Lao Chai asked: "Just now, you asked me if this was the former Hongqi Restaurant. What does the Zhengxing Garden you mentioned have to do with the current Rongyuan Garden and Hongqi Restaurant?"

Zhou Zhi and Lao Chai walked away and said: "Because it absorbed the advantages of northern and southern cuisine and gathered the best of all the local families in the capital of Shu, Zhengxing Garden became the benchmark for high-end banquets and flourished until the Revolution of 1911."

"When the Republic of China came, Zhengxingyuan closed down. Lan Guangrong, the chef of Zhengxingyuan, took his uncle, Qi Lezhai, who was also the chef of Zhengxingyuan, and two brothers to create a two-person restaurant.

The collective name is 'Rong Paradise'."

"Rongyuan's business methods and dishes are inherited from the tradition of Zhengxingyuan. The chefs are all famous and prestigious chefs in Chengdu. After several selections, the store location was finally decided on Liangui South Road, CD City."

"The specialty of Rongyuan Garden is that it can prepare dishes at the restaurant and deliver them to your door. It can also host large and small banquets, thus forming its own style."

"Among the Lan brothers, Lan Guangrong is good at management. It is his brother Lan Guangjian who has truly made greater contributions to Sichuan cuisine."

"Blue Light Jianrong Nan Hui Bei created more than 300 dishes and more than 30 banquet formats in his lifetime. He solidified the serving procedures of modern Sichuan cuisine banquets and opened Rongyuan Garden as the first modern Sichuan cuisine restaurant with private rooms.

There is a lobby restaurant.”

"Therefore, at that time, Rongyuan Garden was highly praised by dignitaries and ordinary people. Deng Xihou, the famous anti-Japanese general and leader of the Sichuan Army, especially liked the dishes of Rongyuan Garden. He asked him to leave a few more dishes every day. At seven o'clock in the evening, the adjutant would come to Rongyuan Garden to bring them back on time.

.”

"In addition to warlords and dignitaries, there are two types of people who like Rongyuan's dishes very much - one is a large number of literati living in the capital of Shu. Many stories about Rongyuan and Sichuan cuisine have been left in their writings, many of which

It is quite influential in China and has provided a lot of intangible assistance to the promotion of Sichuan cuisine."

"The other category is diplomats at home and abroad. At that time, the American consulate was in the capital of Shu. The American diplomats liked the Chinese food in Rongyuan very much. The Lan brothers also made many foreign friends."

"There are also diplomats stationed abroad. They often come to Rongyuan to choose chefs before departure."

"These two situations also paved the way for Sichuan cuisine to go overseas."

"The most important contribution of Lan Guangjian is that he trained many apprentices. To this day, the Rongpai Sichuan cuisine, which is Lan Guangjian's school, is responsible for most of Sichuan cuisine, and most of the later Sichuan cuisine masters are his apprentices.

Disciple and grandson."

"Rongyuan is famous for making high-end banquets and family-style dishes. The famous dishes are those we just saw on the menu."

"Many people think that Sichuan cuisine means spicy food. In fact, this is not the case. The most test of Sichuan cuisine is the soup stock."

"Rongyuan Garden also has a wide variety of soups, which are very particular and unique, so I just ordered these three dishes, steamed pigeon egg and agarwood, snowflake chicken soup, chicken and beef soup. The soup is divided into small, medium, and

There are three more kinds, try them all.”

"There is an old saying in Shu that the actor's accent and the cook's soup come from here!"

Zhou Zhi smiled and said: "In addition to the red case, there is also the white case. Rongyuan also opened the famous noodle shop 'Jixue' in Chengdu. The noodles I ordered this time were the signature of Jixue back then."

"Jixue means Xiaoxuexiao, also called Michelle. Lan Guangrong obviously borrowed this meaning."

"Oh? This is interesting." Lao Chai said with a smile: "He is a cultural person!"

"Being able to make friends with powerful people and communicate with them probably means they have a certain level of cultural accomplishment." Zhou Zhi smiled and said: "At that time, people who could eat without worrying about food and specialized in studying dishes were probably even rarer than educated people."

Everyone smiled. It sounds incredible, but when you think about it carefully, it turns out to be true.

"You can imagine how prosperous Rongyuan Garden was back then, when it almost monopolized the food delivery business and high-end banquet hosting. It was said that there were as many as 120 cooks. As for the errands and delivery people, there were even more

, even the children of the Lan family have to participate in it after school."

"In addition to local powerful warlords and intellectuals who came to Shuzhong to seek refuge during the Anti-Japanese War, there were also U.S. tank commander Han Ke, Flying Tigers captain Chennault, U.S. Secretary of State Shultz, and diplomats from the British, American and French consulates in Chengdu. My favorite

Those who patronize it are Rong Paradise."

"In addition to being unique in China, Rongyuan Garden is also gradually becoming famous overseas."

"How did such a big market and business decline later? This Rongyuan Garden was only re-branded two years ago. The previous Shu Capital... Lao Fei, it seems that it didn't have a name, right?"

"Yes, I haven't heard of it anyway."

Zhou Zhi explained: "It's normal that I haven't heard of it, because before the Kuomintang government collapsed, it used to issue gold yuan coupons indiscriminately. At that time, the guests of Rongyuan Garden consumed money first and paid later, commonly known as 'water tags'. They settled the accounts once a month, and the result was the same."

When there is severe inflation, the money spent at the beginning of the month will not be worth much even if it is called back at the end of the month."

"And because the company was too big, the expenses could not support the revenue in the end, and it finally went bankrupt before the end of the year."

"What a pity." Several uncles sighed.

"However, the bankruptcy of Rongyuan Garden has brought the first opportunity for the development of Sichuan cuisine to flourish," Zhou Zhi said.

"Why is this?" Lao Wang asked.

Lao Li was from the Industrial and Commercial Bureau, so he understood these things very well, and he immediately understood: "Isn't it natural? If the owner goes bankrupt, the famous chefs of Rongyuan Garden will definitely have to find a way out, and they can only be scattered in various restaurants in Chengdu.

To make a living. He opened a Rongyuan restaurant and revived the catering industry of the entire Shu capital!"

"That's true. Uncle Wang is very knowledgeable." Zhou Zhi raised his cup and said, "Here's a toast to you."

"So this is how modern Sichuan cuisine actually developed?" Lao Chai asked

"Not entirely, but there is no doubt that Zhengxingyuan and Rongyuan are two unavoidable monuments in the history of modern Sichuan cuisine."

"It turns out that this is the originator of Sichuan cuisine. I used to underestimate this place," said Lao Li.

"The food tastes really good," Lao Wang also said, "but I didn't expect that a small restaurant can handle so many."

"How did this place become a Hongqi restaurant later?"

"After the founding of the People's Republic of China, most of the chefs from Rongyuan Garden entered the state-owned CD City Catering Service Company and got a public job."

"And Lan Guangjian opened the Qunli Canteen to accommodate those Rong Sect disciples who didn't want to leave."

"Many of these apprentices later went to the capital and served many national leaders."

"Lan Guangjian was hired into the Department of Nutrition and Health Care of West China University of Medicine. Later, he trained more than 200 famous chefs for the country."

"Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that Rongyuan Garden is the cradle of new Sichuan cuisine."
Chapter completed!