From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 775: Strolling the Streets of Yangcheng

Because chefs from other places participating in the exchange trip to Hong Kong have not yet arrived, the chefs who have already arrived still have time to move freely.

Before Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing came, they also made some plans and planned to take time to visit Guangzhou.

So the two of them tidied up the room, changed into cooler clothes, and went downstairs together to go out for a walk.

When Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing went downstairs, they happened to meet a group of chefs from Jiangsu Province who had just arrived in the hotel lobby.

The team leader chef is naturally Zhang Quande.

Seeing Feng Zhengming, Zhang Quande immediately took the initiative to step forward.

"Mr. Feng is here so early?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Master Zhang, please don't call me the top scholar. Just call me Xiao Feng or Zhengming."

Zhang Quande laughed and said, "Okay, then I'll call you Zhengming. Don't call me Master Zhang, call me Lao Zhang."

Feng Zhengming changed his tone: "I call you Brother Zhang."

Zhang Quande smiled and nodded: "Hello, Senior Brother Zhang. Hahaha, I am so honored to be called Senior Brother by our top scholar."

Feng Zhengming looked at the chefs who came with Zhang Quande and said, "Brother Zhang, you have quite a few people this time?"

Zhang Quande also turned his head and looked: "Yes, going to Hong Kong for exchanges is a big event. Everyone wants to participate. In the end, everyone who participated in the return state banquet came together."

Then Zhang Quande asked curiously: "Zhengming, your senior brothers didn't come?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded: "Several of my senior brothers didn't come this time. They were busy."

Zhang Quande couldn't help but lower his voice and sigh to Feng Zhengming.

"It is obvious that I really admire and envy you. Now that you have a great status in Shandong cuisine, you can arrange everything. It is not like me who needs to take care of the feelings of all parties."

When Feng Zhengming heard this, he naturally understood the difficulties Zhang Quande was facing.

In fact, he really wanted to say: It seems that this problem is more complicated in Jiangsu Province, and the chef teams in other provinces would not compete with each other so much.

However, Feng Zhengming could not say this in front of Zhang Quande.

"Brother Zhang, this shows that you have many excellent chefs, so there is fierce competition among them."

Zhang Quande sighed helplessly.

"Zhengming, since you call me Senior Brother, I won't hide it from you. Actually, there are fewer and fewer outstanding young chefs. Our economic conditions are good, so young people are not willing to learn to cook."

Feng Zhengming was stunned at first, but then he could understand it.

Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province are both provinces with particularly good economic environment.

So in fact, many local people are no longer willing to endure the hardship of learning cooking.

In the future, most of the chefs who inherit Su cuisine and Zhejiang cuisine in these two places will be from outsiders.

This is inevitable, leading to the gradual decline of Jiangsu cuisine and Zhejiang cuisine.

Feng Zhengming could only appease Zhang Quande.

"Brother Zhang, don't be too pessimistic. There are still young people willing to learn skills. As the economic environment gets better and better, the catering industry will also develop. At that time, skills will become valuable, and many people will be willing to learn."

Zhang Quande nodded, still somewhat pessimistic: "I hope so."

Then Feng Zhengming told Zhang Quande that he wanted to go out for a walk with his wife.

Zhang Quande: "Then you two can go ahead. We'll check in and take a rest first. If we have time in the evening, we can have dinner together and try the local Cantonese cuisine."

Feng Zhengming agreed with a smile, said goodbye to Zhang Quande and his group, and went out with Luo Qing.

Looking at the backs of Feng Zhengming and his wife as they left, the other chefs who came with Zhang Quande came up and sighed.

"The top scholar is still more cool and stylish."

"That's right. I treat this exchange trip to Hong Kong as a honeymoon trip with my wife."

"He is the top scholar and has a very important say in Shandong cuisine."

"That's right. Before, it was his fellow apprentices who went to the Homecoming State Banquet. Now that his fellow apprentice is not coming, he came alone with his wife, and no one can say anything."

When Zhang Quande heard what the other chefs said, his face immediately frowned.

“Stop making up stories behind my back. He has the ability to do so. Don’t forget, he also received a separate award for creative design at the state banquet this time.

If you are not convinced, go get an award, and then you can have the final say like others."

