After Su Jinrong and Feng Yifan led their people away, the two old men looked at the dishes on the table carefully, then smiled at each other and invited everyone to eat together.
"Okay, let's try it."
"Try it, how is Su Ji's cooking now?"
Spiced fish, fried chicken, stir-fried cucumber, and crystal braised pork.
It just happens to correspond to the four major cuisines.
When Su Quansheng hosted this state banquet, he also took into account the differences between the north and the south, so he was very particular about the selection of each dish.
The first thing was to reduce the eight cold dishes at the first banquet to four.
Four servings of candied fruit platters were added, which fully took into account the appetite without letting the guests at the banquet eat too much, and the cold dishes would not take away the space for the following dishes.
Moreover, the flavor characteristics of the east, west, south and north regions are also taken into consideration.
Among them, the five-spice fish corresponds to the flavor of the north: mainly salty and fragrant, with a slight sweetness, but not too obvious.
Fried chicken is naturally a classic cold dish in Cantonese cuisine, and the aroma of the compound soy sauce is also very special and tempting.
Crystal braised pork represents the eastern Jiangnan region and is also a very classic cold dish.
The last dish, stir-fried cucumber, is a representative Sichuan dish of western cuisine.
There are really four dishes, covering different flavors from the east, west, south and north.
The two elderly people picked up their chopsticks first and used the serving chopsticks to put the dishes into their respective bowls.
When Mr. Zhang saw the pattern on the bowl, he smiled and said, "Oh? This bowl is really quite exquisite. It has peony flowers."
When Mr. Zhu heard it, he also looked over, and before picking up any food, he glanced at the bottom of the bowl.
"Hahaha, it really is from the Porcelain Capital."
Zhuang Daozhong started to introduce, “These tablewares were specially customized by Feng Yifan from Cidu. Su Ji was criticized by some people on the Internet for these tablewares, saying that they did not meet foreign standards.
But Feng Yifan also explained generously on the Internet, saying that porcelain originated from here, so naturally we should support domestic porcelain, and this whole set of tableware was customized from Porcelain Capital, which is really not available from foreign porcelain companies. "
After hearing this, Mr. Zhang slapped the table and said, "Okay, that's right."
Mr. Zhu also said: "That's right, we should use our own things. Porcelain is the symbol of our country. How can we use foreign ones?"
Zhuang Daozhong said seriously, "It's just that there are too many foreign restaurants coming in now, and China is also attracted by some star-rated restaurants, so everyone is trying to use their standards to get close to and meet their requirements. This is our own sorrow."
The two old men looked at each other, and at this moment they seemed to understand why Feng Yifan wanted to establish a new set of standards.
The elderly also feel that they cannot always try to meet other people’s standards, but must have their own standards.
Mr. Zhang said, “Well, we do need to have our own standards.”
Mr. Zhu said: "Yes, we need to make our own products more suitable for our own market."
After the two old men picked up their chopsticks, they asked everyone to taste the food together.
The elders from the three families naturally gave the food to the three little girls first.
The little girls tasted the cold dishes and found them delicious.
Of course, the little girls’ feelings are very intuitive. They still prefer to eat meat. Stir-fried cucumbers are obviously not very popular among little girls.
What little girls like more than meat must be the four kinds of honey fruits.
Feng Ruoruo couldn't wait to raise her little hand and whispered to her grandmother, "Grandma, I want to eat that."
Yang Xiaoxi also said to her grandmother: "Grandma, I want to eat the fruit on that plate."
Chen Yaofei didn't beg, but she still watched with four honey fruits on her head.
Finally, the old people also picked up a piece of each for the little girls.
The little girls felt very happy immediately after eating the candied fruits.
The two old men laughed when they saw this.
"Hahaha, kids still prefer sweets."
"Yeah, when I eat sweets, I really want to eat meat too."
The three little girls just ate with a smile on their faces and did not argue with the old men.
While people were eating upstairs, Yang Zhiyi also rushed to Su Ji in a hurry.
Yang Zhiyi was a little surprised to see so many people inside and outside Su Ji's door. After entering, he went to the cashier counter where Su Ruoxi was and asked curiously.
Su Ruoxi said, "Just don't talk nonsense. If you want to go upstairs, go up first."
Yang Zhiyi took a look at the kitchen and saw Feng Yifan and Su Jinrong busy in it. He could also guess who were upstairs.
He thought about it seriously and said, "Why don't I just not go up yet? You guys haven't gone up yet, and I'm the only young man there. It's really a bit embarrassing."
