From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 822: Fusion of Various Cuisine
After four cold dishes, the next dishes Feng Zhengming and his team served to the guests were no longer served in the style of Western food.

Feng Zhengming and his team adopted the unique serving method that he, Jiang Chengzhe and other young chefs had researched.

It is not like Western food where each dish is served separately.

It’s not the traditional Chinese style where all kinds of dishes are served on the table at once.

Instead, hot dishes are served to customers in an alternating pattern of strong and light flavors, using different cooking techniques.

And the dishes served are based on the number of customers at the table.

This is to avoid waste to the greatest extent possible.

And it is also to allow every guest to taste more different dishes.

Of course, if the guests particularly like a dish and want to eat it again, Feng Zhengming and his team will serve them another portion.

There is no need to pay extra for an additional serving, the entire cost is included in the dinner price for each table tonight.

When some guests learn about this format, they can't help but ask the waiter.

"If I'm a big eater and I want ten servings at once, will you give them to me?"

The waiter smiled and nodded: "The chef said that as long as you don't waste food, we will serve you as many portions as you can eat. However, if you can't finish it and want to pack up the rest, you will need to pay for the packing fee."

The guests at the next table heard the waiter's answer and murmured with a smile: "How much can the take-out fee be?"

Then I saw another waiter holding out a sign for tonight's take-away charges.

All of tonight's customers were stunned to see the cost of the package.

"Is it so expensive?"

"Oh my god, the takeout costs more than my meal tonight."

"I see. Master Chef, you don't want us to waste anything?"

“Hahaha, the packaging fee is so high, just to prevent people from wasting money.”

Just at this moment Feng Zhengming handed the dishes to the serving counter.

After hearing what was said outside, he simply announced it seriously to the whole audience.

“Thank you for coming tonight, and I hope you can respect the work of me, every chef in my kitchen, and every waiter who serves you.

We worked so hard to give up spending New Year's Day with our families and provide delicious food for them here.

If you have a special liking for a particular dish, please tell us and we will serve you a few more.

But please don’t waste it, if you can’t finish it, please don’t order more.”

Feng Zhengming's words made all the customers in the store tonight agree.

"We won't waste a good chef."

"Yes, we can't waste it. They worked so hard for it."

"Yes, yes, we should respect each other and not waste the fruits of others' labor."

After hearing everyone's responses, Feng Zhengming once again expressed his gratitude and understanding to everyone.

Next up are the hot dishes, starting with a few dishes designed by Feng Zhengming, including the classic Shandong dish, crab in lotus sauce.

The crabs used in this dish are all fresh sea crabs, and Feng Zhengming and his people have removed the crab meat and crab roe in the morning.

Feng Zhengming used a very clean stir-frying method and finally added some vinegar that he prepared himself.

When served, the whole dish exudes an attractive and unique vinegar aroma.

This surprised all the customers.

In the private room, Wei Ling saw this dish being served.

He was a little surprised at the smell of vinegar.

"This is quite interesting. Our champion must have used blended vinegar, otherwise it would not have emitted such a unique and fragrant vinegar flavor."

Mr. Cai also exclaimed: "It's amazing, he really deserves to be the top scholar, he can make such a dish so innovative."

The actress who sat closer to Zhang Geshen was a little curious: "This dish should be considered our Hong Kong Cantonese cuisine, right? Could it be made by Chef Jiang?"

Wei Ling explained with a smile: "This method is a very standard Shandong cuisine method, called Hibiscus Crab."

These words made several big stars in Hong Kong suddenly realize.

Then another male star named Zhang asked: "In our previous movie, the yellow croaker in soup seemed to be a Shandong dish?"

Wei Ling nodded: "Yes, stuffed yellow croaker in soup is also an authentic Shandong dish. In fact, among Shandong cuisine chefs' knives, there is a knife that is specially used to remove fish bones without breaking the fish skin."

My brother was a little surprised: "Do you have a special knife?"

Mr. Cai helped explain: "Yes, the method of cooking yellow croaker in soup is actually not to open the belly, but first use a special long bamboo chopstick to poke into the fish's mouth and squeeze out the internal organs.

Then use a special knife to slowly reach in along the fish bones and remove the bones without breaking the skin."

After listening to Wei Ling and Mr. Cai explain the recipe of stewed yellow croaker in Shandong cuisine, I felt very happy.

This surprised the four Hong Kong stars present.

