Why did this restaurant appear on News Network when it opened?
Revealing the 33-year history of "the first joint venture western restaurant" in China after the reform and opening up.
When it opened in 1983, the nude female murals copied from the Louvre almost made the restaurant fail to open as scheduled, so people had to draw clothes for it. Leslie Cheung spent his last New Year’s Eve here before his death, and now fans often come to visit … … The Beijing Morning Post reporter learned that Maxim Restaurant, the "first Sino-foreign joint venture western restaurant" in China after the reform and opening up, was born in 1983 and will celebrate its 33rd birthday on the 26th of this month.
think that year
Maxim’s opening appeared in News Network.
Time went back to September 26th, 33 years ago, and the news broadcast that night rarely broadcast the news of the opening of a restaurant, which was Maxim’s restaurant in Chongwenmen. Previously, there were only a few western restaurants in Beijing, such as Moscow Restaurant and Xinqiao Hotel, which mainly operated Russian food. Therefore, Maxim was called "China’s first purely capitalist western restaurant".
The history of Maxim restaurant originated in 1893. In 1981, the poorly managed Maxim Restaurant faced bankruptcy and was bought by the famous French designer Pierre Cardin for $1.5 million. The costume master came to China just after the reform and opening up with steaks, foie gras, snails and aristocratic clothes, and came to Chinese, who was dressed in black, white, gray, green and blue traditional clothes and skillfully held jiaozi with chopsticks.
At that time, eating a meal in Maxim cost about 150 yuan per capita. At that time, the price in Beijing was like this: a catty of eggs, 1 yuan, a 70 yuan, the most expensive "private car" — — There was about one bicycle in 160 yuan, and the average monthly salary of Beijing workers in that year was 61 yuan. For a long time, ordinary people only dared to sneak a few glances into it by passing by. In the impression of many people, the lights in Maxim’s restaurant are like a dream with colorful glass turnstiles, and there are only black and white around.
Naked female murals are forced to "wear" dresses.
Now, from Chongwenmen Hotel to the second floor, the bright lights seem to be a romantic candle with the footsteps. Chestnut leaf-shaped chandeliers and wall lamps, gold-plated rattan patterns on the walls and dreamy stained glass windows are reflected in the crystal glass mirror. The short dozens of steps seem to be a tunnel through time and space, with the familiar Beijing outside and the French palace in the 19th century inside.
Yan Jinzhe, manager of the restaurant’s catering department, told the Beijing Morning Post that at the beginning of the restaurant’s establishment, the whole tone and style were dominated by French designers, which was basically a "replica" of Paris Maxim. Under the conditions at that time, China workers had not been exposed to western-style decoration technology, and the Japanese engineering team was responsible for the decoration of the restaurant except that the decoration equipment and materials were imported from abroad. Nowadays, Japanese construction marks left in the past can be found on the wall behind some sofas and in the electrical switch boxes.
French court style is not only luxurious, but also dreamy and fragrant. Many murals on the wall are copied in the Louvre, and young ladies show off their beautiful bodies. This was defined as "capitalist extravagance" in China at the beginning of reform and opening-up, and restaurants almost failed to open. In order to solve the urgent need, the restaurant staff can only find a large number of gauze curtains to cover all these murals. Later, the restaurant invited teachers and students from the Academy of Fine Arts to "dress" the naked woman in the painting, which has been preserved to this day.
Yan Jinzhe said that in the past 33 years, Maxim has only supplemented some glass windows with lost colors, updated some damaged furniture as they are, and replaced some oxidized silver tableware, but the principle followed is to "repair the old as old". This spirit of treating cultural relics has kept Maxim’s restaurant as it was at the beginning of its opening.
Leslie Cheung spent the last New Year’s Eve.
In 1893, Maxim’s restaurant, which opened in Paris, quickly became a "club" of the upper class in Paris. Charles de Gaulle, Picasso, former US President Johnson and the Queen of England were all guests. In Beijing, Maxim also attracted many celebrities. Moreover, Maxim is the location of many film and television dramas: Maxim’s restaurant has appeared in plays such as The Lion King for Hegemony, The Adventure King and The Golden Powder Family.