After hearing what Zhang Quande said, the other chefs naturally stopped talking.

As for Feng Zhengming's abilities, let's not talk about his performance in the previous National Cooking Skills Competition.

Everyone saw it at the state banquet held during the return visit.

The fact that they were able to improvise a cold dish of the mountains and rivers of the motherland for the state banquet is enough to show their ability.

Although the final design was discussed by professors at the Academy of Fine Arts.

But the overall idea was proposed by Feng Zhengming.

No other chef has come up with anything quite as ambitious.

From this point of view alone, Feng Zhengming's ability and reputation are beyond the reach of other chefs.

Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing walked out of the hotel and asked the hotel receptionist at the door if there were any places nearby where they could go shopping or have fun.
The hotel receptionist gave Feng Zhengming and his friends directions, telling them that there was a commercial area nearby and that they could also go to the pedestrian street a little further away.

According to the hotel receptionist, the pedestrian street was only planned in the past two years. Not only can you stroll around there, but you can also see many local delicacies and snacks.

Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing naturally called a taxi and went directly to the pedestrian street.

Arriving at the pedestrian street, Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing naturally made some comparisons with the streets of Quancheng.

I have to admit that Guangzhou is more prosperous.

There are really all kinds of people on the streets.

And it seemed like everyone was in a hurry; they were all walking quite fast.

There are more skyscrapers on the streets than in Quancheng.

Luo Qing couldn't help but sigh to Feng Zhengming in a low voice as she watched.

"It's really lively here. There are more people than in the busiest street market in Quancheng."

Feng Zhengming explained with a smile: "Because this is where a large number of domestic workers flocked to, since the beginning of the sea, people from all over the country have gathered here."

Luo Qing looked at the bustling crowd on the street and asked the question she was curious about again.

"This place brings together people from all over the country, so why don't you want to open a store here?"

Feng Zhengming did not answer immediately, but took Luo Qing's hand and walked into the pedestrian street.

On the streets, you can see all kinds of stalls everywhere, as well as some street shops selling a variety of snacks.

Feng Zhengming bought some and asked Luo Qing to taste it.

After eating, Luo Qing felt that there were really many kinds of snacks and delicacies on the streets here.

Feng Zhengming took Luo Qing to eat for a while before he started to answer her previous question.

"Did you see that? There are so many delicious snacks here. All kinds of delicious food, both domestic and foreign, can be found almost everywhere.

Our braised pork is not competitive here, which is why I don’t open a store here.”

Luo Qing thought about it carefully while eating, then nodded. "It really doesn't have much competitiveness. Even if you open a restaurant here, people in different places have different tastes, so it doesn't have much competitiveness."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, there is no need for us to come to the stronghold of Cantonese cuisine to compete with them for the market."

Luo Qing was somewhat helpless: "There are so many people here, it's a pity that there is no Cantonese food here."

Feng Zhengming laughed when he heard this.

“Hahaha, don’t worry. Maybe when we find a suitable way to open a store in the future, we can come here and compete head-on with Cantonese cuisine.”

Luo Qing looked at her husband in surprise: "Are you saying that you will open a Shandong restaurant here in the future?"

Feng Zhengming: "It's possible, but it's definitely not possible now."

The couple walked and looked around on the pedestrian street. After eating the street food, they went to visit other shops on the street.

Luo Qing soon discovered that everything on the streets here was sold at a very cheap price.

In comparison, many things sold in Quancheng are generally much more expensive than here.

Especially the dazzling array of electronic products on the streets here.

Many things looked strange to Luo Qing, as she had never seen many of them before.

There are also many businesses here that sell imported electronic products.

For example, imported brand VCD players, or imported Walkmans.

Many of the clothes here look very beautiful and fashionable, and the prices are not expensive.

Of course, Luo Qing is not the kind of person who must buy everything she sees.

So most of the time she just looked at it and had no intention of buying it.

As for Feng Zhengming, he is well aware that many things on the streets look like they are imported from abroad, but in fact most of them are counterfeit brands, and many things are smuggled goods.

So he had no intention of buying anything on the street.

However, after shopping for a while, Luo Qing saw some clothes she liked.

Feng Zhengming asked Luo Qing to try it on, and Luo Qing was sure that she was satisfied.

