From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 315 A taste dedicated to those who leave home
Because it was just the sixth day of the Lunar New Year when business resumed, Feng Zhengming was also worried that the food stall business would not recover well.

So he didn't prepare too many ingredients, but prepared some more basic dishes.

It was about six o'clock in the evening, and everyone had dinner together in the dry rice shop.

Then the grandfather took his younger brothers and sisters home first. Wei Xiuling cleaned the shop and took her daughter back to the rented house first.

Feng Zhengming led Xia Hui and Chen Anbang to load various things onto tricycles and carts.

After locking the door of the dry rice shop, he took them riding a tricycle and pulling a cart to the train station.

Xia Hui was full of expectations on the way: "Our food stalls will reopen tonight. Will we be the only one at the train station? Then the business will definitely be booming."

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded: "It should be more than just our family."

Chen Anbang continued: "I heard from my brother that people started working at the food stalls at the train station on the third and fourth day of the Lunar New Year. My brother also said that business is very good."

Xia Hui was suddenly surprised: "You started doing business so early?"

After Xia Hui listened to Feng Zhengming's words, she thought carefully and nodded: "Sure enough, Quancheng is different from my place. My restaurant still follows the old etiquette and will not open until after the Lantern Festival."

Feng Zhengming said: "Don't be surprised. Now the economy is developing very fast. People no longer have the previous concept of having to eat at home from New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival, especially those who come back from other places. There are also those who go to school outside. They gather a lot with friends during the Chinese New Year and are in great need of small restaurants and food stalls.”

Feng Zhengming thought for a while and said: "I think your restaurant should make some changes. Even if it follows the past rules, it only opens on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. Your restaurant still has to wait until after the Lantern Festival to start operating. It's too long time."

Xia Hui shook her head and replied: "I don't know about that. My father is managing the restaurant now, and he won't tell me."

Seeing the propped up signboards made several other food stall owners even more uncomfortable.

The food stall owners who stay here at the train station are more or less the best at the train station. They have also established a firm foothold at the train station, and even monopolize the market nearby.

The propped up signboard directly bears the name "Feng's Family Restaurant".

It was naturally impossible for Feng Zhengming to drive others away, so he led Xia Hui and Chen Anbang to find an empty seat.

Xia Hui felt that Chen Anbang was right.

But the person who came to the door hadn't spoken yet. When he saw Feng Zhengming swallowing the words that came to his lips, a smile appeared on his face.

"Yes, it seems that the Feng Family Restaurant is going to be expanded and renovated, so the boss continues to come here to work as a food stall."

Feng Zhengming said: "It is not easy to change. Sometimes we need to adapt to local conditions, and we cannot blindly copy things from other places to change."

And he also directly stated that "you must eat a lot of meat when you come to Quancheng, and to eat a lot of meat, you have to go to the Feng family restaurant".

But Feng Zhengming's return will naturally cause a dimensionality reduction blow to them.

However, as soon as it was set up here, someone came to the door again.

"I used to come here every night to work at the food stalls, but I haven't been here for a while."

While chatting, the group of people came to the train station, and sure enough, there were already several food stalls set up at the food stalls.

Feng Zhengming turned to look at the other party and replied with a smile: "The shop is going to be renovated. I will come here at night during this period. I will continue working at the food stall."

Sure enough, not long after the sign was put up, some outbound passengers came out of the train station square. As if attracted by the put up sign, they came to Feng Zhengming's food stall in twos and threes.

Such a high-profile Feng Zhengming is simply not doing the same kind of business as others.

"Boss Feng, why are you here working at the food stall again?"

"Are you guys from the Feng family's restaurant business? Are you guys from the Feng family's restaurant business? Why are you working as a food stall here?"

Chen Anbang said: "You can ask Master Feng to come and give your family some advice and make some changes. The business will definitely get better."

Xia Hui hesitated and said, "I think the key point is that our restaurant is not doing so well right now. Even if it opens on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, I'm afraid there won't be many customers."

Feng Zhengming asked Chen Anbang to prop up the sign.

There is no need for Feng Zhengming and the others to explain, there will be other tourists attracted by the sign to help explain.

Chen Anbang asked curiously: "Sister Xia, no one has made reservations at your restaurant for the New Year?"