At the same time, they all have some expectations.

Is there a chance to taste authentic yellow croaker stewed in soup from Feng Zhengming?
When the lotus crab was served, another strong-flavored dish was soon served as well.

This dish, which is in sharp contrast to the light-hearted crab, is the Oolong Xizhu dish that Feng Zhengming has improved upon.

This time Feng Zhengming chose better sea cucumbers.

So this dish is also served according to the number of guests at each table.

Each guest will first be served a sea cucumber and a colorful hydrangea scallop.

I saw these two dishes served together.

This made Wei Ling and Mr. Cai laugh.

"As expected, there is such a trick of playing with a pearl."

"Yes, it's our top scholar's specialty, but it seems the cooking method is different this time?"

Wei Ling fanned himself with his hands and sniffed the scent.

"Well, the method is different. The scallion sauce should also be different this time."

Mr. Cai used the knife and fork provided on the table to gently break open the colorful hydrangea scallops.

"See? There's stuffing inside, which means our champion has been improved again."

Next, everyone ate the two dishes together.

Suddenly I tasted a different flavor.

The unique scallion sauce, paired with Shanghai ginseng and multicolored hydrangea scallops, tastes really delicious, but it is a little bit heavy.

But when paired with the lotus crab next to it, you will feel that the combination of these two dishes is really wonderful.

As time went by, more and more customers came to Feng Zhengming's store.

Customers who have booked tables have basically arrived one after another.

Except for Wei Ling and Mr. Cai and his group from Hong Kong City.

The other private rooms are basically booked by some bosses who are somewhat famous in Shanghai.

The tables in the store are all booked by ordinary customers.

In fact, there was a boss who originally planned to take over Feng Zhengming's store.

But Feng Zhengming directly rejected it.

Then the boss wanted to order individual dishes, but Feng Zhengming refused.

For this reason, some bosses were quite dissatisfied with Feng Zhengming and wanted to teach him a lesson.

But later the boss found out that Feng Zhengming had participated in the state banquet for the return of China, and even when he went to Hong Kong for exchanges, he went there alone with his wife.

He was also personally received by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.

He also knew that Feng Zhengming had received attention from senior management.

Although there has been no public statement.

But he is already regarded as a national treasure chef.

Therefore, the big boss in Shanghai who wanted to be rude to Feng Zhengming had to give up in the end. Then he booked a table according to all the requirements of Feng Zhengming's restaurant.

In fact, among the customers who came to Feng Zhengming's store tonight, several came to the store in disguise.

Their identities cannot be disclosed directly, but they did not book a private room, they just asked for a table in a corner.

So this group of people did not receive much attention.

Of course, except for table reservations from domestic people.

On New Year's Day, many overseas friends booked tables at Feng Zhengming's restaurant.

This includes some overseas personnel stationed in Shanghai.

They also booked their own tables to eat.

Everyone wants to taste the skills of this young national No. 1 pick who can tie with Kofman.

The dishes tonight really amazed these overseas friends.

They didn't expect that Chinese food could be so unique.

The overseas friends who have booked tables tonight, especially those stationed in Shanghai, have eaten a lot of Chinese food. Some have participated in state banquets and tasted the best Chinese food.

But the dishes in Feng Zhengming's restaurant tonight really subverted their past perceptions.

The dishes are mainly Feng Zhengming's. He does not specially cater to the preferences of overseas friends just because they have booked a table.

He still maintains his own characteristics, and the dishes taste the way they should.

As each dish was served, the customers tonight truly experienced a different kind of dining enjoyment.

Yes, tonight’s New Year’s Day dinner at Feng Zhengming’s restaurant is indeed a gourmet enjoyment.

Of course, there are also various large restaurants and high-end Western restaurants in Shanghai.

But when eating at those places, first of all, the taste cannot compare to Feng Zhengming's.

Secondly, the experience that each dish brings to people cannot be compared with Feng Zhengming’s dinner tonight.

In the kitchen, Jiang Chengzhe stood in front of the stove, and it was time for him to perform.

He's going to have a unique dish tonight too.

It can be considered the most expensive dish of all the dishes in tonight’s New Year’s Day dinner.

Fried shark fin with osmanthus.

The first thing to make this dish is naturally the shark fin.

The second most important thing is to control the heat.

There is also a more showy part, which is to stir-fry osmanthus flowers with egg yolks.

