Chinatown in San Francisco is an east-west street. Ye Chui and his group entered from the west entrance. The Chen Family Hotel happened to be on the west street of Chinatown. Tang Shanshan and the three of them arrived in front of the hotel not long after.
The Chen Family Hotel is not outstanding in appearance, not luxurious, not magnificent, and not big in store, but it is clean and tidy. The hotel is divided into two floors, with more than a dozen dining tables placed in the lobby below, and there are private rooms upstairs, and several waiters are busy inside and out.
It was noon at this moment, and the hotel was filled with customers and the business was very booming.
After Ye Chui walked into the hotel, Li Xiuyun and Tang Shanshan, a waiter rushed up and welcomed them to sit down in an empty seat. The waiter spoke in Guangzhou dialect and couldn't hear it clearly. After Tang Shanshan said a few words to the other party, she turned to look at Ye Chui and said, "She asked you what you want to eat? Oh, this is the menu."
Tang Shanshan took the menu from the waiter and handed it to Ye Chui.
When you open the menu, there are not many dishes in this restaurant, written in traditional Chinese and also introduced in English. Most of these dishes are mainly tofu, and the main signature dish is naturally Chen Family Tofu. However, the Chen Family Tofu here is divided into two types. Among them, the ordinary Chen Family Tofu is made by the chef of the restaurant, and the special Chen Family Tofu is the owner of the hotel, which requires the price to double.
Tang Shanshan obviously knew very well here and said with a smile: "If you want to eat Chen family tofu, it is best to eat Chen family tofu made by the boss's wife. This boss's wife is known as the tofu Xishi. Her family's craftsmanship is not good at making other dishes. However, she has practiced the Chen family tofu since she was a child. Even if she is the chef of the Chen family restaurant and the eight-star master, of course. If you want to eat Chen family tofu made by the boss's wife, the price will definitely be a little more expensive, but it is definitely worth the money."
"Then I'm going to eat the Chen family tofu made by the boss's wife." Ye Chui said to Tang Shanshan with a smile, and he was a little interested in this tofu Xishi in his heart.
Tang Shanshan explained to the waiter here, and Ye Chui ordered several other dishes, so the waiter went down to prepare.
"Master, this hotel doesn't look very powerful." Han Yuyan looked around and said to Ye Chui. In China, all the hotels that have grades in grades are exquisitely decorated. It is rare to see a simple atmosphere like the Chen Family Hotel.
"The star rating of the hotel has great requirements for decoration, but the most important thing is the quality of the dishes." Ye Chui said with a smile, "Looking at the hotel, it should be an old store for decades."
"Boss, you're right." Tang Shanshan took the conversation automatically. She shouted to Ye Chui with a particularly crisp sound. "This store has been open for fifty years. It has been like this since the beginning. It has been passed down for three generations and has never changed places."
"Haha. Is this store passed down from family?" Ye Chui thought of something and asked Tang Shanshan.
Tang Shanshan nodded: "Of course, the Chen family hotel is opened by the Chen family."
Han Yuyan said strangely: "Master, why are you asking this?"
"If I guess correctly, the ancestor of the Chen family restaurant should be the creator of Mapo tofu." After a pause, Ye Chui continued, "Mapo tofu appeared a hundred years ago. It was during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty. There was a restaurant called Chen Xingsheng Restaurant in Chengdu. The owner was Chen Xingsheng and his wife Liu. Because Liu had a tiny bite on his face, he was called Chen Mapo. The restaurant business was not hot. Liu made a dish that roasted tofu. Unexpectedly, this dish became popular and even spread throughout the country. This dish was also called Chen Mapo tofu at the beginning. If I guess correctly, this Chen family tofu should have been started by the descendants of Chen Xingsheng. It is also very suitable to change the name to Chen Family Tofu."
Mapo tofu is a famous Sichuan dish and is also circulated in China. Although this dish can be made of minced beef, it is essentially a vegetarian dish. Without the seasoning of minced beef, it is still outstanding. However, the taste of this dish circulated in China is not very authentic. Ye Chui guessed that it should be something that happened during the vegetarian exercise. Ye Chui knew the origin of Mapo tofu Ye Chui very well. If you make some reasonable speculations, you can probably guess that the authentic Mapo tofu method was spread to Chinatown during the vegetarian exercise.
The Chen family opened this Chen family restaurant.
Hearing Ye Chui's story, Han Yuyan and Li Xiuyun didn't feel anything, but Tang Shanshan was shocked: "You are so awesome, you know so many things."
Han Yuyan was particularly proud: "Of course, why would you dare to come here to play a restaurant without some ability?"
Tang Shanshan immediately didn't understand, thinking that if you want to see a tourist or something, do you still need skills?
If she couldn't figure it out, she wouldn't think about it for the time being. This girl was also a person with broad heart. Her eyes swept across the faces of Ye Chu and the smiles on her face were indescribably bright. In her eyes, these three people seemed to be fat sheep.
A tour guide fee of 500 yuan a day can really make a lot of money...
And I can have a lot of big meals with them. I will introduce them to several other major hotels in Chinatown later. Tsk, I have been having fun these days...
The girl was looking forward to her dream of food, and her eyes were already smiling into a crescent shape.
Not long after, dishes came up one by one.
Braised tofu, home-cooked tofu, cabbage stewed tofu, mushroom tofu meatballs...
Since this restaurant focuses on Mapo tofu, most of the dishes in the entire restaurant are related to tofu.