When Feng Zhengming stopped working at the food stalls, the business of the food stalls near the train station was gradually taken over by several of them.

Everyone also clearly felt that after Feng Zhengming celebrated the New Year, he became more high-profile.

Feng Zhengming laughed after hearing this: "Don't come up with blind ideas here. Confucius cuisine has been passed down for so many years and the Xia family has been in it for so many generations. Why should I, an outsider, judge?"

"Xiao Chen is right. Our restaurant is not doing well right now. I think it is too old-fashioned and needs new ideas to make some changes."

After receiving such an answer from Feng Zhengming, those who were attracted by the sign immediately felt pretty good.

Facing Feng Zhengming, other food stall owners certainly did not dare to say anything.

But other food stall owners couldn't help it because they couldn't afford to offend Feng Zhengming.

Several food stalls that had been set up also stretched their heads to look over when they heard Feng Zhengming's voice.

But his appearance obviously made other food stall owners very uncomfortable.

Feng Zhengming didn't expect that someone actually knew about the expansion and renovation of his shop.

He said with a smile: "It seems that some of them are old customers of my Ganfanpu. The Ganfanpu is indeed going to be expanded and renovated soon. We have already taken over all the shops next to it. When they move out, we will start the expansion and renovation. This section will be renovated. During the day, we will sell meat and lunch boxes at the train station at noon, and cook stir-fries at the food stalls in the evening."

Then, led by several old customers of the dry rice shop, these attracted tourists entered the food stalls of Feng's dry rice shop one after another.

At the same time, the food stall’s signboard in the evening also had a signboard that said Feng Zhengming’s specialty dishes.

The food stall owners who worked here before either quit or moved to other places.

The regular customers came in and sat down, and immediately ordered the signature dishes of Fengjiagan Restaurant without any courtesy.

"Boss Feng, let's have a piece of meat first, and then give us three stir-fried dishes. Let's eat so we can catch the train."

Feng Zhengming immediately agreed: "Okay, come right away."

Without him having to give orders, Chen Anbang and Xia Hui quickly got busy on their own.

The two of them served menus to the other tables in the food stall.

Chen Anbang quickly served handfuls of meat to customers who ordered, while Xia Hui washed her hands and helped Feng Zhengming cut the meat.

When the meat is served, the regular customers smile with satisfaction.

"Okay, it's indeed the meat from the Feng Family Restaurant."

"This tastes absolutely amazing."

"In other Bangzi meat shops in Quancheng, you really can't get the taste of Feng's dry rice shop."

"There are just no noodles. Boss Feng, you used to roll the noodles by hand, don't you have them now?"

Feng Zhengming responded while preparing the stir-fry: "The hand-made noodles are not available at the moment. The master who makes the noodles has not returned home for the New Year. There will be some when he comes back in a few days."

An old customer sighed: "There are no noodles, so we can only eat rice first." A table of tourists was attracted next to him.

Several people have been working in other places and returned to Quancheng during the Chinese New Year. However, because they came back late, they were not able to eat the meat from the Feng Family Restaurant.

Those who only know the reputation have never been able to taste the taste.

During the days when they returned to Quancheng to celebrate the New Year, they also ate meat from other stores in Quancheng.

For a few people, it may be considered a special feature of sub-meat.

Today I finally had the opportunity to taste the meat from Fengjiagang Restaurant.

Naturally, they also hurriedly asked for a few pieces of meat. They wanted to try it first to see what the difference was between Feng's Ganfen Restaurant's meat, which was praised by many people in Quancheng, and other restaurants in Quancheng.
When the pork is served, the first thing to notice is the color.

The color of the meat from other companies is often a little darker.

But the meat from Fengjia Gan Restaurant is quite red in color.

It will give them the feeling of being a large piece of braised pork.

Then there is the aroma of the meat. The noodles do not smell like some seasonings, but the simple aroma of soy sauce combined with the aroma of meat.

If you smell it carefully, there is still a light fragrance.

Both the color and the aroma of the meat have impressed several travelers.

Then several people put it in their mouths and started tasting it.

First of all, when you put the meat into the soup, you will feel a little salty in the mouth, but when you chew the meat, you will not feel particularly salty. After you chew it carefully, you will taste some sweetness under the saltiness.

