From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

When they sat down, Feng Zhengming was at the same table with Huang Tao, Mr. Cai and others.

He also shared some of his ideas with his junior uncle and Mr. Cai.

I heard that Feng Zhengming was going to buy an old house to open a restaurant.

Huang Tao and Mr. Cai were both a little surprised.

Huang Tao: "You have to think clearly. The prices of those old houses in Shanghai are not cheap."

Mr. Cai: "Zhengming, do you want to cook private dishes in the old house?"

Feng Zhengming smiled at Mr. Cai and said, "Yes, I have gathered chefs from all over the world in my restaurant. I think we can let one chef cook every day.

The atmosphere of the old house is good, and combined with the dishes prepared by chefs of different cuisines, I believe it will be great.”

Huang Tao: "Do you want to change the chef every day?"

Feng Zhengming: "Completely random, leaving a sense of mystery for guests every day."

Mr. Cai: "It seems that you really know how to market."

Feng Zhengming: "Mr. Cai, what you said is wrong. I just made some special designs appropriately, which cannot be regarded as marketing. Although the chefs in my restaurant are young, they are definitely young talents of local cuisines."

Mr. Cai laughed: "Hahaha, I know that. I'm really looking forward to your store."

Several Shanghai-based masters at the same table were somewhat surprised after hearing this.

Some of the old masters have thought about Feng Zhengming's design.

But the old masters are all very clear that it requires a lot of investment.

If you seek investment from a big boss, the final result may be neither good nor bad.

Feng Zhengming now does have the ability to do it himself.

Li Yao and Han Rui's master happened to be present as well.

The old master asked with a smile: "Mr. Feng, I wonder how Li Yao and Han Rui are doing over there?"

Feng Zhengming smiled: "Don't worry, Mr. Li, they are doing very well in my place."

Master Li nodded: "As long as you do a good job, it's fine. I hope they can really cook well and make the local dishes they have learned well while they are with you."

Feng Zhengming: "That's for sure. I invited them to my shop, so naturally I wanted them to show off their skills."

Then Feng Zhengming introduced some designs in his store to Master Li.

"Our restaurant now lists local dishes separately on the menu. When customers order local dishes, Li Yao and Han Rui will take care of them."

Master Li was quite satisfied when he heard this.

Feng Zhengming then continued his introduction.

"When I find a suitable old western-style house and open a new store in it, I will cook local dishes there and let Li Yao and Han Rui be the chefs."

Having said that, Feng Zhengming looked at Master Li with a smile.

"I think they are very good chefs. Mr. Li, you really put a lot of effort into teaching them."

When Master Li heard this, he felt a little proud.

Li Yao and Han Rui's situations are somewhat similar to Zhu Xu's.

It was after they became apprentices that, because of their hard work, they were noticed by the master who had originally resigned to the second line.

Then they were taken care of by their master, and their master taught them the basics.

Most of the remaining details of their cooking skills were taught by their master.

Feng Zhengming also knew this, and when Master Li asked, he took the initiative to give Master Li a way out.

This allows Master Li to gain some advantages over his peers.

We didn't chat for long before the restaurant started serving the food.

Kong Xingli did follow Feng Zhengming's advice and made some very delicate designs on the plating.

Every dish served on the table looks like a painting.

In addition, Kong Xingli specially customized a set of tableware so that the plates used to serve the dishes are of the same pattern as the tableware in front of each guest, which gives everyone a sense of visual beauty.

This indeed adds a lot of color to the banquet.

Kong Xingli also followed Feng Zhengming's advice on the amount of food on the plate and did not give just a small portion.

Although the portion size is definitely not large, it is much smaller than that of an average small restaurant.

But overall, as a dish for a large table, the portion is quite large.

After all, at a table like this, it is impossible for guests to eat only one dish.

It is enough for customers to take two or three bites of each dish with their chopsticks.

Among the classic Shandong dishes, nine-turn large intestine and scallion-fried sea cucumber are both counted as per the number of dishes on the table.

After the scallion-fried sea cucumber is served, the waiter will ask if you want it?
If necessary, the service staff will help you divide the scallion-fried sea cucumber.

You can also ask the waiter to add scallion sauce and rice.

The waiters' professional capabilities in this regard are still in place.

Later, Kong Xingli came to ask everyone if they were satisfied with the meal.

Feng Zhengming gave a suggestion.