The waiter who served the dishes stood aside with a smile, and then said something in English - after all, he was a hotel waiter. Ordinary residents of Chinatown do not understand English. They are the waiters in the hotel and are inevitably welcome tourists from all walks of life. English is a must-have - she said: "The tofu here is made from home, made of good soybeans. The tofu tastes absolutely good. The dishes made are all dishes passed down from the Chen family. Almost everyone who travels to Chinatown has to taste the tofu from our Chen family restaurant to make this trip worthwhile. However, the Mapo tofu that the boss ordered personally cooked by the boss may have to wait for a while."
Han Yuyan was looking at the dishes on the table. When he heard her say this, he immediately asked curiously in English: "Are there many people who order Mapo tofu made by your boss?"
"That's not the case." The waiter was obviously a bit disgusted, and said in a low voice. "Our boss lady is arguing with her brother. She is now angry, so she should be slower."
"So that's how it is." Han Yuyan replied, picking up a piece of braised tofu with his chopsticks and putting it in front of him. Braised is a technique in Sichuan cuisine. It uses rock sugar or dark soy sauce to burn the dishes, forming a dark red color, which makes people feel appetite full of appetite.
The braised tofu here is also very delicious, at least the color and aroma in the color and aroma can be made to 10.
Han Yuyan looked at it, then put the tofu into his mouth and tasted it carefully.
The waiter saw that the guests had already started eating, so he stepped back without laughing. The Chen family tofu is well-known, and even the gourmets are very satisfied with the dishes. She is still very confident in her own dishes...
Fortunately, she took the initiative to retreat, otherwise she might be unhappy if she heard what Han Yuyan said:
"This tofu seems to be as delicious as the elder brother's. The soft and soft taste of the tofu is not good at all." Han Yuyan commented.
Tang Shanshan, who didn't treat herself as an outsider at all, put a chopstick before Han Yuyan and picked up a piece of tofu meatball for herself. She just put it into her mouth. When she heard Han Yuyan's words, she hurriedly swallowed the tofu meatballs and said, "This tofu is nearly 10,000. But all the tofu made in Chinatown are the best."
"It feels so good." Han Yuyan looked at Ye Chui, "What are you saying, Master?"
Ye Chui was picking up the home-cooked tofu with chopsticks. After looking at it for a while, he put it into his mouth. Then he tasted several other dishes in turn. After a moment, he smiled and said, "I can give these dishes a nine-point scale, which is about the same level as Xiao Du. As for the heavy rain, you can't say the taste is as good as Xiao Du. The main reason is that this tofu uses southern tofu, which is different from the northern tofu we usually eat."
"Southern Tofu? North Tofu?" Han Yuyan was stunned.
Ye Chu nodded: "Tofu is divided into various types, and it is different through the preparation method. There are southern tofu, northern tofu, old tofu, tender tofu, plate tofu, original tofu, water tofu, etc. The tofu we use on weekdays is northern tofu, with a low moisture content and a hard texture. The coagulant we use is mainly salt brown, while the tofu here is southern tofu, and the coagulant used is gypsum powder, which has a higher moisture content and a softer texture."
After a pause, Ye Chui continued: "The tastes of different tofu of different textures are different in different dishes, but some tofu dishes also have high requirements for the type of tofu. Mapo tofu is more suitable for making with southern tofu. I think the tofu here is southern tofu for this reason, but braised tofu is also made with southern tofu, and the taste will be greatly reduced."
"So that's how it is." Han Yuyan and Li Xiuyun nodded.
Tang Shanshan was already shocked: "You know a lot. Are you working in a hotel?"
Ye Chui looked at Tang Shanshan with a smile: "Yes, so I know more about these things. Of course, the statement of southern tofu in northern tofu is divided according to the Chinese region, so there may be no such statement here."
"I also work in a restaurant, but I don't know about these things. It turns out that there are so many differences between tofu, and I'm taught today." Tang Shanshan said with a smile, her mouth was not idle at all, and she kept stuffing various dishes into her mouth, and she ate very sweetly.
Ye Chui tasted these dishes again, and he could basically taste the quality of each dish in one bite. Not long after, the waiter just now came out with a plate of red and burnt tofu dishes and placed it on the dining table next to Ye Chui: "Let you wait for a long time. This is the Chen family tofu made by the boss's wife personally. This is one of the top ten representative dishes in Chinatown. You are welcome to taste it."
"Wow, I finally have the chance to eat the famous Chen family tofu!" Tang Shanshan cheered and immediately wanted to put off the chopsticks to pick it up, but she thought of something again and looked at Ye Chu awkwardly, "Boss, come first, please."
Ye Chui smiled distractedly, and then looked at the plate of Mapo tofu. The appearance of this dish is dark red and bright, and it is matched by red and white and green. Although the tofu is made of softer southern tofu, it is not shaped. From the appearance, this dish is already very outstanding, which makes Ye Chui's appetite open.
He picked up a piece of tofu and put it into his mouth, and tasted it carefully.
Han Yuyan and Li Xiuyun both looked at Ye Chui nervously. They were here to play the restaurant, and the family had to deal with this dish of Chen's tofu. They naturally cared about Ye Chui's evaluation of this dish.
"Master, how is this dish?" Han Yuyan saw Ye Chui eating it, so he asked quickly, his eyes full of anxiety.
"This dish tastes good, but..." Ye Chui suddenly frowned.
"But what?" Even Tang Shanshan became curious.
"The eight tricks of this dish are macaque, spicy, soup, fragrant, crispy, tender, fresh, and lively. The eight specialties are indispensable. They are the key to the success of this dish. This dish has achieved seven of these eight specialties, but... it lacks the most important point."
Ye Chui commented in confusion: "It seems that I forgot to add peppercorns in this Mapo tofu?" (To be continued, please search Piaotianwen, the novel is better and faster!
Chapter completed!