It is this sweetness, combined with the saltiness, that immediately enhances the taste of the meat.

Crispy lean meat and fat that can almost melt directly.

This piece of meat gives several people a very different taste.

These few people hurried back to Quancheng before the Chinese New Year, spent a year at home, and were about to embark on the train to a foreign land.

Finally, before they left, they tasted the taste of their hometown in Quancheng.

It’s not overly sweet or overly sour, it’s not salty as many people think of it, and it’s not spicy as is increasingly seen in other places.

It has a very simple salty taste, and then a little bit of sweetness.

There's nothing super fancy about it, it's just "palatable".

Several people who were about to leave their hometown poured the broth on the rice, and then ate the rice in the bowl with big mouthfuls.

After finishing their meal, several people got up and paid.

Before leaving, several people expressed their gratitude to Feng Zhengming.

"Thank you for letting me taste your meat before I leave."

"It's really the taste of hometown. I haven't tasted it in the past few days since I came back during the New Year. I also think it's because I've been out for a long time and I can't get used to the taste of hometown."

"It's delicious. Your meat is really delicious. No wonder it's the best in Quan City."

"A piece of meat, a bowl of rice, with the taste of my hometown, I can go out with satisfaction."

"Boss, I hope that one day I can eat your meat in other places."

Feng Zhengming had already put the three stir-fried items on the plate and asked Xia Hui to serve the dishes to the customers inside.

Then he said to several people who were about to travel far: "We will work hard and hope that one day we can sell our meat to other places. Please pay more attention to safety when you go out. You are welcome back home at any time."

Several people said goodbye to Feng Zhengming with a smile, and rushed to the train station with their luggage.

The old customers in the food stall who were about to go out also felt a little sad when they heard the conversation between Feng Zhengming and a few people.

"I'm leaving home again. I don't know when I will come back."

"Isn't that right? If you want to eat Boss Feng's meat again, I don't know when it will be."

"The taste of many dishes outside is really not as good as those in Shandong province."

"Boss Feng, please go to other places to work in the future. Your skills can definitely be used in other places."

Feng Zhengming heard what a few people said and said with a smile: "Okay, when I make money, I will sell our meat all over the country. I can't let people in other places look down on our Shandong cuisine."

There were two tables of customers, and slowly people began to come to Feng Zhengming's food stall at the train station.

At first, more passengers came to the train station to buy meat.

Later, around ten o'clock in the evening, people living in the surrounding area began to come to the food stalls to eat.

At this time, Feng Zhengming's large pot of meat had basically been sold out.

However, with his famous craftsmanship, he can still fill the food stalls with people.

Of course, Feng Zhengming’s family is not the only one who can fill the food stalls.

The business of several other food stalls near the train station is not bad either.

Obviously, it's the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, and many people are tired of eating at home. It's a very comfortable thing to invite friends together and find a food stall to eat some steaming dishes, paired with some wine.

In the face of different guests, Feng Zhengming can always ensure stable performance.

What kind of food does a drinking customer like, and what kind of food does a dining guest like?
Maybe it's just some small changes, but it will make customers feel very palatable when they eat it.

At this point, although Xia Hui and Chen Anbang have been watching from the side, they cannot grasp it well through watching.

It's like a simple vinegar cabbage dish.

The simple Chinese cabbage buns, after Feng Zhengming's modification and stir-frying, can retain the crispness, but at the same time be a little soft, and it is about to become watery but not completely.

Such a seemingly simple vegetarian dish has become a favorite dish for many people.

Often some guests who drink wine have not finished their wine yet, and end up eating all the vinegary cabbage.

All we can do is order another plate and enjoy the food and wine.

There was even a table of guests who ordered a third plate at the end of their meal.

Three plates of vinegared cabbage, and finally a large bowl of cabbage roll soup, which is not expensive and can satisfy a whole table of people.

Xia Hui stared at it for a long time, and finally could only say: "Uncle Master's craftsmanship is so good. Just your seasoning, I can't fully learn it no matter how many times I watch it."

Feng Zhengming reminded with a smile: "Don't believe in experience. The best way is to taste. Only your own tongue will not lie to you."

When the food stall was open until nearly 0 o'clock, to Feng Zhengming's surprise, they saw Yang Bin who had returned with his wife and children.

(End of this chapter)