restaurants cannot yet provide some of the services offered by Huiquanlou.

All of this was set by Feng Zhengming, and it was also the senior brother who helped Feng Zhengming manage things better.

Once almost all the dishes for the wedding banquet had been served, the kitchen finally had a temporary respite.

Many people excitedly gathered around Feng Zhengming.

However, as soon as Li Huidong spoke, the crowd surrounding Feng Zhengming obediently dispersed.

"Stop crowding around, what's going on? You're all off work, right? You haven't finished your work yet, what are you doing here?"

No one in the kitchen dared to disobey Li Huidong, so they all obediently returned to their respective posts.

Li Huidong approached Feng Zhengming and Yang Bin.

Looking at his junior apprentice, Li Huidong smiled and said, "You've come back at just the right time, catching the wedding banquet today. Are you satisfied with the work in our kitchen?"

Feng Zhengming laughed: "I'm satisfied. With you here, I can rest assured."

Li Huidong: "Stop flattering me. Is there something you're unhappy about?" Feng Zhengming: "I really have no complaints. Brother, your management of the kitchen is impeccable. Now I feel even more at ease letting you go to the reopened Yanxi Restaurant in the capital."

Li Huidong's expression immediately turned serious.

“I’m not planning to go to my master’s place, and I don’t really want to go either. Staying in Jinan and at Huiquan Tower might be more suitable for me.”

Feng Zhengming: "Big brother, you have to go out and make your way. I've already talked to Third Brother about this. You and Third Brother will go to the reopened Yanxi Restaurant in the capital for a year to handle everything there. After that, Second Brother and Fifth Brother will take charge."

After listening carefully, Li Huidong said, "It is indeed very suitable to hand it over to your second and fifth senior brothers. They also need this opportunity to improve themselves."

Yang Bin: "Second Senior Brother and Fifth Senior Brother went to Yanxi Restaurant in Beijing, while Zhengming stayed in Shanghai. Senior Brother, Sixth Senior Brother, and I stayed in Shandong to train more young chefs for you."

Li Huidong agreed with Yang Bin's words.

"Yes, we are in Jinan, and Minghai is in Yantai. We can train more suitable young chefs for you, so that your restaurants in other places will never lack staff."

Feng Zhengming: "Brother, I don't really want you to be like this. I hope you can also go out and become real master chefs, gaining fame in China and even internationally."

Li Huidong and Yang Bin exchanged a glance, and the two senior brothers smiled at Feng Zhengming at the same time.

Senior Brother: "You think we're so capable. The third brother, the sixth brother, and I are just head chefs in the Qilu restaurant, and we'll help you train some young chefs."

"You should be the chef who goes all over the country, and even goes abroad to all parts of the world."

Yang Bin: "That's right, Senior Brother is right. Zhengming, you should go out and represent us to go further."

Looking at his two senior brothers, Feng Zhengming was truly moved.

If it were simply a matter of running his restaurant well, Feng Zhengming could have easily accomplished that through his culinary skills and management.

But now Feng Zhengming is like this, opening stores all over the country, and even planning to open them overseas.

So it's indeed impossible for him to achieve this solely through his personal abilities.

Both senior brothers were well aware of this, which is why they were willing to stay in their hometown and help Feng Zhengming continue to train the young chefs he needed, and help him support the stores in various places.

Now, Feng Zhengming has shops all over the country, including the old-style restaurant he runs in Shanghai.

In fact, most of the kitchen staff were trained by the eldest and third senior brothers.

There were also some young chefs from Yancheng, who were recommended to him by his sixth senior brother.

Therefore, Feng Zhengming's real trump card was his willingness to help his senior brothers.

It seems likely that Yanxi Restaurant in the capital will need to fill its ranks with young chefs trained by the eldest, third, and sixth senior brothers.

The reason for sending the second senior brother to the capital was that his child was about to take the college entrance examination.

I heard that she wants to go to a university in Beijing.

The child is working very hard on this.

Feng Zhengming thought that since the children had all been admitted to universities in Beijing, his second senior brother and sister-in-law should also go there.

This also makes it easier to take care of some children.

At the same time, the second senior brother is more composed and can also restrain the fifth senior brother from being impulsive at critical moments.