When he bargains with others, he usually starts by cutting the price in half and then goes up.

At first Luo Qing wondered if Feng Zhengming was bargaining too aggressively.

Later, Luo Qing slowly discovered that many merchants would immediately agree to cut the price in half.

This made Luo Qing realize that many things on the street here are really low cost.

The two of them shopped until the evening, but didn't buy much, so they returned to the hotel.

When Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing stepped into the hotel lobby, they immediately saw Boss Wang and Vice President Li coming towards them.

When Vice President Li saw Boss Wang coming up, he immediately understood what Boss Wang meant.

"It seems that Boss Wang wants to treat our top scholar to dinner tonight?"

Boss Wang nodded with a smile: "Yes, I came here specially to wait, and turned down all the social engagements that were originally scheduled for the evening, just to treat our top scholar to a meal."

Then Boss Wang looked at Feng Zhengming and asked, "I wonder if the number one scholar would be so kind as to honor me?"

Feng Zhengming looked at Vice President Li: "Any plans for tonight?"

Vice President Li shook his head: "There is nothing planned for the evening. If you need to go to dinner with Boss Wang, we will definitely not interfere."

Feng Zhengming looked at Luo Qing: "What do you think?"

Luo Qing smiled and said, "Don't ask me. They didn't invite me."

Boss Wang quickly said, "No, no, I want to invite Mr. Feng and his wife tonight."

Feng Zhengming held his wife's hand and said, "Look, Boss Wang came here specially to invite us."

Luo Qing naturally understood what Feng Zhengming meant.

"President Li, if we have nothing else to do tonight, we can go to the banquet with Boss Wang. After all, Boss Wang and I are old acquaintances, and we are still business partners now."

Vice President Li smiled and nodded after hearing what Luo Qing said: "Okay, it's okay, you guys go first, and when the chefs from other places arrive, we can all get together."

Feng Zhengming nodded and agreed, then said goodbye to Vice President Li.

He and his wife went out with Boss Wang.

The car arranged by Boss Wang was already waiting for them outside.

Seeing Boss Wang's car, Feng Zhengming smiled: "Boss Wang really deserves to be the big boss. This car is really nice."

Boss Wang also laughed: "Hahaha, if you want it, you can drive this one back home. Otherwise, I will buy you a brand new one and let you drive it back."

Feng Zhengming waved his hand: "You're welcome. We should take a plane back, it's faster."

Boss Wang nodded: "It is indeed faster to fly, and it will be more comfortable."

Then Boss Wang asked the driver to drive to the restaurant he had already booked.

Along the way, Boss Wang also personally introduced to Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing some of the iconic buildings in Yangcheng.

The restaurant that Boss Wang invited Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing to is an old restaurant with quite a long history in Yangcheng.

As they entered the door, Boss Wang introduced himself to Feng Zhengming.

"This is the most famous old restaurant here. Vice President Li is also one of the hosts here."

Feng Zhengming joked, "Then we should invite President Li. Since we are going to his restaurant, we can have a better discussion if we invite President Li."

Boss Wang also laughed.

After they entered the door, a waiter led them to the private room that Boss Wang had booked in advance.

There were already some people waiting for them in the private room.

Boss Wang came in and took the initiative to introduce: "This is my wife, and these two are my son and daughter."

Then Boss Wang introduced Feng Zhengming to his wife and children.

"This guy is the champion of our national cooking skills competition and also our partner in Quancheng. The beautiful girl next to him is his newlywed wife."

Boss Wang’s wife took the initiative to shake hands and greet Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing.

His two children are even more curious about Feng Zhengming.

The girl looks about the same age as Uncle San's daughter, and is obviously braver than her brother.

She stared at Feng Zhengming for a while, then came up to him and asked directly.

"You are the top scholar, so are your cooking skills better than the chefs here?"

Being asked this by the girl in person, Feng Zhengming couldn't help but smile and didn't know how to answer.

Mrs. Wang quickly stopped her daughter: "You can't ask people like that."

Feng Zhengming thought for a moment and explained to the girl, "I am indeed the top scorer in the National Cooking Skills Competition. I am the top scorer because my cooking skills are better than those of the other chefs participating in the competition.

But do you want to ask if the food I cook is better than the chef here? That may not be the case. "

(End of this chapter)