Su Ruoxi said: "You can go up to the next room and entertain the two elderly people's entourage."
Yang Zhiyi was stunned for a moment and asked, "Why? Still want to drink?"
Su Ruoxi didn't know whether to laugh or cry and said, "What are you thinking? How can you drink? People still have to go back home at night, so you should wait downstairs. We may have to wait for a while before going upstairs."
Yang Zhiyi said: "You are really bold to open the door like this, doing business while receiving guests upstairs."
Su Ruoxi said, "What's the big deal? They didn't come here officially, and no one knows about it, so you mustn't say anything. Otherwise, if something happens, I'm afraid you won't be able to escape."
Yang Zhiyi quickly covered his mouth and dared not say anything else.
At the same time, in the kitchen, Feng Yifan had already checked the dishes made by everyone and confirmed that there were no problems. This time he asked Shi Jiahui and Catherine to bring people upstairs.
"Big Sister, Catherine, you two remember this, this is your chance to show off, don't waste it. After you go upstairs to serve the dishes, Big Sister and Catherine will finish introducing the people, and then let the others come down first. You two stay upstairs and introduce your dishes."
After listening to Feng Yifan's arrangements, Shi Jiahui and Catherine were also relatively clear.
In fact, Shi Jiahui had received some people when he was at the Shanghai Hotel, so he knew some of the procedures.
As for Catherine, she had attended royal banquets with Feng Yifan, so she was not stage-frightened.
Afterwards, Feng Yifan asked Shi Jiahui and Catherine to lead everyone, holding the dishes in their hands, and go upstairs one after another.
For the guests of Su Ji, they were a little curious as to why the chefs went upstairs one after another.
But seeing Feng Yifan still busy in the kitchen, no one thought there was anything wrong and just thought he was serving the dishes to the guests.
After all, Feng Yifan had served dishes to guests personally before.
Shi Jiahui and Catherine led everyone upstairs, knocked on the door first, then pushed it open and entered the room.
After entering the room, Shi Jiahui was there to put the dishes on the table, while Catherine helped to open the lids of the dishes one by one, and brought out the tray and handed it to Shi Jiahui to put them on.
While Shi Jiahui was putting the dishes on the table, she also gave everyone a brief introduction to the dishes.
"The crispy lobster is a dish that our Ruo Restaurant's deputy chef specially prepared for you two today."
"Braised sea cucumber elbow is the dish I specially prepared today."
"Golden crab, Ma Xiaolong, a dish prepared by our chef's apprentice."
"Chicken braised in red wine, a dish prepared by Hans, the chef at the Ruo Restaurant."
"Stir-fried baby cuttlefish with green onions, a dish prepared by Tom, the chef at Ruo Restaurant."
"Stir-fried lentils with mushrooms, a dish prepared by Su Ji's chef Chen Xu."
…
Dishes were placed on the table one by one, and Shi Jiahui introduced them to the two elderly people one by one.
The first six dishes were prepared by the chefs, and the last two dishes were inserted into the menu by Feng Yifan to make up for the lack of taste.
"The last two dishes were prepared by the chef: 'Stir-fried Three Fresh Vegetables' and 'Dried Fish with Eggplant'."
Hearing the name of the last dish, the two old men sat up instantly and looked at the plates with some curiosity.
Similarly, upon hearing the name, the other elderly people also looked over curiously.
Mr. Zhu asked: "Eggplant fish? Is it from the Dream of the Red Chamber?"
Zhuang Daozhong was also curious and asked, "Is it the one that is steamed and dried nine times?"
Mr. Zhang looked at the dish on the plate and asked, "Is this the eggplant fish?"
Shi Jiahui and others did not expect that mentioning the eggplant fish would cause the old people to be so excited.
Chen Shoulin explained: "Don't think we are biased towards your chef. It's true that the eggplant fish dish is really special to us old people. We have all read Dream of the Red Chamber carefully, so we are really curious about this eggplant fish dish."
Shi Jiahui smiled and said, "Uncle Chen, I understand. However, this eggplant fish may not be made completely according to what is written in the book. I heard that the chef made some improvements to this dish."
Mr. Zhang asked curiously, "How is it done?"
Shi Jiahui explained: "In fact, the chef used some methods of eight-treasure sauce, stir-frying the eggplant cubes with various ingredients. However, I am not very clear about the specific method of cooking the eggplant. You can wait for the chef to come up and ask him."
Zhuang Daozhong then tried to smooth things over: "Okay, okay, let's not talk about this eggplant fish for now."
