In addition to local snacks such as the "Three Wonders of Tianjin" and authentic pancakes and fruits, there is another delicacy in Tianjin that is famous throughout the country.
It seems that if people who come to Jinmen have not tried it, their visit is in vain, which is a pity.
That's the Western food in Qishilin.
As a port city and a transit place for foreigners entering Beijing, Tianjin was undoubtedly the first place in China to introduce Western food.
As early as the Guangxu period, the Western restaurant of Lishunde Hotel began to operate.
At that time, it was one south and one north of Shanghai, echoing each other.
Later, due to the existence of the concession and the large influx of Belarusian nobles, the Western restaurants in Jinmen achieved unprecedented prosperity.
There is no doubt that in a place like this, it is not easy for Qishilin to take the lead and develop into a leader in the Western catering industry in Tianjin.
If the founder, Albert Kissling, had not served as the imperial chef of Kaiser Wilhelm II, I am afraid he would not have been able to achieve such an achievement.
Especially over the years, Qishlin's industry status has been as stable as Mount Tai.
In the north, it can be said that it is almost synonymous with Western food!
Just like now across the country, when people talk about milk candy, they think of White Rabbit, when they think of chocolate, they think of Yili, when they think of canned luncheon meat, they think of Merlin, and they say Qiulin is the best place to buy jam.
Looking back at that time, among the Western restaurants across the country, Cheeselin in Tianjin was the largest.
How awesome could the cheesesteaks of the past be?
No matter which city, any western restaurant.
As long as you claim that your chef is from Shilin, that is the best and most attractive advertisement.
It was enough to be used as a gimmick to attract a large number of guests.
It is no exaggeration to say that the three words "Qi Shilin" fall into the ears of people who loved Western food in the past, just like soldiers referring to "Whampoa Military Academy".
That will really make people look forward to it! It is a real golden sign!
It was Kang Shude who came to Jinmen to run errands for Mr. Song.
As soon as the matter was done, he first came to Chishilin for dinner.
It can be said that it was here that he received his first enlightenment on Western food and served Western food.
Ning Weimin has never eaten at Qishin, a well-known Western restaurant like this, and of course he wants to try it.
So he accompanied Kang Shude to Qishilin located on Zhejiang Road, Heping District.
Frankly speaking, if their main purpose of this trip was to accompany the old man to reminisce about the past.
At the beginning, I really felt that my trip was in vain, and it could even be said that Kang Shude himself was quite disappointed.
Because Qishilin actually moved its address.
Ning Weimin originally followed the route in Kang Shude's memory and drove to Jiefang South Road by car.
It was William Street in the original German Concession.
As a result, when they arrived at the place, both the master and the apprentice were dumbfounded and found that they had completely failed.
The original site of Keshilin is gone and has become a large lawn opposite the CPPCC Club (formerly the German Club).
Later, I inquired with people passing by, and they learned that Shilin had merged with a Western restaurant called Vigdoli in the 1950s.
The original location of the Vigdoli Western Restaurant is now a store in Shilin. Although it looks quite impressive, it is a small four-story Western-style building.
But after all, it is no longer what Kang Shude had in mind with its five large fronts, attached dance hall and open-air restaurant.
It is difficult for the old man to find the old feeling again.
The appearance inside the restaurant can only be said to be barely visible.
The old furniture and furnishings here are not as well protected as Lishunde.
In particular, the curtain decoration is a bit crude and does not match the classical style required by the restaurant.
The names of Shilin and Bard are no longer on the cutlery, knives and forks.
As for the types of food, the gap seems to be even greater than back then.
Because there is a three-sided glass counter on the left side of the entrance hall.
There are all kinds of pastries and breads inside.
There are cakes decorated with butter flowers of various shapes, red paper with a globe pattern, coffee candies wrapped in white paper, black plum candies containing walnuts wrapped in cellophane, and colorful "Christmas canes" wrapped in cellophane.
There are colorful multi-layered rectangular soft candies dipped in white sugar, sliced fruit candies with patterns of little people and flowers, and very hard bulk chocolate made into various animal shapes.
But in Kang Shude's eyes, these varieties are simply boring.
It is less than one-tenth of the types of candies, breads and pastries sold in Shilin in the past.
Not to mention the menu.
All the dishes that Conrad wanted to order, such as fried prawns, cold sour fish, roasted squab with butter, chicken rolls with butter, German-style pan-fried steak, and creamy chestnut flour, were all not available.
There are only a few dishes left, such as fish stew, beetroot soup, braised beef, grilled fish with butter, cream of mushroom soup, Russian salad, jam, and pickles.
And although these dishes look similar to Lao Mo’s in Beijing.
But the problem is that the price is much more expensive than Lao Mo.
Each hot dish costs three yuan, while the more expensive ones cost five yuan. Even the ice cream costs one yuan and a half.
Considering that the consumption level in Tianjin at this time is much lower than that in Beijing.
A meal at such a price can cost a Jinmen person's monthly salary, which can be said to be quite "black".
It's no wonder that at meal time, the occupancy rate of the restaurant with a business area of two floors was less than 50%.
This really made the people vote with their feet.
Not to mention the service quality, the common problems of state-owned enterprises are almost the same.
When eating Western food, even the waiter and manager yelled "the tablecloth is gone" at a loud voice, making it feel like eating breakfast at a breakfast bar.