"Brother Kong, when you serve the dishes like the braised sea cucumber with scallions and the nine-turn large intestine, you can use a heater under the plate to ensure the temperature.

There are desktop gas stoves available overseas now. Brother Kong, you can also purchase a batch of those small stoves.

When serving the dishes to the guests, Brother Kong or your apprentice can come over and prepare the scallion-fried sea cucumber to absorb the sauce, or the final preparation for the nine-turn large intestine.

The food is heated in the room to ensure it is hot when served.”

After listening to Feng Zhengming's advice, Kong Xingli felt that it was indeed very good advice.

Because the restaurant is actually quite large, the nine-turn large intestine and scallion-fried sea cucumber will indeed get cold during the serving process.

If it gets cold, it will really affect the taste of the whole dish when it is served.

Feng Zhengming was also reminding Kong Xingli in disguise to pay attention to the time of serving the dishes.

Ensuring the temperature of the food when it is served is also the key to ensuring the deliciousness of the dish.

Kong Xingli nodded and said, "Thank you, Junior Brother Feng. I will take note of your suggestions and we will make some improvements later."

Then Kong Xingli toasted Feng Zhengming with a glass of wine.

Then he asked other guests if they had any suggestions.
When Kong Xingli asked this question, everyone present gave some suggestions.

Some of these may not be considered suggestions, but more like comments.

Everyone recognizes Kong Xingli's craftsmanship.

There is really nothing wrong with the Shandong cuisine he cooks.

It can be said that every dish reflects Kong Xingli's craftsmanship very well.

And there are some experiences that Feng Zhengming had taught me before.

Plus Kong Xingli's own exploration.

He also made some changes to the taste of each dish.

It doesn’t taste as heavy as it does in our province.

Even Kong Xingli's taste buds deliberately made some dishes a little sweet.

In this way, it will be slightly closer to the taste of Shanghai and some places in the south.

Of course, it is different from Feng Zhengming who would specially prepare a clear soup that is as cool as water.

The clear soup in Kong Xingli's restaurant is basically the clear soup that has been swept, so the taste is much heavier than the clear soup in Feng Zhengming's restaurant.

Including Kong Xingli’s dishes, the flavor is heavier than that of Feng Zhengming’s restaurant.

This also reflects some differences in seasoning between Kong Xingli and Feng Zhengming.

After Kong Xingli toasted Feng Zhengming and his table, he and his investors went to toast the guests in other boxes.

After Kong Xingli left, Feng Zhengming and his friends at the table had almost finished their meal.

Everyone started talking about Feng Zhengming's recommended guide to Shanghai.

Master Li spoke first: "Zhengming, your recommendation guide, will it still only focus on those affordable small restaurants this year?"

After Master Li said this, several other masters and chefs in Shanghai also expressed their opinions.

"Mr. Feng, should your recommendation guide also recommend some restaurants in Shanghai?"

"Yes, there are many delicious foods in Shanghai, not just those small restaurants."

"Some old restaurants with local characteristics in Shanghai are also worth recommending."

"Mr. Feng, you can't be partial to one and ignore the other."

After hearing what everyone said, Feng Zhengming naturally understood what the Shanghai chefs meant.

"Don't be nervous, everyone. This year we will publish two guidebooks. In addition to the small restaurant recommendation guide, we will also publish a separate one to recommend some of Shanghai's unique restaurants and restaurants."

After saying this, Feng Zhengming looked at his junior uncle Huang Tao.

Huang Tao naturally took over the conversation immediately.

"Yes, yes. We will invite all the chefs and old masters to judge the small restaurants. As for the restaurants, we plan to invite some gourmets like Mr. Cai and people from all walks of life in Shanghai to judge and score them."

Master Li was a little curious: "It's good that you asked Mr. Cai to judge, and you also asked people from all walks of life in Shanghai. I wonder who they are?"

Feng Zhengming smiled: "Some white-collar workers in Shanghai, and some foreigners in Shanghai."

Huang Tao then explained: "Don't worry, everyone. The people we invite will definitely spend money at restaurants and high-end restaurants."

Huang Tao's explanation made everyone in the Shanghai chef industry present quite satisfied.

A Shanghai chef suddenly asked, "I don't know, can we know who they will be?"

Feng Zhengming gave an answer without waiting for Huang Tao to explain.