Of course, the most important thing is that Feng Zhengming thinks his second senior brother can better help manage the kitchen.

Fifth Brother is probably more skilled at cooking than Second Brother.

However, when it comes to kitchen management, the fifth brother is indeed not as stable as the second brother.

Then, the eldest, third, and sixth senior brothers were also sent to Yanxi Tower in the capital for a year.

Later, Feng Zhengming thought that the three senior brothers could take turns going to Yanxilou in the capital to relieve each other.

I believe that by then, the quality of the dishes at Yanxilou Restaurant in Beijing will be better stabilized.

Only by stabilizing the quality of its dishes can Yanxilou truly gain a foothold in Beijing and make a name for itself in the capital.

In fact, the senior brothers also understood the importance of reopening Yanxilou in the capital.

Over the years, Feng Zhengming has made a name for himself in Shanghai.

His ability to be named one of the world's top ten restaurants of the year in Shanghai is already proof of his talent.

But the capital city is somewhat different.

The capital city is a relatively traditional place, and there is still some emphasis on seniority and hierarchy.

Moreover, Beijing is a place that brings together top chefs from all over the country, representing various cuisines.

Many chefs who are famous in other places may not be able to become famous overnight even after entering the capital.

They might even face suppression from other famous chefs after arriving in Beijing, making it difficult for them to run their restaurants and eateries successfully in the capital, and ultimately leaving Beijing in disgrace.

This time, Feng Zhengming also wanted to prove himself to certain people in Beijing.

In particular, Shandong cuisine needs to be reinstated in Beijing.

Back then, Shandong cuisine was the most famous cuisine in Beijing, and it was able to dominate the capital.

However, in recent years, Shandong cuisine has declined in popularity in Beijing.

Even the once-glorious eight buildings have gradually lost their former glory.

Feng Zhengming's trip to Beijing was to prove to many people that Shandong cuisine has not declined.

As long as Feng Zhengming is there, he will make Shandong cuisine shine again.

He didn't mean to suppress other cuisines; he just hoped that Shandong cuisine could also share the limelight with other cuisines in Beijing, allowing the city's food scene to flourish.

Li Huidong: "Zhengming, your idea is very good, and we will fully support you."

Yang Bin: "That's right. So what if it's in Beijing? How can we show our strength if we don't go and compete with those top chefs?"

Feng Zhengming smiled: "If my senior brothers have confidence, then I have even more confidence."

Li Huidong: "We'll spend a year helping you finalize the menu and also finalize some of the kitchen staff."

Feng Zhengming: "Yes, we really need to finalize the kitchen staff. Otherwise, if we don't have enough people in the kitchen of Yanxi Restaurant in Beijing, we'll become a laughing stock in the city."

Yang Bin: "We have a lot of people; right now, we have a lot of people under our command."

Li Huidong: "There are quite a few people, but very few can actually make it to Beijing."

Yang Bin: "Big brother, we sent them to the capital to work with us, not to make them all become head chefs. In the kitchen of Yanxi Restaurant in the capital, there are you, Zhengming, Second Senior Brother and Fifth Brother, and us."

Li Huidong: "You can't let your guard down anywhere. Have you forgotten what your master said?"

Yang Bin: "I dare not forget, I dare not forget a single word of my master's admonition."

Li Huidong: "Making good food is our duty. We can't seek the limelight. If our skills aren't up to par, the more we try to show off, the worse it will be for us."

Feng Zhengming nodded seriously: "Big brother is right, I need to be more low-key in the future."

Yang Bin: "Wait, you're trying to be low-key again? You can't be low-key just by standing there now."

Feng Zhengming was taken aback by what his third senior brother said.

The eldest brother laughed: "Hahaha, the third brother is right. You can't keep a low profile anymore. You've reopened Yanxi Restaurant in the capital, which is destined to attract everyone's attention. How can you keep a low profile?"

Feng Zhengming laughed along: "I was just saying it, but I really can't keep a low profile anymore."

The two senior brothers laughed together again.

In the kitchen, the three apprentices chatted more and more happily, while everyone else could only do their own work, and no one dared to come closer to interrupt.

(End of this chapter)