After putting the egg yolks into the pan, you must control the heat well and quickly use a spatula to stir-fry them in the pan.

Only then can the egg yolk be thoroughly fried, making the egg yolk in the pan appear like osmanthus flowers.

When Jiang Chengzhe started to stir-fry osmanthus, the whole kitchen and several tables near the kitchen could hear the noise.

Then many people were surprised to see it.

Jiang Chengzhe was stirring the pot quickly with a spatula in front of the stove.

In the end, Jiang Chengzhe cooked up an egg yolk osmanthus dish that was almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Feng Zhengming took the lead, and first everyone in the kitchen applauded Jiang Chengzhe, and then the customers who saw him in the store also applauded.

A smile appeared on Jiang Chengzhe's face: "Thank you, thank you everyone."

Feng Zhengming said, "Don't relax, the next part is the key. Don't forget that there are several gourmets here tonight. You can't embarrass yourself with this dish."

The next dish requires silver sprouts and some shredded ham.

The most important thing is the shark fin cooked in broth.

Usually, in order to make this dish delicious and beautiful, the fin needle part of the shark's fin is usually used.

But shark fins are very easy to stick to the pan, so you must use a frying pan when stir-frying the shark fins for this dish.

Feng Zhengming still believes in Jiang Chengzhe's craftsmanship.

He switched between the two pots very seriously and smoothly completed this dish which required the best of his skill in cooking and using the spoon.

Because this dish is very expensive, Feng Zhengming made it clear in advance.

"This last dish tonight is our hidden menu, Osmanthus Fried Shark's Fin. Each customer will only have one serving of this dish tonight, so please enjoy it carefully."

Then, Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe divided the dishes and asked the waiters to serve them to each table.

They still went to the private room, and Wei Ling and Mr. Cai smiled at each other when they saw this dish.

"This must have been done by Azhe."

"Hahaha, that's right, it's Azhe's craftsmanship."

This dish is not served on a plate, but one portion is delivered to each person.

One portion is only about the size of a mouthful.

But everyone can still taste the flavor of this bite.

It has a dry and fragrant taste, and is very delicious when you chew it carefully.

The key is that the shark fin used by Feng Zhengming and his team is also very good.

It is cooked with the unique broth from their store.

Everyone who ate it had to admit that it was delicious.

At the end of tonight's meal, Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe led the kitchen staff to make some snacks.

They are all designed in advance, and there are both Chinese and Western dim sum.

It was the final gift for the guests.

Served along with the snacks were a batch of small badges custom-made by Jiang Chengzhe.

Receiving this last New Year's gift made all the customers feel that their trip tonight was really worthwhile.

Feng Zhengming and his team finished preparing tonight's dishes, and he and Jiang Chengzhe led everyone from the kitchen out.

I took the initiative to express my gratitude to all the customers tonight.

“Thank you all for coming tonight. We hope we can continue to serve you more delicious food in the new year.

Because our store will be closed during the Chinese New Year, this last gift tonight is to wish you all a happy new year in advance.

I wish you all the best in the new year.”

Feng Zhengming, all the chefs, and service staff bowed and saluted to everyone present.

Then they walked into the private rooms one by one and expressed their gratitude to the customers in several private rooms.

The gifts in the private room were also personally delivered by Feng Zhengming and others.

Sent to the private room where Wei Ling and Mr. Cai were staying.

After Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe entered the room, they saw that in addition to Wei Ling and Mr. Cai, there were two other Hong Kong singing gods-level stars, and two female stars were also present.

Jiang Chengzhe was somewhat surprised.

Feng Zhengming remained calm.

"I didn't expect that several big stars would come. Ah Zhe and I thought that Mr. Wei Ling and Mr. Cai would come together to show their support, but we didn't expect that there would be two singing gods."

Feng Zhengming said this in a neither humble nor arrogant manner, just out of politeness.

Everyone in the private room looked at each other in bewilderment.

Wei Ling quickly laughed: "Is he different from the Hong Kong chefs you have seen? Isn't it strange that Chef Feng has no intention of admiring you at all?"

Mr. Cai then said: "Because they rely on real skills and don't want to hype themselves up, they don't need our publicity."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said: "Promotion is still necessary. If you think the food in our store is delicious, please help promote it. I and all my colleagues in the store will be very grateful."

When Feng Zhengming said this, the stars in the private room finally couldn't help laughing.

(End of this chapter)