In the corridor of the dining room, photos left by many famous people such as Jiang Wen, Zhang Yimou, Gong Li, Chen Kaige and Brigitte Lin are hung all over the walls. At that time, the carpet in the middle of the restaurant could be turned into a ballroom after it was opened, and many "parties" were held here. Singer Jiang Xin recalled in "Days with Long Hair Flying" that Maxim Restaurant and later Diplomatic Club were two "holy places" of Chinese rock music. Cui Jian and his rock music were not accepted by the mainstream society at that time, and they could only perform in "minority" places including Maxim. Here, he sang Nothing for the first time.
Yan Jinzhe recalled that Leslie Cheung spent his last New Year’s Eve here before his death. "At that time, it was winter, and Leslie Cheung was holding a watermelon produced in panggezhuang and happily showed it to everyone at the scene. He took a photo with almost everyone. He had a good time that night ‘ Hi ’ This is somewhat different from the calmness when he came to the restaurant before. " But no one expected that after a short time, Leslie Cheung jumped down from the 22-storey hotel, and the photo in Maxim’s restaurant became his last image in Beijing. Today, on April 1st every year, fans from all over the world come here to look for Leslie Cheung’s notes in Maxim.
recall the past
Maxim Executive Chef Shan Chunwei
The first batch of French food "international students" studied in France for three months
Except that the hardware is almost the same as Maxim’s in Paris, in order to ensure the original flavor of French food, China also sent a "study abroad team" of 9 chefs, 3 waiters and 2 staff to Maxim’s restaurant in Paris to study for three months.
Shan Chunwei, 59, is the executive chef of Maxim’s restaurant. In 1983, if Maxim hadn’t entered China, 19-year-old Shan Chunwei might never have thought that he would become a leader in French cuisine. At that time, chefs and waiters, including Shan Chunwei, were gathered together for three months of "intensive training". In addition to the daily French language and professional terms, an important part of the training was the "labor discipline abroad" with distinctive characteristics of the times: you can’t act alone. In terms of dress, because going abroad represents the national image, everyone is required to wear formal clothes. For this reason, Hongdu Fashion Store specially produced a suit of Chinese tunic suit and suit for everyone, while shirts, ties and leather shoes were all purchased in Friendship Store. On May 10th, 1983, the study abroad team came to Paris. The station is arranged in Pierre Cardin Club. There were no beds in the club, so everyone made the floor on the mattress they bought temporarily.
Because Maxim’s restaurant in Beijing opened in September, the study time is only three months, and you must learn something. Shan Chunwei recalled that he got up at 4 o’clock every day, and three of them cooked spaghetti for the whole team with an electric stove. The rest got up one after another and took turns using the only bathroom. "After breakfast every day, everyone lines up in straight clothes: the leader is at the front, the translator is at the end, and we walk to Maxim’s restaurant near Concorde Square one kilometer away."
nowadays
Maxim still cooks the purest French food.
Shan Chunwei told reporters that as a pure French restaurant, it is not easy for Maxim to stay in China for 33 years. With or without a French chef, Maxim in Beijing has always adhered to the principle of authentic French food: without any additives, the dishes can taste the original flavor of meat, seafood and vegetables, and the aroma of red wine or brandy used in cooking. "The best embodiment of this is the steak juice, which is baked into golden yellow with Achyranthes bidentata bone, beef tendon and onion, and then boiled in a vat for 48 hours, and then filtered and concentrated. After more than 100 kilograms of ingredients, there is only about 10 kilograms left, and the juice may be more expensive than the steak itself, so many French diners will wipe every drop of soup on the plate with bread after eating the steak." Until now, Shan Chunwei always carries a spoon with him and personally checks whether the steak juice is right.
He told reporters that in March this year, French TV stations came to Beijing to shoot "The Road to China, Pierre Cardin" and ate at Maxim’s restaurant at noon. Shan Chunwei specially asked the film crew to determine whether Maxim in Beijing could still meet the standards of Paris. After a group of seven people finished eating, they said "thank you" 10 times in French and Chinese, saying that Maxim in Beijing made very authentic French food.