Zhuang Daozhong pointed at the other dishes on the table and said, "Mr. Zhang, Mr. Zhu, these dishes are created by the chefs of Su Ji and Ruo Restaurant. Could you please give us some pointers?"
The two old men smiled and said that they were overestimated.
"I don't deserve your advice. You are all great chefs, and we are just two ordinary diners."
"Yes, we are foodies, so we can't give you any advice. We can only try the food."
Shi Jiahui then introduced several other dishes and how to cook them.
It can be said that everyone’s dishes are actually cooked by combining Chinese and Western elements.
Among them, the dishes prepared by Catherine, Hans and Tom can be said to have the best combination of Chinese and Western flavors.
Catherine's crispy lobster is an improvement on Feng Yifan's previous lobster roll.
The crispy crust on top was replaced with a vegetable crispy crust, and the part stacked underneath to support the lobster was also some steamed vegetables.
Finally, the lobster is prepared using a very Chinese method. It is first boiled and then the surface is sautéed with hot oil.
So the lobster will have a taste as if it has been fried.
The taste of it surprised everyone. It was clearly lobster, but it tasted like stir-fried food.
Hans’s “Chicken Braised in Red Wine” is not the traditional foreign chicken braised in red wine.
He used Chinese spices, first marinated the chicken, then simmered it in red wine, added the marinade to the red wine sauce, and poured the sauce over the braised and then simmered chicken.
Little girls love this dish because the chicken is stewed until it is soft and boneless.
At the same time, after the alcohol evaporates, the whole dish takes on a salty-sweet taste.
The three little girls enjoyed it very much.
The two old people also praised the dish as being very bold.
"This dish is really a bold attempt."
"Hahaha, I never thought that a foreign chef like you would dare to use Chinese marinade."
When Hans received the compliment, he also expressed his gratitude in Chinese: “Thank you.”
If we say that Catherine and Hans incorporated Chinese cooking methods, they are essentially still Western cooking methods, and even the plating is very Western.
Tom yum, then, is a thoroughly Chinese dish.
"Stir-fried baby cuttlefish with green onions".
This is totally a Chinese dish.
The key point is that Tom actually used stir-fried green onions. When they saw it, even Feng Yifan and the others were a little surprised.
So before this dish was served, Feng Yifan tasted it himself.
I have to say, Tom did a really good job.
The onion aroma from the stir-fried onions is really strong, and he also adds some Western spices to make the taste more complex, and it tastes really great.
Of course, if there is one thing that is certain about this dish, it is that you may need to brush your teeth carefully after eating the little cuttlefish.
The dishes presented by the three foreign chefs satisfied everyone.
The dishes prepared by Shi Jiahui, Ma Xiaolong and Chen Xu were also eye-catching.
Shi Jiahui's "Stir-fried Sea Cucumber and Pork Elbow" was originally a very traditional Shandong dish, but Shi Jiahui made some improvements. She used Western methods to stew the pork elbow, and then stir-fried the sea cucumber with scallions, and then steamed them together.
The resulting dish has a very complex flavor, and the key is that the taste goes beyond the original dish.
The soft, boneless and thick pork elbow has been roasted, boiled and finally steamed, and its unique flavor is absolutely amazing.
After being stir-fried with scallions and then steamed with pork elbows, the sea cucumber has a more complex flavor.
Ma Xiaolong’s golden crab is made by taking the crab apart, processing the crab roe and crab powder separately, and finally stuffing all of them into the crab shell.
Ma Xiaolong also processed the crab shells and fried them in a frying pan.
In this way, the crab shell stuffed with crab powder, crab roe, shrimp paste and pork paste is really crispy and can be eaten directly by chewing.
Eating it this way really has a unique flavor, with a typhoon shelter flavor.
Paired with the de-greasy sauce prepared by Ma Xiaolong, it has a unique flavor.
Chen Xu's dish was the only vegetarian dish among the group, but this dish of "Stir-fried Mushrooms with Lentils" was also cooked very well. The mushrooms were very flavorful, and the lentils were crispy, making it very refreshing to eat.
It helps everyone get rid of the greasiness brought by other meat dishes.
After eating, the two elderly people asked in confusion: "It seems that the portions are so small?"
Zhuang Daozhong smiled and said, "It is very little, but that is because there are more main dishes coming. It is Su Jinrong and Feng Yifan, the father-in-law and son-in-law, who are going to present to you the dishes that old Mr. Su Quansheng used to cook."
After hearing this, not only the two old people, but everyone present was very much looking forward to it.