"I'm sorry, I don't know who will be the judges. In this regard, my junior uncle Huang Tao, Mr. Cai and Mr. Wei Ling from Gangcheng, and several national-level judges from Beijing will select the people."

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, everyone's eyes naturally turned to Mr. Cai.

Mr. Cai smiled and said, "It's like this. When Wei Ling and I were invited, we were quite surprised. But since Zheng Ming asked us, we will definitely carefully select the right judges."

After hearing what Mr. Cai said, the old masters and chefs in Shanghai naturally agreed.

Huang Tao also assured: "Everyone rest assured, we will do our best to ensure fairness and justice."

Mr. Cai: “We will announce the judging criteria later.”

After listening to Feng Zhengming and his team’s plan to launch a new guideline.

The old masters and chefs present already felt much more comfortable.

The Shanghai restaurant recommendation guide previously launched by Feng Zhengming did indeed allow them to witness very good results.

Many of those small street restaurants and some snack bars are doing better and better business thanks to recommendation guides.

The Shanghai Chefs and Catering Association also jointly organized an excellent restaurant selection this year.

But the result was somewhat beyond their expectations.

Originally, because Feng Zhengming held the competition in Quancheng, it attracted more people's attention, resulting in the selection in Shanghai not causing much sensation.

After several rounds of selection, Feng Zhengming's restaurants accounted for three of the excellent restaurants.

Then, the selection of excellent restaurants in Shanghai became popular all of a sudden because three of Feng Zhengming’s four restaurants in Shanghai were selected as excellent restaurants.

This really made the Shanghai Chefs Association and the Catering Association a little bit upset.

At the same time, everyone also realized a very important issue.

It turns out that not everyone has become very interested in food and cares about the skills of excellent chefs.

It’s just that Feng Zhengming has experienced the national competition and returned to the state banquet, plus there have been various interviews, reports and publicity about him.

The public treats him as a star and pays attention to him.

So if it is not related to Feng Zhengming.

If it's just about food and cooking, the public won't pay much attention to it.

Knowing this, the old chefs and master cooks in Shanghai naturally knew that if they wanted to enhance the reputation of their restaurants and high-end restaurants, they still needed to rely on Feng Zhengming.

This is also the reason why, on an occasion like today, they suddenly asked Feng Zhengming for the recommended guidelines.

Feng Zhengming probably guessed why everyone was asking him.

So he told the old and master chefs present the plan he had discussed with his junior uncle Huang Tao, Mr. Cai from Gangcheng, Mr. Wei Ling, and Master Hou from Beijing.

Feng Zhengming believed that the news would spread quickly in no time.

All restaurants and high-end restaurants in Shanghai will make some preparations.

Feng Zhengming also hopes that they are all prepared.

Otherwise, the score will be too low and it won’t look good in the recommendation guide.

Feng Zhengming simply gave a more clear standard.

"Mr. Cai, Junior Uncle, how would you rate my overall experience of Brother Kong's restaurant opening today?"

Feng Zhengming's words seemed to be asking Mr. Cai and Huang Tao about their experience of today's meal.

In fact, all the old and great chefs present could hear it.

This is to give them a rough standard.

Naturally, everyone's eyes fell on Mr. Cai and Huang Tao.

Mr. Cai and Huang Tao looked at each other.

Both of them couldn't help but laugh.

Mr. Cai first gave his own judgment.

"The overall decoration and layout of this restaurant today should be given four and a half stars if we follow the five-star standard in our recommendation guide.

The food is good, the taste is good, and the service is good.”

After listening to Mr. Cai’s rating, Huang Tao also gave his own rating.

"For the decoration and overall layout, I give it four stars. For the taste, maybe because I am from Shandong, I have a preference for Shandong cuisine, so I give it four and a half stars. For the service, I also give it four stars."

Overall, the scores given by Mr. Cai and Huang Tao are consistent.

Of course, for the old masters and chefs present.

The specific ratings the two gave to Kong Xingli's restaurant are not that important.

They have been given general information about the scoring criteria.

This will also be part of the improvements they will make to their respective restaurants.

Feng Zhengming then gave more specific standards.

"Everyone, Mr. Cai just mentioned the comprehensive score of color, aroma and taste. In the future, when we recommend the guide score, we will score the dishes in five aspects, namely, color, aroma, taste, and shape, and finally take an average score."

This statement was made very clear, telling everyone present how the recommendation guide would be rated. (End of this chapter)