Maxim is still the purest "French style"
The reporter learned that Maxim’s restaurant is now a state-owned enterprise, which means it is a pure French restaurant run by Chinese people. Yan Jinzhe said that Maxim’s dishes completely retained the essence of French cuisine, and the menu was almost the same as when it was opened in 1983. 90% of the dishes were the same.
Now diners who come to the store can still feel the "gentleman’s style" of traditional French service. Here, all the waiters are men dressed in black tuxedos: the nails should not be out of the edge, the hair style must be inch, the shoes are all black patent leather shoes, the shirts should be changed every day, and there are specialized personnel to wash and iron them. In order to train "gentlemen", Maxim’s waiters’ training materials are all from foreign films, such as Princess Sissi, which is the most frequently played film during training. In addition, they will watch Korean dramas such as Miss Please to learn the housekeeping etiquette.
Now Chongwenmen Maxim has also created a brand of "Beijing 1983", focusing on cakes, desserts and coffee. For example, Napoleon Crisps are loved by many diners, and only six or seven plates of Napoleon Crisps can be produced a day, which are basically snapped up before three o’clock every day. At present, there are also online stores and micro-stores, a special distribution team has been set up, and a baking experience classroom has been built in which the public can participate.
Kung pao chicken gave the French chef a thumbs up.
After arriving at the restaurant, each China chef was assigned a French chef. Shan Chunwei was assigned to the cold dish group. "Chinese speaks French with an accent, and Parisians speak French with an accent, so we can’t understand each other. The master can only take my hand and go directly to the cold storage, telling me what vegetables to take, take a few, or simply gesticulate. " It took about three days, and everyone integrated into the French team and was able to work with French chefs. Ten days later, China chefs can basically operate by themselves under the guidance of the master.
Although my job is to deal with delicious food, it is more difficult for China chefs who have only eaten Chinese food before and have a 100% "China stomach" to adapt to western food than to cook it. "We were faced with a table full of French sticks and bloody steaks. I really don’t know where to start. Each of us took a baguette, cut it in the middle, put tomatoes in it, and put some coffee cubes in it to eat together. This made the French at the same table look stupid. "
Halfway through the internship, the manager of Maxim’s restaurant found the team leader China, hoping that Chef China could cook a Chinese meal for French chefs who have never been to China. According to the existing ingredients in the restaurant, the chefs in China have customized such a menu: baked home-cooked cakes, kung pao chicken and hot and sour soup. "At that time, cooking this meal almost exhausted us. There was no cauldron, only a small pan of western food." Shan Chunwei said, "But after eating, all French chefs gave thumbs up."
The Eiffel Tower model is the only souvenir.
Chef China received no salary while studying in France, only 100 francs a month. Shan Chunwei told reporters that at that time, he had a haircut of 90 francs in Paris, drank 7 francs for a bottle of water and smoked 10 francs for a box of cigarettes. "There is a chef who knows how to cut hair, so he will give us a simple haircut." During the usual rest, the resident gate is locked, and the chefs are writing study notes at the resident. Occasionally, people will queue up to visit places of interest in Paris with little free time, but they are reluctant to take the subway when they go out, such as visiting Notre Dame de Paris. Everyone walked several kilometers along the Seine.
"Once the designer of Maxim’s restaurant invited chef China to his manor to make beef pies and beef jiaozi for the guests. The guests were very happy and habitually gave tips. But we expressly forbid it. " Later, the tip was sent to the station by enthusiastic the French, and the tour leader insisted on not accepting it. The final compromise was to give each chef a model of the Eiffel Tower. This is almost the only souvenir that all China chefs brought back after going abroad for three months.
Maxim opens the door of China western food.
On August 9, 1983, a group of "Chef Overseas Students" boarded the plane to return home, which was only over a month before the opening of Beijing Restaurant. In mid-September, eight French chefs who came to Beijing from Paris to "aid" were in place, and "mentoring" met in Maxim, Beijing. "The French side attaches great importance to Maxim’s restaurant in Beijing, and has sent chefs, gold medal waiters, etc. Even the cashiers and cloakroom waiters are the French."