But to be fair, people in Shilin are at least quite polite and smile at others, which is considered good for this era.
In short, as soon as he entered the restaurant and sat down and picked up the menu, Ning Weimin could not hide his disappointment on Kang Shude's face.
He knew that maybe it was because he had seen Qi Shilin back then that the old man's psychological gap was so big.
But smelling the mixed aroma of natural butter, cream, and coffee wafting through the shop, Ning Weimin's appetite was indeed whetted.
He felt that since he had come all the way, he had to have a meal, and he couldn't just turn around and leave.
Anyway, he has already achieved financial freedom, so he doesn’t care about the price, he just eats what he wants.
So I enthusiastically picked up what I wanted to eat, and ordered about ten kinds of large dishes, side dishes, cold dishes, and soups that I was interested in.
It's true that I didn't spend any money.
The waiter immediately treated them as distinguished guests and served them with priority and very quickly.
Within a short period of time, they were served snack platters, pickles, liver putty and salad.
Later, the waiter brought the soup in a deep white plate with a wide rim, and then the hot dishes began to be served.
And what Ning Weimin never expected was that those dishes were actually very surprising when he tasted them, and they tasted quite good.
Looking at it this way, it seems that the money was not too wasted.
The cream of mushroom soup contains sliced white mushrooms and a small amount of minced chicken.
The cream tastes mellow.
There are fried bread cubes floating on top of the soup, which is a very special feature.
There are two or three pieces of beef in the beetroot soup, as well as cabbage, seaweed, carrots and tomatoes.
There is a fragrant leaf floating on it.
The taste is light salty and slightly sweet.
The butter-grilled fish is served on a large deep white plate.
Inside is filleted and boneless mandarin fish, which tastes delicious, neither salty nor fishy.
There is a layer of cheese, cream, eggs and a very small amount of butter on top of the fried noodles and the baked skin can be pulled out when eating.
There are squeezed butter flowers on the edge.
Iron pan grilled mixed meat is served on a rectangular iron plate with various fried meats on it.
When it was brought up, there was an alcohol stove burning underneath and an iron frame on top.
Put the iron plate on the shelf, and the waiter will crack an egg on the iron plate of meat in front of the customer.
With a "sting" sound, as the eggs fell, a stream of white smoke came out from the iron plate, which was fragrant and full of atmosphere.
But what surprised Ning Weimin the most was the pot-braised beef here.
In this day and age, a dish that you can't even find in Lao Mo is actually being eaten here, how can he be unhappy?
Especially the moment you crack open the bread shell that seals the mouth of the can, the smell of beef...
In his previous life, he had to order Western food when he was in Beijing. He had missed this bite for a long time, and his mouth was already watering before he even took it into his mouth.
After Kang Shude tasted a few bites, he felt much better because of the excellent taste of the dishes.
Although there is no shadow of the past here, in his opinion, the taste still retains 70% to 80% of the past level.
Especially when he drank vermouth, which was rarely seen elsewhere and he used to order whenever he went to Cheesewood.
The old man finally found some sense of the past, so he started to have some fun.
Pointing at the dishes on the table, he started chatting with Ning Weimin.
Tell the apprentice what is good about this dish and what is bad about that dish.
In fact, Ning Weimin really had a lot of curious things in his heart that he wanted to ask. For example, he couldn't figure it out at first.
"Old man, isn't this Shilin opened by a German? It should specialize in German food, right? Why is it all Russian food here? Look at this salad, it has potatoes and mayonnaise, it should be as you told me
, this is a typical Russian salad, exactly the same as Lao Mo’s.”
Kang Shude shook his head and replied.
“It’s true that the boss of Keshilin is a German, but the reason for doing business is of course to make money. When we first opened our business, Keshilin’s signature was English, German, and French cuisine, and it also sold candies and bread.”
"To put it bluntly, whatever is easy to sell will be sold. So when the Belarusian nobles came to Tianjin later, Qi Shilin also added Russian dishes and turned it into a restaurant that also specializes in dishes from all four countries. This is not surprising."
"To this day, it's probably because Russian food has the most common ingredients and it's best to prepare them well. This is why Russian food is the main dish here."
"But to be honest, even Russian food is not complete nowadays. In the past, Russian food here included roasted duck with apples, Caucasian dumpling soup, and caviar."
"Oh, that's right." Ning Weimin thought about it.
"I'm telling you, the braised beef here is so good. Lao Mo and I haven't even tasted this dish. There are only braised mutton and braised chicken. I'm still wondering why Lao Mo doesn't make his specialty dishes.
.Anyway, if you can make this dish with this flavor, Shilin’s level is no less than that of Lao Mo..."
Unexpectedly, his words made Kang Shude shake his head again.
"Why did you say that this pot of braised beef is Lao Mo's specialty? This has always been a specialty of Cheeselin. When did Lao Mo sell pot of braised beef? And you said the opposite. You
Maybe they don’t know that the technical backbones of Moscow Western Restaurant and Xinqiao Restaurant in the capital when they were first founded were all from Tianjin cheese. So the braised mutton and braised chicken they sell are the ones they learned from.
of cheeselin.”
"Ah!" Only then did Ning Weimin really understand the origin of this pot of braised beef and how high Shilin's status was.