After eating the last dish of rice grass and braised river clams, Zhuang Daozhong felt that today's trip was worthwhile.
For ordinary diners, when they come to a local restaurant like Su Ji, they may want to eat some classic dishes that they can name.
Squirrel mandarin fish, lion head, or cherry meat.
But for Zhuang Daozhong, coming to Huaicheng is to eat some seasonal dishes. In fact, this is also a feature of Huaicheng cuisine, including Huaiyang cuisine.
Choose seasonal ingredients, follow their own taste, and cook them in the most suitable way.
River shrimps are delicious because of their freshness. If they are braised with soy sauce, the freshness will be lost.
It must be stir-fried similar to stir-fried shrimps. After being fried in oil, it is stir-fried in a very simple way. This way, the sweetness of the river shrimp can be highlighted.
For example, eel can be roasted with strong flavors of garlic, salt, and pepper, and then blanched in broth. This can remove some of the eel's unpleasant smells while retaining the eel's flavor.
For every dish, the flavor of the ingredients must be highlighted based on their characteristics. This is what a good cook does.
Tonight, Zhuang Daozhong got to see some of Feng Yifan's personal contributions to the Su family heritage.
Zhuang Daozhong felt that the old plaque of Su Ji had not yet fallen. And it was foreseeable that sooner or later, the old plaque would shine again in front of the eyes of the world.
Since Feng Yifan had been busy in the kitchen, Zhuang Daozhong had a lot to say to him after eating tonight's meal, but he didn't have the chance to talk to him.
So, after dinner was over and Feng Ruoruo and her friends had left, Zhuang Daozhong stayed and waited, obviously deciding to wait until the restaurant closed to talk to Feng Yifan.
Guests of the restaurant came and went. Not long after Feng Ruoruo and her friends finished their dinner and left, the restaurant reached its peak at around 7:30 in the evening.
When the ten tables in the restaurant were almost full, Zhuang Daozhong sat next to Su Jinrong and looked at the scene in the restaurant. He whispered, "Jinrong, I think the internal layout of Su Ji should be changed."
Su Jinrong looked at Zhuang Daozhong: "Uncle Master, go ahead."
Zhuang Daozhong continued, "Now that Su Ji is going to be a boutique private kitchen restaurant, the ten large tables here are a bit cumbersome. Just keep two, or four, and replace the others with small square tables. This way there will be more space, and there won't be a situation where a few people have to sit at a large table."
After hearing what Zhuang Daozhong said, Su Jinrong nodded, thinking that what his uncle said made sense.
In fact, in the past, Su Ji did not have separate tables most of the time. Generally, if there were only one or two people, they would let others share the table to eat. This may be one of the reasons why Su Ji's business gradually declined.
After all, many young people nowadays are not used to sharing a table with others for dining, especially young couples who prefer to sit at a small square table and chat with each other.
Therefore, before the reconstruction of the old street area began, Su Ji's business had always been supported by old customers.
But nowadays, many old diners in the surrounding area have moved away due to reconstruction, and Feng Yifan has gradually attracted some new diners because of Meng Shitong's videos.
Su Ji's restaurant is not very big and has only ten round tables. It is obviously struggling to cope with the situation.
Su Jinrong thought about it and realized that the old street was about to be rebuilt, so it might not be the right time to renovate the interior of Su Ji. He said to his uncle, "The old street needs to be rebuilt, so we should not make any adjustments now."
Zhuang Daozhong nodded and said, "Well, that's fine, but my suggestion is that since you still want to open the business, you still need to consider this aspect. Even if you replace it with some folding square tables first, at least you can have more space to entertain guests."
Hearing this, Lu Cuiling couldn't help but say, "My dear, your uncle is right. We can use a folding table first."
Just at this moment, little Feng Ruoruo came back after delivering the menu and threw herself into her grandmother's arms. When she heard her grandmother say that she wanted to use a folding table, the little girl was naturally very curious.
"Grandma, what do you need a folding table for? What is a folding table?"
After hearing her granddaughter's question, Lu Cuiling gave her some explanation and told her the benefits of the folding table.
After hearing this, little Feng Ruoruo immediately turned to her grandfather and said, "Okay, okay, Grandpa, let's ask Dad to change it tomorrow, so that we can have more customers."
When saying "there are so many guests", Feng Ruoruo did not forget to open her arms wide and hug them to show her.
For Feng Ruoruo, her idea is very simple, as long as there are more customers, that's good.
Su Jinrong laughed when he heard his granddaughter's words: "With more guests, Ruoruo's father will have to work harder."
Zhuang Daozhong continued, "This is actually quite simple. We can hire some people, such as dishwashers, vegetable washers, and cleaners, so that we can share some of the burden. If you, Jinrong, need it, I can send a few kitchen helpers to help you."
After hearing this, Su Jinrong thought about it and shook his head: "Thank you, uncle master, no need to trouble you."
Although he rejected Zhuang Daozhong's suggestion to send someone to help, Su Jinrong was still thinking in his mind, should he hire someone to help? Or when changing the tables and chairs, should he add fewer tables and chairs to reduce his son-in-law's workload.
Looking at the lively scene in the restaurant, Su Jinrong had already decided in his mind to try to rearrange the tables and chairs.
Zhuang Daozhong was rejected, but he didn't mind. He smiled and said, "Jinrong, you guys discuss it. I think Yifan should be able to handle it, and it might be easier to handle if we change it to a small table."
When Su Jinrong heard his uncle say "small tables are easier to deal with", he was a little surprised at first, but he soon figured out the key.
Small tables usually seat two or three people, or at most four or five people.
There are not many people, so the dishes ordered will definitely not be many.
Feng Yifan spent half a day preparing the ingredients from morning till evening, so it should be enough to handle it. So it seems that it is indeed easier for a small table to handle.
The evening peak hour was over, after 8:30, Feng Yifan was very determined today and no longer received any subsequent guests.
Sure enough, today Feng Yifan returned to his previous closing time and was no longer busy until after ten o'clock like he was on weekends.
Although the business has been suspended, everyone in the restaurant has not finished their work and cleaning is still very hard work.
Even Zhuang Zhebin chose to be a deserter, but it was a pity that Mr. Zhuang Daozhong "understood the greater good" and ordered him to go to the kitchen to help clean up. Zhuang Zhebin had no choice but to go to the kitchen under Feng Ruoruo's smiling eyes, looking ready to die.
There weren't many guests there today. If you don't count the table of Zhuang Daozhong and his friends, there were actually only eight tables of guests.
Of course, since it wasn't the weekend, there weren't that many guests, which wasn't surprising.
If Su Ji didn't close at nine o'clock and stayed open until late, it might have received some late-night customers. But Feng Yifan obviously couldn't do that.
Fortunately, after counting the accounts, Su Ruoxi said that the fried rice and Yi Fu noodles sold better at noon, which made up for the lack of customers in the evening.
After cleaning inside and out, and fixing the door panels one by one, and then closing the last door, Feng Yifan finally sat down and listened carefully to Zhuang Daozhong's comments on his food tonight.