Maxim’s restaurant came to China and Beijing. In many people’s eyes, it may just be an upscale restaurant that brought different experiences to the taste buds of Chinese people at that time. However, in Shan Chunwei’s view, with Maxim’s arrival, chefs from China could learn how to make western food in France, which set a precedent and laid a foundation for China’s development and undertaking a number of large-scale events, competitions and conferences. Shan Chunwei participated in the Asian Games in Beijing in 1990, the World Conference on Women, the 2008 Olympic Games and the APEC meeting.
At the beginning of reform and opening up, there were almost no western tableware in Beijing. Before going to Paris to study, Shan Chunwei and his colleagues took a set of tableware airlifted from Paris as a sample and looked for manufacturers who could make it. They first found the Jingdezhen ceramic shop at the front door, but they couldn’t do it because the plates were too thick. Finally, they found the Liling ceramic shop in zhushikou, and the manufacturer agreed to undertake it. At that time, there was no manufacturer in Beijing who could make red wine glasses. It happened that the second Chongwen Hotel opposite Chongwenmen Hotel was holding a glassware exhibition, and a glass factory in Chengde promised to make them by hand blowing. Therefore, this manufacturer has become the "originator" of making western-style wine utensils in China, and its business has become prosperous from the brink of bankruptcy.
-Extension
Those old western restaurants in Beijing
● Moscow restaurant
Speaking of the old western restaurants in Beijing, we have to mention the Moscow restaurant with a long history of more than 60 years, which is affectionately called "Lao Mo" by the old Beijingers.
In 1954, the restaurant invited a master chef from the Soviet Union, and the doormen of the restaurant were all transferred from the military units. The higher authorities also specially distributed woolen pants, hair wax and leather shoes to the waiters in the restaurant, while the waitresses distributed extra perfume, which was almost superior to others.
Moscow restaurant is famous for its unique management style and pure taste of Russian western food in Beijing, and also runs English, French, German and Italian western food. The architectural style is not only luxurious and elegant, magnificent and full of Russian sentiment, but also integrates the fashion of modern architecture, fully embodying the artistic conception of nobility, elegance and romance.
● Huatian Dadi Restaurant
Dadi Restaurant, founded in 1945, is an old-fashioned restaurant that operated western-style dishes earlier in Beijing. It was first located on West Chang ‘an Avenue. Because the cuisine and decoration characteristics are similar to those of Moscow restaurant in Beijing, and it is located in the urban area of Beijing, it is called "the middle and small old man in Beijing".
The Russian-style cuisine operated by Dadi Restaurant is characterized by heavy oil, heavy color, heavy oil and thick taste, sweet, sour, spicy and salty, high, medium and low grade, and rich varieties. The dishes are famous for their economic benefits and are called "affordable western restaurants" by the people in Beijing.
● Xinqiao Sanbaole Western Restaurant
The old state-owned western restaurant, as a Russian-style western food, is a very classic one. The restaurant doesn’t completely copy the Russian style, but on the basis of the decoration with national characteristics, it integrates more local characteristics of China. The signature dishes are red vegetable soup and canned beef. Xinqiao Sanbaole Bakery is also an unforgettable memory for many Beijing children.
● Qishilin Western Restaurant
The time-honored "Cheshire Forest" is the first western restaurant with a certain scale in China. It was founded in Tianjin in 1901 by the founder of Germany, William Cheshire, and was founded in his own name. It has a history of one hundred years. Not only has it become a famous historical store in Tianjin, but it is also well-known at home and abroad with a prominent reputation.
The Chihlin Hotel has received many senior leaders of the party and country, foreign dignitaries, diplomatic envoys, government officials and international friends from more than 100 countries. For nearly a hundred years, it has also been frequented by dignitaries at home and abroad and top figures from all walks of life. The restaurant mainly deals in Russian and German western food, and Beijing Qishilin Western Restaurant opened on December 18th, 1998.
Beijing Morning Post reporter
Wang Ping/Wen Li Muyi/photo
